Rocky Mountain Road Tripping

G’day all,

Our second leg of our trip was a camping trip through the Canadian and American Rocky Mountains. The same day we disembarked our Alaskan cruise we picked up a car, supplies and headed off. During this leg of the trip we got to see waterfalls, mountains, plains, glaciers, geysers, lakes and canyons, as well as some wildlife. Our plan when we left was to head east to Kelowna and then onto Banff before making our way down the Rockies. Our plans slightly changed as we went but overall we still got to see a lot of what we wanted to see.

First stop: Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada

About 5 hours of amazing scenery after we left Vancouver we arrived at Bear Creek Provincial Park Campgrounds, just outside of Kelowna, where we were to spend the next 2 days. Our campsite was right on the lake and gave a fantastic view of the lake and surrounding mountains.

Okanagan Lake from the Campground

On the Thursday morning, after a surprisingly late sleep in (8am), we got up and had breakfast before heading into the Kelowna visitors centre to find out about some hikes nearby and then, after picking up some food, we headed out to Okanagan Mountain for some hiking. We decided to do a series of trails that let to Goode's Basin and this ended up being a 15km round trip that took us 4.5 hours to complete. It was very different terrain than what we were used to in Vancouver, very rocky and a lot of undergrowth, although it did give some very good views of Okanagan Lake and the surrounds.

Okanagan Lake from Mount Okanagan

To reward our efforts we went to try a few beers at a local brewery, Tree Brewing Company, with some to take back to the campsite with us. When we returned to the campsite we decided it was warm enough to attempt a dip in the lake (the lake didn’t comply and was rather cold) before sorting our dinner and a fire.

Tree Brewery Tasters

Friday morning we packed up and headed off to our next destination, Banff.

Second stop: Banff, Alberta, Canada

Six and a half hours later, after a break in Revelstoke for lunch, we arrived at Johnston Canyon Campground. The drive through Glacier National Park and Yoho National Park, before arriving in Banff National Park, was spectacular. We set up our tent and went into Banff to get some supplies but due to a few stops unplanned stops, when we saw Elk, Deer and a Coyote on the roadside, this took a bit longer than planned.

Yoho National Park

A bull Elk on the road outside Banff

Coyote having a wander around

That Friday night was very cold and we were both very glad we bought our thermals with us. The next morning we had planned to do a hike at Johnston Canyon, just down the road from the campsite. The Johnston Canyon hike was a path and catwalk along the inside of the canyon that went to first the lower falls and then the upper falls. This gave some amazing views of Johnston creek and the two falls. This hike was about 5.5 km and took us 1hr 15mins.



Johnston Canyon Lower Falls

This was planned as our morning hike so late morning we jumped back into the car and went to check out the famous Lake Louise. At Lake Louise we did a hike called the Plain of Six Glaciers. This hike took us around the lake and then into the valley behind it. At the end of the lake were the ice fields and glaciers that feed Lake Louise. At the top there was a tea house and if you went further it went to a view point 1km from the glaciers. We had to hike over a lot of snow, it felt like winter again. This hike was 14km round trip and took us 3hrs 45mins. It was tough at times but the views were incredible.

Lake Louise

The Valley and the Glaciers

This wore us out and we headed back to the campground. The next morning we again packed up and headed off to our next destination in Montana.

Third Stop: Lincoln, Montana, USA

When we left Banff we didn’t exactly know where we were going, just somewhere in the mountains in the Montana area. So we headed off in that general direction and after doing some research we ended up heading to a small town called Lincoln. Lincoln was in the Rockies in Montana, not far from Missoula and Helena.

Montana Plains

Therefore after a nine and a half hour drive we arrived in the town of Lincoln. It has heaps of motels, saloons/bars and 2 casinos. We headed towards the RV Park where we got a campsite on a small creek. After setting up the tent and having dinner we started a fire and sat around toasting marshmallows and having a few beers.

Campsite by Creek

The Monday morning, after a visit to the Rangers Station to get hiking information, we headed to a trailhead for a hike to Heart Lake. Heart Lake was in the Scapegoat Wilderness behind Helena National Forest. It was a 16km round trip and took us 4 hours. It was a fairly easy hike with rolling hills but the actual lake was spectacular, very blue.

Heart Lake

Tuesday morning again saw us getting up and packing the tent for our next drive, this time the destination was Yellowstone National Park.

 Fourth Stop: Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, USA

After a full day of driving we arrived at Bridge Bay Campsite about 7pm. This was slightly delayed once we had entered the National Park because we would be stopping every kilometre to take photos of animals. Between entering the National Park and the campgrounds we saw Elk, Bison (Buffalo), Coyote and Deer.

