Jasper and Lake Louise - July 18th

This was absolutely an incredible ride. Again, spectacular mountians, valleys, streans, glaciers and lakes. Went through Bow Pass - 6700+ feet on the altimeter of the GPS. Subie struggled a little bit but was fine.

Place is set up for tourists and it is loadesd with them. Mostly shops along the main street - also a lot of tour companies to line you up with fishing or white water rafting. Water is COLD.

All glacier fed - the river is the Athabasca River - fed off of the Athabasca Glacier. I climbed up to it with a few hundred of my closest friends - see pic. Again, like Worthington Glacier - it has receded rapidly over the past few years.

Also, see pics of Mt. Kitchener - still has a lot of snow on it - bt it is above 10.000 ft

Earlier, Leo and I found a nice trail along the Fraser Riverand walked it for a while until it started to rain. Again, a little worried about letting him get too close to the main current of the stream. Because of the slope of the land, rivers are merely slow waterfalls.

Then on to Lake Louise. Surprisingly small and loaded with tourists - mostly from Asia and high-end lodges. Sort of reminded me of the Homestead - great place for the Newly wed or the nearly dead.

No doubt the place is beautiful but very tightly controlled. While you might think you are in the wilderness - and you can be 100 miles from a gas station - it is very regimented and there are a lot of people. Again, I think Canada lives in RVs.

Anyway, last night I tried two different public campgrounds and they were all full. On the way to our final stop, we passed the Beaver Valley. A little bit different than the Beaver Valley where I grew up. Not a single steel mil, metal recycler, lead smelter or nuclear power plant to be found. Finally wound up in a private campground (CRAMPground) Leo had a 9 x 12 area to pee.

So, tonight I will head toward Vancouver and stay just outside the city. So, this will be last night in Canada. Then on toward Seattle - and turn east.

July 18th, Revelstoke BC - at the headwaters of the mighty Columbia River. 51.00 N, 118.13 W. Some light rain

PS - sorry for the duplicate pics - Thei connection in Starbucks in Kamloops CA has asked me to re-try several up loads. - you see the results