The Accidental Tourists

Not knowing that Albertans were rabid about their
camping, hubby and I waited until Tuesday to try
to book a camping spot for the Canada Day long weekend.
Big mistake. Albertans are also fanatical about Canada
Day. Which is a good thing, but not this weekend.



After almost 2 hours of calling we find a spot.
In Edmonton. 45 mins from us. But, after living in a
basement apartment with no balcony this looks good to us.
We book for Fri, Sat, Sun night. Friday comes. The weatherman
predicts a 60% chance of severe thunderstorms. I hate
the weatherman. Having camped in the rain we know how
painful this can be, but we don't want to lose our spot.
We decide to go pay for the 3 nights, and come back later
to set up if the weather cooperates. Hubby heads in.



I give hubby the wrong address - I had been calling so many
campgrounds I lost track. Oops. Poor hubby, he calls back
and gets the right address which is on the other side of town.
Hubby calls 45 mins later. "We don't want to stay here" he says.
Turns out their 'camp sites' are in an open field, no fire pits, no
shelter, no nothing. So hubby comes home and back on the phone
we go, venturing further out into the wilderness of Alberta. We
luck out, first place hubby calls has sites open. First come first
serve. It is in a town called Hinton. Hubby looks at map, doesn't
look far, "maybe hour or hour and a half" he says. Turns out it
is over 4 hours. It is near the Mountains, by Jasper. Not a good
start having left at almost 6pm. But hey, we are going to the
mountains. To live with the wild animals.


So anyway, we arrive in Hinton at about 11pm and eventually find
the campground. "We are full", the campground owner tells us.
"But the Graveyard Campground down the road will likely have
some sites open", he says. This sounds suspicious to us but
we have no choice. "If not, come back and we will stick you
in overflow camping" he adds. Gee, that sounds reassuring.



Off we go about one kilometre down the road to the Graveyard.
We find out it is called Graveyard Campground for a reason.
We drive around this dusty, desolate campground looking for
the registration building. We spot campers and roll down the
window. "Where is the building to register?" Hubby asks.
"Oh, there is no building" the camper guy says, "You just find
a spot wherever you can and put your money on a tree in the
little boxes" he says. We stare at him dumbfounded. Turns out
there are also no showers or flush toilets either. We leave.



We go back to first place. I think they feel sorry for us
at this point. They give us a spot and we go set up,
exhausted but still hopeful. About an hour or so into
setting up, just as we finished, a guy pulls up in a car.
"Um, I think this is my spot" he says. Turns out hubby, who
I do love but want to kill at that moment, read the map wrong.
Hubby is not normally directionally challenged and I begin to
worry about him. It could be the 5 hours of driving and lack
of food for 12 hours, but who knows. Anyway, the camper dude
is having a stag party and needs his reserved spot. I am tempted
to stay and join the stag group just because it would be easier.
But that is not an option. Our only option is relocation.
Hubby does not know I am yet aware of our predicament.


Hubby looks at me, terrified. I can see hubby
thinking - "Which would be worse...to kill this
guy or to tell my wife?" He does not need to tell me
as I have heard the horrors and am already packing up.
Bear in mind, it is now midnight and we have not eaten
since noonish. Happy campers we are not. Off we go to
our new spot. Which is really a new improved spot because
now we are right by the showers and water supply.
As things start to improve, hope returns. We go to our new
improved site, set up, have a very quickly cooked, very
burnt crumbled hamburger a la bun, and get ready for bed.
Luckily we had put up our tarps because it rained hard that
night. But we were mostly undamaged in the morning.
"Bit cold last night" I say to hubby the next morning.
"Yes" he says. Hubby is a man of few words in the morning.
"I have heard it can get cold in the mountains" I say,
"maybe we should pick up a blanket in Hinton", the nearby
town. So we do - two actually - which is the smartest move
this trip. The next night, Sat night we were sitting by the
fire. You could literally feel the temperature drop beginning
around 9pm. We began to see our breath as we spoke. This
was not a good thing at only 10pm.



By 11pm I had on 2 pairs of socks, 2 sweatshirts and
a flannel jacket. Hubby was dressed in similar attire.
Couple from across the way invited us over so we went
there for beer, fire, and festivities for the evening
We also got a Bear lesson. We had noticed all these
Bear rules posted over the campground:
None of the following allowed in your tents or on the
camp site overnight: toothpaste, cologne/perfume, shampoo,
deodorant, liquor, and of course food. You had to store these
items in your car. You also cannot leave any dirty dishes
around or scraps of food. You are supposed to empty dirty
dishwater in a special bear proof receptacle, but no one does.
They do follow all the other rules though.




We didn't notice how cold it had become until we left
for our tent. Man alive was it cold. Lucky we bought
the blankets cause we had 2 light sleeping bags, a
flannel blanket and a big comforter, plus all our layers of
clothing on. We were freezing all night. It was so cold you
could feel it though the air mattress, through the layers of
clothing, into your back. You had to keep your face below
the blankets because it was just too cold outside the blankets.
Not sure how cold it got but it was damn cold. Going to pee in
the middle of the night was not an option. I'm sure ice cubes
would have come out. The next night was a bit better but still cold.



So, having found ourselves in the mountains we decided to do a bit
of touring. Wow. Jasper - what an experience. We met mountain
goats, had a bear encounter, and were blown away. The
mountains were stunning, and the Columbian Ice Fields
were very interesting although very cold. We were not
prepared to venture into ice fields having brought sunny,
camping clothing. But we persevered. Here are a couple
pics and short videos from our adventures in the mountains.

Click here for the photos

My first attempt at the video aspect of the camera

A drive through the mountains

The Mountain Goats

The amazing view

Powerful Waterfall

Waterfall 2

Waterfall 3