Western Canada, MT, PA and NY July-Oct 2016

The Mill at Babcock SP

After we returned from our European trip, we stayed with Tom & Julie. We spent some time visiting with Bob. Pat also traveled to DE with him so he could visit his house and take a trip to the beach. Pat and I went to Ocean City, MD for some fun in the sun and also to meet with our travel agent to plan our Antarctica trip. We also spent a week in York, helping Pat’s father prepare and pack for his move into Assisted Living. There was a fair amount of furniture that wasn’t going with her father, so we took a cedar chest to put in storage in WV. We stayed at Babcock SP and hit a few parks in the area before circling back to York PA. I had been trying to sell our Born Free RV for eight months without any luck. I was getting frustrated dealing with scammers, answering the same questions, and putting up with indecisive buyers. With a six week trip to Canada imminent, we decided to put it on consignment at an RV dealer in PA. Five weeks later it was sold. (Good thing I picked engineering and not sales as a career!). Susan and Windsor had been more than generous in allowing us to store our extra RV with them. Unfortunately Windsor became very ill and had to be hospitalized. He is still under doctor’s care, but improving.

Young Big Horn Sheep

Due to Bob’s condition, we decided to fly to Canada instead of driving the RV. This would facilitate a quick return if necessary. We spent the first two weeks in Fernie. Since we rented an SUV, we explored more areas than would be possible with an RV. After leaving Fernie, we drove to Elk Lakes Provincial Park. A 45 mile dirt entrance road insures the remoteness of this park. Not far to the east from here, (as the crow flies) tour buses jam the streets of Banff AB. We did an all day hike in the park and only saw a few other hikers. Next we drove to Kananaskis, a park just south of Banff NP. This is where the folks from Calgary come to hike and relax. Three years ago this area experienced a massive flood and some of the areas were still closed. Nearby we visited the Bar U Ranch National Historic Site, which commemorates the evolution of ranching in Canada. We were lucky to be there the day they were having an Old Fashioned Rodeo. Next we stopped overnight at Waterton Lakes International Peace Park. We usually see grizzly bear here, but we were disappointed this trip. Continuing into the US, we took the Going to the Sun road across Glacier NP to Kalispell, MT. For the next week we had a timeshare on Big Mountain near Whitefish, MT. This gave us easy access to Glacier and other interesting nearby areas. On Big Mountain, we ate huckleberries as we hiked, while the locals were filling gallon containers. One day we drove to Eureka, MT for the Lincoln County Fair “Bull Thing”, an international bull riding rodeo.  At Glacier, we entered the little used NW Entrance where we found a bakery in Polebridge that served delicious Bear claws (no bears were harmed). We returned to Fernie for another two week stay.

Old Coke Ovens

Hosmer Mine Entrance

From Fernie, we started to explore the local ghost towns of Hosmer and Coal Creek - both were former coal mining towns with many hidden structures and artifacts to discover. We also attended the Fernie Fall Festival where we were given tours of the historic buildings in town. We also took two walking tours of town covering: the Fire of 1908 and the historic houses which survived; and Fernie during the Prohibition period.  Our trip to the Country Fair at Fort Steel was a washout. It rained so hard even the exhibitors left early.

 

Waterton NP

Kootenai Lake, Glacier NP

On a cool but sunny day, we made the two hour drive to Waterton Lake NP to catch the 10AM boat to Goat Haunt (the northern entrance to Glacier NP). A 50 minute boat ride delivered us to Goat Haunt, where we had to pass through US Customs and Immigration before we could start our hike to Kootenai Lakes. We enjoyed our solitude in Glacier NP, a world apart from the congested trails in the more popular areas of the park thirty miles to the south.

Chris and Jocelyn Wedding

Bob's Cake Day with his father and Huong

In order to attend Chris and Jocelyn’s wedding, we left Fernie early. They had a nice wedding and fun reception.  Bob celebrated “Cake Day” (doesn’t believe in birthdays, but loves birthday cake) for the 65th time. His most valuable present was his Medicare Card! Bob’s health seems to be improving as the recent drug regiment seems to be working to extend the time he has with us. Pat’s father is adjusting to assisted living.  He donated his van to charity, so the family dodged a fight over taking his car keys away. Since Pat had only spent a week in our 8 month old RV, we decided to do a fall trip.

Funky Fungus

Northern Water Snake

Erie Falls 47' Ricketts Glen SP

After a few days in York with her father, we continued north to Rickets Glen SP. In a seven mile hike you can see 21 waterfalls. It’s pretty spectacular.

 

 Mushrooms with Dimples

Lady Liberty

Lower Manhattan under a full moon

We worked our way east to Liberty Harbor, NJ - directly across the Hudson River from Lower Manhattan. There was easy access to the city via ferry or subway. We camped at an RV park here for a week while we explored NYC and saw 4 Broadway shows. The weather was perfect all week.

 

 Babe Ruth and Shoeless Joe's Bats at Christie's

SNL crew with tourist

Camping at Promise Land SP

After we spent all our money, we headed up to the Finger Lakes region of NY to continue our Waterfalls Tour. At Robert Treman SP we walked through a 2 mi gorge to the 115’ Lucifer Falls.

 

Watkins Glen SP

Taughannock Falls 215'

Buttermilk and Taughannock SP also had great gorges and large waterfalls. Taughannock Falls has the largest straight drop (215’) in the North-East. The most famous (voted third best State Park in the country) was Watkins Glen. This gorge has 19 waterfalls and beautifully carved potholes. Most of the above waterfalls were practically dry all summer, but just prior and during our visit, nature provided liquid relief, even snow. The snow helped us focus on our next trip-Antarctica.

Taughannock SP