Saturday and Sunday, August 6-7, 2016 - Headed to Canada and Kootenay National Park

Sandy and I left home at 6 AM Saturday headed to Cranbrook, British Columbia via US Route 95. We arrived at the Mount Baker RV Park in Cranbrook at 5:30 PM with 575 miles under our belt. We breezed through Canadian Customs. The weather was mostly clear with temperatures in the low 70s. We did a little grocery shopping, fixed dinner and spent the rest of the evening sitting outside relaxing and reading.

This morning we were up at 7 broke camp and headed to the grocery store for some ice. I can tell you that the Canadians are very proud of their ice as a ten pound block was $5. We also fueled up at $4.75 a gallon. We stopped at a Starbucks for my coffee and a McDonalds for Sandy's "fountain Coke". We ate our breakfast of Cheerios, milk and blueberries in the McDonald's parking lot.

Today took us to the town of Radium Hot Springs and the southern entrance to Kootenay National Park. We are camped at the Red Streak Campground. It was only a 100 mile drive from Cranbrook. It didn't take me long to figure out why the Canadian National Parks are better maintained than their counterparts in the US. Our ten day National Park Pass cost $156. At age 62 I purchased my lifetime US National Park Pass for $10. Go figure.

This afternoon we did a four mile out and back hike to the Radium Hot Springs which at this point is nothing more than a swimming pool with hot spring water in it. We saved the $25 and walked back to the campground.

Tomorrow morning we will drive the 40 or so miles to the Floe Lake Trailhead to begin our 5 day backpack trip on the Rock Wall route. We should be out on Friday afternoon and will have to hitchhike back to the camper.

    Happy campers at the Kootenay NP Visitor's Center

    Mountain Goat at the Visitor's Center

    Viewpoint during our hike

    A disappointing Radium Hot Springs