Fall colors were hanging on late this year
I was finally free to do as I pleased for the rest of my time in Alberta. Now, only the weather would dictate when I left the area. My plan was to spend some time in the Rocky Mountain foothills of Alberta. The weather was holding in a nice dry and warm pattern for the beginning of October. I might as well take advantage of it and camp near the mountains while I still could. My first week was planned for the North Ghost area I had scouted out previously. Following that, I would make a visit to Didsbury for resupply and a friend visit, then hopefully head out to Ya Ha Tinda and explore around there a bit.
I returned up Hunter Valley Road to the spot I had scouted near the end of the road and found it vacant. It is late in the season, but you never know when a spot might be taken. There were a couple of off road people around further down the road, but it was empty otherwise. That suited me just fine. The cows and I would get along just fine out here on our own.
A little hike up the hill revealed the scene around me. The Rocky Mountain Foothills were all around me, with the Rockies visible in the distance. There was not a cloud in the sky – it was going to be great weather to get out and do some hiking.
Moo, moo.
I moo’d at the cows on the way out, trying to be friendly. They didn’t seem to take much notice of me as long as I kept my distance. Loner cows out here.
I was lucky to be photographing fall colors in October. Especially out here, the colors are usually done by now. The typical pattern in Alberta is the trees turn yellow one day, and the wind blows off all the leaves the next day. But the trees stubbornly clung to their leaves this fall, giving me the first couple of days here to photograph them before they finally fell. 
The hiking ended up being more extensive than the OHV trails here. Having camped past the main OHV trails, that made sense. I was limited to the road I was on and a few side roads that were considered part of the road system.
A side road that was signed and gated no access other than by horse or foot
No OHVs were even allowed on these. I was fine with the arrangement – it meant that I did not have to listen to quads and bikes roaring past all day. I could hear them in the distance sometimes. I was only about 1.5 kilometers away from the last OHV trail head, and some of the trails came closer across the valley from me. But overall it was quiet, with hikes along the roads which were mostly blocked off with dirt piles to discourage vehicle traffic. It wasn’t like there were signs saying you can’t go here. You were expected to have read the signage at the entry to the whole area stating that OHVs were only allowed on signed trails, and not on the main road. But things get a little fuzzy in the back country there. Is the little branch road that is not blocked off allowed for cars, but not OHVs? I think at this point the traffic at the very back of the access road is light enough that the government has not been bothered to sign and/or block things off better.
Grom, now with nobby adventure tires: Adventure Grom is born!
The Grom was limited mostly to the main road in and out of the area, although there were a few side branches I explored. I mostly stayed off the OHV trails as they were muddy or just a little too crazy for my liking. But I did go up and down that main road using the Grom to explore for boondocking spots. That was one of the main reasons I got a motorcycle – to allow me to explore an area and find the best boondocking without spending a lot of gas/wear on my RV. In this case, most of the spots were scouted previously, so I wasn’t finding anything new. But the bike allowed me to cruise around in the sites and evaluate how good they were. I can say it was worth taking the road to what turned out to almost be the end. My first ride on the Grom ended quite quickly finding the end of the road only another kilometer further up than I had driven at an abandoned well pad. Too bad the road was just a little too rough for the RV – the pad would have made a good spot to boondock. However, hunters did drive down and use the end of the road well pad as a target shooting area.
$28 a night but includes firewood!
I did take the Grom all the way back to the beginning of Hunter Road, and north about half a kilometer to Hunter Valley Campground. This is one of the paid primitive campgrounds along the Forestry Trunk Road. At $28(!) a night for basic camping, I was not surprised the campground was empty, but the road I was down still had a few boondockers along it. There wasn’t even anything scenic to speak of here. I don’t mind paying some money for a basic campground, but it had better have something going for it, like a lake or nice stream at least.
There is some logging in the area, so you do need to be on the lookout for logging trucks. But it is not a lot of activity – I saw no trucks the whole time I was out here. At least the one hill I hiked onto had a good view thanks to the logging – this is way back there, as close to the mountains as I got on this adventure.
I ended most of my days with a nice sunset, having just a short walk to enjoy it at a little embankment overlooking the creek I was near. Other than a a few people driving to the end of the road, I saw no one out here during my week, other than the hunters and a few cars driving by exploring the road. It is a good area that I think I will return to again someday.
Back of the furnace. Not accessible on my RV without pulling the whole furnace.
My plans had been to supply up in Didsbury and visit a friend, then head to Ya Ha Tinda. But the world decided to throw a wrinkle at me, in the form of a furnace that would not turn on. Fortunately, it was my last night, and the nights were not yet too cold. I ended up in Calgary, booking an appointment for two weeks later to get my furnace looked at. Yes, two weeks is the minimum time I could get with multiple places queried. Crazy times still in the RV service world. But the googles convinced me that there was two things I could check that were likely culprits: the sail switch and the limiter switch. The limiter switch does what it sounds like: turns off the furnace if it gets too hot. The sail switch is a ‘check’ switch – as it is triggered by the fan running (a ‘sail’ is pushed by the air, turning it on). If the switch is on, the furnace will then kick on the gas and start heating. Of course, my RV is not going to make checking these two components easy. All of this is at the back of the furnace. If only there was a hatch outside I could open to get at this stuff, but no, that particular item is lacking on my RV. So it was time to get brave and disconnect the propane from the furnace, and pull that whole sucker out!
Front. Gas line on the left.
I was confronted with a pretty simple setup in the front. Other than some difficulty removing the main duct line everything came apart quite easily, including the ONE bracket holding the furnace in place. I’ll try to keep that in mind the next time I’m travelling down a rough road. Pulling the other line off, I find it includes a branch line that terminates under the RV, in a little channel that must run across to the passenger side. Ah, that is how they keep the lines from freezing – a little heat gets pumped over there. My research indicated no tape or sealant was required to re-hookup the gas line. So fingers crossed I could get it back together leak free!
I started with checking the sail switch, as the limiter switch is harder to get at and would have required more dismantling of the furnace. Fortunately, I could see the sail switch was likely the problem. The “Sail” was covered with dirt from some oil that looked like it had spilled, the fan had a bit of extra oily dirt on the vanes too. I cleaned everything up good and put it all back together. Fingers crossed, I turn on the furnace. We have heat! My half day of DYI furnace fix had paid off handsomely! After rechecking the gas connection several times to make sure there were no leaks (soapy water, look for bubbles) I put everything back together and resumed my plans to head out to the foothills again. But no cancelling the repair appointment yet, just in case! I was headed to Ya Ha Tinda, join me there next time.
