I apologise for the lack of updates. I have, in fact, several unpublished pages written, awaiting upload. But the fact is that, on the nights we actually have Internet access, the network speed is generally so slow, that I am unable to upload more than one page at a time.
We really couldn’t fault the location for our first night under canvas. We woke up to blue skies and clear views of the snow-capped mountains all around. The rain I thought I had heard, turned out to be the sprinkler system on the putting green. Most of the other campers had already left by 8am, but we weren’t in any particular hurry. Since there didn’t seem to be anyone cooking breakfast in the clubhouse, we put our little gas burner together and brewed up a couple of cups of coffee. A few minutes later, the cook turned up with a huge tray of eggs.
We took Hwy 16, the Yellowhead Highway, from Tête Jaune Cache to Hinton, through the Jasper National Park, riding for about 20 miles beside Jasper Lake. Spectacular scenery but, surprisingly, we saw very little in the way of wildlife. Just a few odd coloured deer that John thought were goats and turned out to be neither: mountain sheep. We had a cup of coffee and fuelled up at Hinton, before joining Hwy 40. “The scenic route to Alaska”, the signpost said, followed by “No services for 140km”. The road was indeed scenic. We saw a black bear and several deer. And there were no services until we reached Grand Cache, 140km further north.
If Kelowna was the highlight of the last week, then Grand Prairie was definitely the low point. The nice lady at the tourist information office in Grand Cache had recommended the Tamarack campsite, about 5km south of the town. However, when we got there, it turned out to be an RV (motorhome or caravan) Park. The owner was welcoming, nonetheless, and offered her own lawn for our tent. Unfortunately, it would have still meant a 10km return journey into town for a meal, so we declined. We asked if she could recommend a site a little closer in, so she made a couple of phone calls on our behalf. It quickly transpired that, for whatever reason, “tenters” are not welcome in Grand Prairie. RV owners have the choice of half a dozen well appointed parks, but they don’t provide tent sites anymore. Neither do the more central Provincial Parks, who mainly advertise “Day Use Only”. We did try to find the “Happy Trails” campsite to the north west of town but, having ridden for several kilometres, we came to a gravel road and a sign showing 1.6km further to go. Since we had still not eaten, and there was an ominous-looking dark cloud on the horizon, John suggested we scrap the idea of camping tonight and check into a motel instead.
Dinner was an unsatisfactory affair: dry roast chicken with a barbeque sauce, for which we were overcharged.
In the end, we couldn’t wait to leave.