BACK IN BRITISH COLUMBIA.
Day 331 – We had two blog posts almost ready to go when we got here yesterday, but no signal so we couldn’t send them out. We left this morning to try to find a place where we could post them and to try to get propane for the small portable tank for the RV. The closest city to our campground was south and west about 40 minutes, Valemount.
We stopped at a rest stop when we found they had a signal, posted the two blogs, checked the weather forecast for the next 10 days, and checked for the latest information on the Chetamon wildfire. The update stated that all three Jasper National Park campgrounds were now closed and power had not been reinstated in the city of Jasper. People were still being asked to stay away. The fire situation had not changed. Irritatingly though, 2 people flying drones into the fire caused the planes/helicopters that were fighting the fire to be grounded. The drone flyers were cited with the potential of a $25,000 fine each. What? They wanted to post on social media for more “likes”? Idiots.
We drove to Valemount and found propane for the tank. We hadn’t planned to drive more, but we thought, what the heck, we’re here so let’s look around. Valemount was a nice little town off Highway 5. At the Visitor’s Center we saw a sign by the road that said “The Salmon are Here”, so we drove to the parking lot to see the Salmon. We were at a little park overlooking the stream where the salmon come on their way to spawn. A tour bus pulled up and a whole bunch of people from Germany on a tour of the area rushed over. We all looked for the salmon. There weren’t any.
We drove on south on Highway 5 until we saw a sign for the Cranberry Marsh Wildlife Management Area. We stopped there and took a little hike. There were 6 km of hiking trails through what they claimed to be “the most spectacular bird viewing opportunities in the region”. We saw no birds. Nice scenery, though.
We decided to go south a little longer. It was beautiful, particularly when we approached a tall group of mountains with snow on them. It was the Hallam Peak Icefield, around 10,000 feet high. Knocked our socks off.
The scenery was amazing. We continued driving. We reached the town of Blue River, a pretty little town with lodges and chalets and plenty of advertisements for skiing in the winter, bear statues, plus signs advertising River Safaris, Bear and Moose Watching, and we’ve never passed up a chance to take a wildlife tour, eh? We drove down the dirt road to check out the details of the tour.
It was a nice place right on a beautiful river with a floating restaurant. They were crowded. They were currently offering wildlife viewing by boat. They also offer Jeep tours but not today. We signed up for the 3 p.m. tour. We were hungry and had almost 2 hours to kill so we were going to have lunch while waiting. The restaurant had closed for the day; they were understaffed; what else is new. They recommended a food truck down the street that supposedly had excellent food. We left; there were bear statues on every corner and at one of the corners we found the Grizzly Food Shack. I got a Portobella Mushroom Burger and Rob got a Salmon Wrap. Both were very good.
We drove around the town, got stopped at a railroad crossing by a VERY long train, and made it back to River Safari with 20 minutes to spare. The tour was supposed to be 1 ½ hours long. They got started almost ½ hour late because the two boats were still out on the previous tour. We left a little before 3:30, 10 people and a guide on a beautiful Catamaran. Passengers on our boat were from Germany, Belgium, Holland and us, from the U.S. The rest of the passengers (12 and a guide) left in a Jet Boat. Our boat went out on the Lake looking for bear and moose. Right away we saw an Osprey on a nest. The guide said there had been a pair and they did have chicks; the one we saw was a fledgling. Mud Lake was a large lake and we went around the lake close to the shore searching for animals. The boat was powered by an electric motor and was very quiet. It was peaceful and beautiful. The weather was 70 degrees with part sun/part clouds. When we reached a short pier on the opposite side of the lake, we stopped and took a hike through the rainforest to a nice waterfall. When we returned to the pier, we were met by the Jet Boat. Those passengers took the waterfall hike and returned to get on the Catamaran. Our group continued our tour in the Jet Boat with a different, very informative guide. The Jet Boat took us, rapidly, to the Mud River and a different environment where the river ran through mountains in fairly shallow water. There were bear prints in the sand, but no bears at this time. The scenery, however, was amazing. Ahead of us was a mountain with an icefield, a glacier, and an incredible, long waterfall that our guide said provided 1/3 of the river and lakes’ water. We went a fairly long distance in the river before he turned around and took us back to home base. They went way overtime; the tour was not 1 ½ hours long but 2 ½ hours long. We did not see bear or moose, but we thoroughly enjoyed the two boat rides. He said that yesterday they’d seen a lot of moose. You can never tell what’s going to happen.
On the way back to the RV, in a distance through the woods off Highway 5, we saw an amazing waterfall – we saw no roads that would take us there – we would’ve loved to see that one up close! Today, we hadn’t expected to be gone longer than it took to get propane this morning. The cats weren’t too pleased with us when we got back to the RV at 7:30 p.m. Once they had dinner, though, all was well. We had a good day.