August 27-30: ...around 3pm we were getting to the outskirts of Jasper and entrance to Jasper National Park. Luckily, we didn't have to pay any entrance fee for Jasper National Park because of a promotion "Canada Strong Pass" they launched from June 20-Sept 2.
We passed multiple brightly colored lakes and pools, and then found a small herd of Big Horn Sheep on the side of the road.
We had to track down the Visitors Center for our obligatory magnet, and conveniently placed across the street was an ice cream shop! You know we had to get us a treat! The pups joined in on the fun as well.
Jasper was not intended to be our destination for the night, so we started back on the road and passed by some of the burned areas that are in repair on our way through the rest of town.
We found some Elk hiding in the shade.
We were enjoying all the pretty views and peaceful drive until.... BOOM!
The diesel turbo boot clamp exploded and the boot blew off with a horrific sound! Sean knew immediately what had happened because he lost most of his power. We got pulled onto the small shoulder and were luckily close to a pullout, so we unhooked the truck and slowly backed down to the safety of the pullout.
This was by no means a hard thing to fix, but after looking through our inventory of extra parts, there was no correctly sized clamp to fix it. The closest place to get large engine truck parts is in Calgary (about 4 hours away) and they were open until midnight, thank goodness! So, I quickly scribbled on a sheet of paper "Engine broke. Going to get parts" and placed it in the windshield because we knew the park rangers would come by to shoo us off the pullout thinking we were trying to camp overnight, and we loaded the pups and ourselves in the truck and took off!
These were all pictures of Icefields Parkway taken from the truck on our way into Calgary, AB.
Getting darker and actually heavily rained once we got to Banff area.
We arrived to the truck parts store around 10:30pm and Sean was able to get all the parts (and spare parts) we needed.
We got a much needed fill up and then I drove us back because by this time Sean had driven for almost 12 hours. We got back to the motorhome around 3am. We decided it would be best to take a nap and fix the issue in the morning.
We were up and working on the issue by 9:30ish am. The turbo blew the boot off with such force that the opposite end boot clamp embedded into the bottom of the flooring. You can see in the bottom photo the exposed foam where the clamp was embedded (slightly above and to the right of the orange strap). Once we figured how to dislodge the stuck clamp, the rest was easy to fix. The park rangers stopped by to check on us and they mentioned seeing the note in the windshield when they were making rounds at 11pm last night. By this time, Sean was tightening the new clamp and I was cleaning up all the tools.
We were back on the road by 11am!!! On our way to the Icefields Parkway Visitor Center!
The prices for some of the attractions here are outrageous! Sean was interested in doing the Columbia Icefield Adventure which you would be taken up the Columbia Glacier on the snow coach pictured above and allowed to get out on the glacier in a sectioned off area. You could not go off to explore the glacier and the ride was only about 1/4 mile on the ice. Not worth $151 per person...
We opted for a hike to the Columbia Glacier lake instead, lol!
Lots of melting over the years.
You can clearly see our red truck, and next to it, the motorhome from the trail.
We had a great time on this hike despite being sleep deprived.
Evening storms led to beautiful views of our surroundings.
After a very peaceful nights sleep, we headed out early to hit all the highlights we could to catch up with our plans. Above is Tangle Creek Falls.
Sean on the left of Stanley Falls.
Top of Stanely Falls looking down.
Next was Stanley Falls hike. This has to be one of my favorite trails! There are waterfalls nearly the entire way to Stanley Falls.
Sunwapta Falls. Now things are getting a lot more populated.
We stopped at Mount Christie picnic area for lunch and to take in the views. Little did we know we would happen to see something pretty special...
Directly across the Athabasca River from the picnic area we spotted this huge brown bear!
Ever seen a brown bear and a black bear together? Now you have...
This guy is massive!
Our next stop was to Goats and Glaciers viewpoint, but unfortunately it was difficult to search for goats due to the wildfire smoke haze. Those elusive mountain goats!
Athabasca Falls.
Elk herd outside of Jasper townsite.
It was getting warm, so once in Jasper, we made our way over to Edith Lake to cool off.
Once we got back to the motorhome and ate dinner, this bus pulls up in front of us and we immediately recognize it as the YouTubers "The Shinpaughs"! They were out walking their pup when Sean was taking the trash to the disposal and they talked with him for quite a while. Very sweet family!
On our evening walk, we happened upon Mr. Spinpaugh sitting on a rock by himself enjoying the view and he struck up a conversation with us again and Sean got to ask him more about his coach and about their experience on their first Alaska trip. I snagged this photo of the glacier with the moonrise.
It was very cloudy the next morning. As we were heading to Jasper area again, it started heavily raining, but soon stopped. We found some Canadian Geese that were trying to take over the road.
We were on our way from the Iccefields Visitor Center to Maligne Road near Jasper. Lots of wildfire scarring in this area. Eventually, you do get out of the burned forest and we stopped at Medicine Lake to stretch our legs and eat something for lunch on the rocks of the shore. Hershey was very upset that she didn't get to swim here, lol.
We finally drove down to Maligne Lake and hiked a couple of the trails around there. There were no moose in the Moose Lake trail, unfortunately...
We made the long trek back home and this RV rental decided to park in the middle of the road beside us. Oh, these people, lol! Never a dull moment.
How could anyone get tired of this view?
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