Monthly Archives: June 2014

Capilano River RV Park, Vancouver

Capilano River RV Park is an urban RV park – small sites, lots of RVs but great access to Vancouver city by bus and a good laundry. 

The day we got in, we drove to Vancouver’s Stanley Park to let Molly run leash free (she sat on the bench with us), we saw lots of Great Blue Herons nesting in the park and heard them, and had a great dinner at the fish restaurant in the park.   The next day, Canada Day July 1, we took a bus back to Stanley Park and arrived just in time to go to the grill and bar to watch the US-Belgium World Cup match (sigh) and then to the great Aquarium in the park. That night John walked up onto the bridge over to Vancouver & watched Canada Day fireworks in both Vancouver & Victoria.

We left Jasper because rain was coming in *and* there was no place to light except “overflow” campground – an empty field, no services ( not a good place to be while it’s raining).

Our destination was the Fraser Cove Campground in Lillooet BC. We chose this to be close enough to get to the Vancouver Island ferry with a reasonable amount of driving tomorrow. We passed Clinton our second choice – it seemed a nice town. We stopped for a “world Famous Burger” at the Log Cabin pub in Avola. It is a destination for some and has 11 excellent reviews on Yelp even though it’s in the middle of no where and off the road.

Fraser’s Cove RV park, Lillooet BC

We liked the area so much, we stayed two nights beside the Fraser River. On the second day, we walked into Lillooet, a goodly hike. We were rewarded on the way back with a fish hawk / osprey nest on the bridge.

Lillooet is considered to be one of the oldest continuously inhabited locations on the continent, the area is reckoned by archaeologists to have been inhabited for several thousand years.

Examining the many jade pieces on display within Lillooet BC

Osprey nest on the “Old Bridge”

Osprey nest

While in Lillooet we found out that the Vancouver Island ferry was booked up for the next few days, so we decided to head into Vancouver city for a couple of days.

The Icefields Parkway between Lake Louise and Jasper was a highlight of this trip. Our stops: Herbert Lake; Crowfoot Glacier; Bow Lake and Bow Glacier; Bow Summit and Peyton Lake; Columbian Icefields area; Sunwapta Falls; and, finally, Athabasca Falls.

Peyto Lake

Athabasca Glacier

we saw bears next to road near Jasper and elk in the campground.

Whistler’s Park, Jasper

The Whistlers campground was a full hookup *and* pleasant – not packed together plus trees.

Lake Louise

We visited Lake. Louise. Very pretty. John went up the trail to the viewpoint. I pooped out about a third of the way up just as it got really steep. Molly stayed with me – she is not a good hiker – she wants to go perpendicular to the trail for scents-stations. I talk led to a lawyer from Columbus OH who is US corporate counsel for a Canadian energy company.

Next we drove out to Lake Moraine, which is a spectacular sight. John did his mountain goat number and climbed the Rock Pile to get even more spectacular views. I spoke with a woman from Ontario about New Foundland. The ferry required to get there is expensive but worth it. Gros Morn is the place to go. She advised not doing New Foundland in the same trip with the Maritime provinces – they spent 2.5 weeks in NFL alone.

Moraine Lake

Nearby peaks

On the way out of Waterton, we drove through the Bison Paddock where we saw a solitary bison, a group of four bison, and a wolf. As we drove to Banff, we saw big horned sheep. We provisioned in Cranmore.