Change of plans

After leaving Vancouver we had planned to visit the Okanagan for a week touring the vineyards and wine tasting and then on to Banff and Jasper (again), but sadly this was not meant to be. A wildfire raged through Kelowna destroying homes and livelihoods and we had to cancel our trip last minute as it was not safe to be in the area. Sad though this was for us the devastation caused to the local communities and the wildlife by the wildfire was immense.

We came up with a new plan, we would instead drive back up highway 5 through Kamloops, staying a night in Clearwater before spending two nights in Mount Robson provincial park and then two nights in Jasper national park. The drive up to Clearwater was very smoky in places, the fires raging just to the east of us were producing a lot of smoke.

Mount Robson provincial park was a very pleasant surprise to us, it had not been on our plan originally and we are now very glad we visited. We spent our time there hiking to Kinney Lake, a long hike but well worth it, the lake/mountain views were spectacular. We also stopped off to view the Rearguard falls on the Fraser River where the salmon would soon be running, unfortunately we were too early in the season to see any.

Back in Jasper national park for a second visit we hiked some different routes, at Medicine Lake and Maligne Lake where unfortunately the smoke was so thick we couldn’t see the mountains. The second night in Jasper we had a heavy thunderstorm which kept us awake for most of the night, however we were very glad we were in Delta and not tent camping….there were some soggy looking campers in the morning. The highlight of our Jasper stay was again the Elk in the campsites. The first night we heard a sound we couldn’t place until we eventually realised it was a Bull Elk bugling, it was rutting season and they were very active. We woke in the middle of the night to a Bull Elk bugling directly outside our bedroom window, to say we woke with a start is putting it mildly! On our final morning in Jasper we finally caught sight of the Bull Elk and he was magnificent, herding his females around the campsite.