I was heading towards northwest BC, where exactly I had not decided yet other than hoping to hit the ocean at some point. But it was a long ways to get there – there would be many opportunities to stop along the way and explore new scenery. But first I had a little unexpected adventure that made me change my plans a bit. Join in Didsbury to start this phase of my travels.
1906 Bistro decor
I was in Didsbury having one last friend visit. I don’t mind hanging out in Didsbury – it’s a nice smaller town that is just far enough from Calgary to not have gotten any of the suburb vibe you see closer to Calgary. But it was time to head on out and see what there was to the northwest. I still had not made up my mind as to if I’d go up the Cassiar Highway or stick with a less ambitious plan of just making it to the northern BC coast around Prince Rupert. I had come to the conclusion that I didn’t have to make up my mind. I could go towards Prince Rupert and decide once in the area if I wanted to head north up the Cassiar from there – the junction is only a couple of hours away from the coast.
For my first stop traveling northwest, I was travelling to familiar territory along the Red Deer River downstream of the Forestry Trunk Road. A quick stop in Sundre for lunch got me a picture of a deer sheltering under a trailer beside the local DQ. The wildlife is not so wild in Sundre proper. I continued on west, heading down the access road that follows the Red Deer River to the Forestry Trunk Road. As I have Starlink now, I have options to head out of cell signal now. I was planning on camping close to the junction with the Forestry Trunk Road at the Red Deer River North Campground, but a side road part way there tweaked my boondocking sense so down that way I went.
It turns out that I had found a “User maintained site” as the old faded sign told me. It consisted of some meadows, and a gnarly road down to the river if you wanted to camp there. I opted for the second meadow, trading sun for river view. It was a nice spot, I was away from the road a bit, with only a few cars a day coming in for camping or for day use of the river. The area was pretty flat too – overall a pretty nice spot other than having to walk a few minutes to get to the river. There were a few campers that came in while I was there but they either opted to go to the river or stayed in the first meadow mostly out of my sight. It was an added bonus to not have to share my meadow with other campers.
Sun and fairly close to the river
I explored down the road with the motorcycle while I was there, hitting the original Red Deer River North campground I had intended to camp at. It wasn’t the greatest campground – most of the sites were quite shady with nothing on the river proper. I did note one good site with some sun that wasn’t too far from the river. There were a few people in the campground while I was there, and camped in other boondocking spots along the way. Overall, I’d say you won’t have a problem finding a spot outside of the main summer camping season.
Leaving site, just before my flat
I left after a week, intending to land somewhere in the Edson area, but plans changed about ten minutes into my drive. I noticed that the RV was swaying a bit more than usual back on the paved road, a swerve side to side confirmed this. Then scraping sound starts and I know something is wrong. I pull over as soon as possible and find that my left rear tire is completely flat. At least I had made it back to pavement so there wasn’t going to be any crawling under in the gravel. I first tried to inflate the tire, but quickly discovered the source of the leak was a barbed wire fence staple that was leaking quite fast. So onto changing over to the spare I went. A nice fellow stopped and helped me get the flat tire mounted up on the back – that sucker is heavy, I can barely lift it up myself.
A DQ stop awaiting my flat repair
So I had to make a new plan now that I had a flat to fix. It was onto Rocky Mountain House, and the Fountain Tire there. They were fortunately not too busy and could look at my tire in a couple of hours. I found out that I drove on the flat just a little too long and I’m going to have to replace it. But at least the $200 cost isn’t too bad for my size of tire. Of course, the tire isn’t in stock and I’ll have to wait a couple of days to get it. Some research on iOverlander yields a dead end road by the North Saskatchewan River. I could care less about the river, but the spot was close to town and easy access, which I did care about driving around without a spare.
No problem seeing my rig parked at the dead end
The spot turned out to be fine for a short term stay. There is a railway right beside it, but the trains come no more than once a day so it’s not an issue. I’d avoid it on the weekends as it looks like a definite party spot close to town. Even while I was there a few teens showed up in their cars to visit. But there were no late night parties while I was there on a Tuesday-Wednesday. The river was very high – no walking along the shores here for sure. I contented myself with a walk down the road to see if there was any boondocking nearby. Everything was wet with some rain that had blown in, I wasn’t taking the motorcycle touring in this. I didn’t find much on my walk, so was happy to leave after spending a day out there.
I went back into town and end up having to wait a while as the delivery guy was late with the tires for the day. I can’t fault the tire shop for that one. While I had been waiting, I had to decide if I still wanted to head up to the Edson area. Being in Rocky Mountain House, I was further north than where I had started, so a reasonable days drive would get me past Edson. I decided I wanted to be in BC for my next stop, with a trip up the Jasper National Park part of highway 93 included in that. It’s one of the most scenic highways in the parks and a personal favorite of mine. It also would cut an hour off my travel time. I decided my destination would be around Tete Jaune Cache, where Highway 16 meets Highway 5 in BC.
Abraham Reservoir
Tire fixed, I made a stop for propane and headed off down Highway 11 into the park. I had not been this way before, never having seen Abraham Reservoir. It’s pretty and even has some popular boondocking along it. I entered Banff Park a day before the Canada Free pass (free admission for the summer) was supposed to start so had to pay my roughly $12 day pass still. At least it goes to the park’s budget. I also saved more than that in gas going this way versus via Edson.
Cabins at Saskatchewan Crossing
I made a stop at Saskatchewan River Crossing, just to take a quick look and see what was there as I’d never stopped there before. Looks like a decent spot if you want to rent a little cabin. I made good time on Highway 93 going north to Jasper. I was less concerned about speed, as the scenery is spectacular along this stretch between the close in mountains and the snow. The burned area towards Jasper isn’t too bad until you get close to Jasper, then you see a lot of burned trees, including buildings that I remember being there last time I was there, long ago now. I continued on west, leaving the park. I wanted to get to my potential destination not too late in case it didn’t work out.
Unusual trailer, home made
Leaving the park is also the border with BC, my adjusted destination for the day, at least somewhere not too far from the parks. It turns out that the boondocking isn’t the greatest near Jasper Park. The BC side of the provincial border has a large provincial park, Mount Robson, that goes out almost all the way to the Highway 16 and 5 junction. Provincial parks in BC are different from recreation sites – they are formal protected lands, with expensive camping that is only open during the main caming season, typically mid-May to mid-September. I drove on, not willing to pay for camping with other people around.
Tete Jaune is a small rec site
Getting to Tete Jaune, I turned off to the rec site. I selected this one in part because it isn’t far off the beaten path. It didn’t look to have much potential looking at the aerials so I could leave as quickly as I got there if I really didn’t like it. The road in is paved except for the last bit directly to the site – that is a cart path in good condition. I wasn’t seeing a ton of travel evidence, so hoped I’d have the site to myself. But that was not to be, there was already one person there in the two person site. It was just another guy like me, working is way east to a group get together near Edson. He wasn’t staying beyond the night, so I decided to stay. The spot was just open enough to give me the sun I needed, and I had cell service. Join me next time as I explore this area, then head further west.