Bison in Yellowstone

On the Wednesday we weren't sure what we were going to do so we headed to the visitors centre in Fishing Bridge after breakfast. Due to forecast predicting thunderstorms we decided to do a drive around Yellowstone National Park. This drive was about 250km and, including stops, took us 10 hours. It gave awesome views of lakes, mountains, valleys, geysers, hot springs, a canyon and waterfalls.  We visited the famous Old Faithful Geyser, which erupts every 90mins and sends water 100ft into the air. We also had a look at some of the smaller geysers. During our drive we were also wildlife spotting. We again saw Bison, Elk and Deer and we may have seen two spots that were supposedly bears (we didn't have binoculars, but we were told they were by the people with telescopes).

Old Faithful Geyser

Thursday was our hiking day in Yellowstone. We had decided to do Observation Peak, which is in the Canyon area of the Park. This hike was a 16km round trip with the second 4km of the 8km out being a 425m climb to the peak. We completed this hike in 3hrs 45mins, a bit shorter than the estimated 7hrs. The first 4km went to Cascade Lake and then the second 4km was a climb up to Observation Peak and is the highest altitude we have ever been, getting up to 2864m. We had lunch at the peak which had 270 degree views of the Yellowstone wilderness.

Yellowstone Wilderness from Observation Point

After we finished this hike it was early afternoon so we decided we had time for another short hike. This time we were keen to see some wildlife so we headed to a hike called Storm Point, near Fishing Village. This was grizzly bear area but we didn't see any grizzlies. We did see some yellow-bellied marmots at storm point. Storm point gave some really good view of Yellowstone Lake and surrounding mountains.

Yellowstone Lake from Stormy Point

On this night, as we were getting ready for bed, the campsite host came around to tell everyone that they were expecting 60 mph winds and to put the fire out and do everything to keep the tent down. We got in it. Although after that we had a very wet, cold and windy night.

When we woke up on the Friday morning we were very wet and cold so we packed up quickly and headed off early to our next destination which turned out to be Idaho.

Fifth Stop: Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, USA

When we left Yellowstone we were planning on going to the Sawtooth National Park which is in southern Idaho. After a weather check of this we discovered that it was going to get down to -7C overnight. We decided this was not going to happen so we instead made a beeline for Coeur d’Alene which is northern Idaho. This turned out to be a long drive but it would mean we would have more days in Coeur d’Alene which turned out to be worth it. We therefore reached the campground about 7pm, after taking into account the change in time zone.

Around the campsite

 

Saturday we had decided to do a hike so we went into town to get information. When we got into Coeur d'Alene we discovered there was a car show on and the Main Street was shut. We found the visitors centre and ended up deciding on a hike near Beauty Creek. The hike was supposedly to the top of Coeur d'Alene Mountain, although turned out to be not quite the top. It was 16km round trip, had a climb of about 600m and took us about 3 hrs 45 mins.

Lake Coeur d'Alene from Coeur d'Alene Mountain

After this we found a brewery back in Coeur d'Alene and tried their taster set, it had summer, blonde, amber, brown, IPA and extra Pale ale. It was called Tricksters and they had good summer and amber beers. When we got back to the campsite we had the best campfire meal so far, fish cooked on the fire with chips (from scratch, shallow fried) and salad, it was awesome. We then had some toasted marshmallows and fruit before bed.

Sunday we had another day in Coeur d'Alene and decided to spend it playing by the lake. We went for a walk along the lake and found a place that rented kayaks so we grabbed one and off we went. After a while of kayaking we found a little beach where we stopped for lunch before heading back to the rental place to return to the kayak. We followed this up with some swimming and lying on the beach and then some ice-cream before returning to the campsite.

Lake Coeur d'Alene

As we had a short drive to our last stop, Leavenworth, Marty repeated our hike as a trail run in the morning before heading off.

Sixth Stop: Leavenworth, Washington, USA

About four and a half hours later we arrived in Leavenworth. Leavenworth is set up as a Bavarian village with all the buildings built in the Bavarian style. This is the same town Erin went to last year with friends for Oktoberfest. After finding a place to stay we had a look around and then went to do some tasters at Icicle brewing company.

Festival Hall in Leavenworth
 

Tuesday we had a day in Leavenworth and Marty decided to mix it up and go for a Mountain Bike in the morning. While he was riding Erin went for a walk around town some more. After Marty came back to the site we had lunch and then headed out for a short hike around the winter Nordic ski trails. We didn't have any maps so we wandered for a while before heading back to camp.

Marty before Mountain Biking

Wednesday was the last day of the trip and the day we were heading back to Vancouver. We woke up early and cleaned and packed everything up.

Overall we had a fantastic trip, seeing many things we had never seen before. We still haven’t managed to see a Moose and the bears keep running away from Erin, but all in all we had a great time.

The next part of the trip is travelling the east coast, through Toronto, New York and Boston.

Cheers, Erin and Marty