We had to arrive at ferry dock in Prince Rupert at 7:15 am for our 10:15 am departure. We needed to have car and camper length measured, go through customs and load vehicles. Watching the process of loading vehicles was interesting as some were going to Ketchikan and others were going further. They also had to balance the weight on the car deck.
The voyage was scenic and uneventful. The crew were very courteous. The food service was surprisingly good.
When we arrived in Ketchikan at 3:30 PM, we found a fairly large city. It is the 4th largest city in Alaska.
We are camped in Tongas National Forrest in Last Chance Campground about 7 miles from the city. Our site is alongside a running brook with a lot of privacy in the woods. Outhouse and old fashion water pump are down the road. This is what we call rustic campering.
Cell phone works to our surprise. We have to get closer to city to pick up internet broadband signal.
At the airport parking lot, there are two ferries that take passengers and workers across the narrow passage between the mainland city and the island where the airport is located. This is where the “bridge to no where” was planned to be built. This bridge make a lot of sense. Although no one lives on the airport island, building the bridge was part of their economic strategy for the future. The media circus and political outcries about this “pork” project were quite off the mark.
We left Jasper area on June 1st on way to Prince Rupert. We stopped in Prince George for the night at a Walmart. We got oil changed for the car before continuing. We arrived in Price Rupert on June 2nd. We depart on ferry for Ketchikan on 10:15 am. It is a 5-6 hour trip.
The scenery from Smithers to Prince Rupert was outstanding as the coastal mountains appeared and we wound our way through the passes to reach our destination.
We planned to spent at least part of day in Prince Rupert kayaking. We took a drive aroundall the roads in Prince Rupert area in search of a good place to Kayak. We didn’t find a good put-in that interested us. We visited Port Edward and Richey Island. We ended up hiking Dianne Creek. It was an interesting hike. It was almost like seeing in a rain forest. The cool water rushing by in the river creek caused moments of coolness in the heat of the day. We saw an occasional red wood tree and a black Blue bird(?). We also forgot our camera. We are wondering if all we have seen will dull our Alaska experience.
Prince Rupert was larger than we expected. Our campground for two nights was right up the street from the ferry. Our site was quiet and shaded with a lot of privacy. The ferry station was empty of people, workers or anything else the first two times we visited. There is nothing else there except the BC ferry. It seems that the people work when the ferry is coming or leaving. This morning, we met a man who had worked all night and was closing the ferry station for the day at 10 am in morning! He did tell us all we needed to know.
We arrive in Alaska tomorrow! Looking forward to ferry.
We started morning intending to kayak at Pyramid Lake in the hills above Jasper Village. We stopped at Pyramid Island and found that the views there were the same as would be found paddling. It was also a bit windy so we chucked the paddle and added another hike.
We first hiked around Cottonwood Slough. We saw many ducks and geese in the mashes and small ponds there. From there we visited the Fairmont Jasper Lodge on Lake Beauvert – a great Golf Vacation destination. Then, we hiked up Maligne Canyon.
We had planned to go up the Tram to the mountain top for the view. We decided to call it a day. We got an ice cream in the village instead.
Jasper is an outstanding vacation location in summer or winter. The number of hiking trails available is incredible. The variety of these hikes was quite diverse. Taking the snow train from Edmonton to Jasper seems like a great Winter getway!
Our Verizon Broadband access finally stopped working when we got to Lake Louise. We don’t know why the 1st day it was okay in Lake Louise and then it started telling us that their modem had a problem.
My wireless connection was also not working. Somehow I turned off the wireless switch and I couldn’t get it turned back on. This happened when I allowed Verizon to manage both broadband and WIFI connections and I manually disabled WIFI radio. I couldn’t reverse this. Last night, I spent several hours trying to get the wireless switch turned back on. I couldn’t find any help on this that really helped. I finally used a Dell utility that somehow did the trick. I don’t understand how it did it. I now have wireless WIFI connections back when I am in are with free WIFI. I did delete my Verizon Broadband software and will re-install later tonight. Hopefully, there will be no issues.
The Icefields Parkway is an extremely scenic highway that runs the length of the Banff and Jasper National park between Lake Louise and Jasper – a distance of about 250 km.
We got up and out of campground at 8 am. Our 1st major destination was the Columbia Icefields. On the way, we hiked up to Peyto Lake overlook – which gave us outstanding views of the highest point in the Canadian Rockies. We also visited Mistayla Canyon.
We had lunch at the Columbia Icefields Information Center and went through the exhibits about the Glacier area.
As we got back on parkway, we spotted a black bear and her cub in a filed adjacent to highway. We did get a picture. We stopped alone the rest of the parkway at Sunwapta Falls and Arthabasca Falls. When we checked into the Whistlers Campground in Jasper, an Elk was grazing between campsites.
The town of Jasper was larger than we imagined. It was smaller and more subdued than Banff but much larger than Lake Louise. We arrived about 3 pm. After setting up camp, we went to information center and the Gondola to go to the top of this place. It was closed due to high winds.
After super, we went to Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church in Jasper. It was Pentecost Sunday. The church was a modern, conservative style. The local people were a very diverse group from all races. We enjoyed being at our first church service since leaving. We always seemed to be in a remote location.
We added a couple of pictures of our camper being shutdown to our camper page (TAB at top of blog)
The park ranger advised us to take a kayak paddle on Emerald Lake in Yoto National Park. He told us it was a typical mountain lake about 40 minute drive from Lake Louise.
Along this drive, we saw a train appear at 3 different levels in a Spiral Train Tunnel going up a mountain pass. The pictures didn’t turn out at all. We also visited a place called Natural Bridge where the Kicking Horse river had cut a path through the rocks but left such a small opening on top that it appeared to be a bridge over the river.
Lake Louise was just beginning to thaw. We hiked around the length of it to the other end and back. Then, we drove to still frozen Lake Moraine where we found the level of the lake low and the periphery cluttered with logs and rocks left from last years high water period.
We were surprised by how small the village was compared to Banff.
