Beautiful picture, great trip. Love it, thank you for sharing.Warning: Photo Heavy
There is nothing like taking your new rig on a journey to get to know one another. My 22 BL arrived in July and I hit the pavement Late August after an oil change and a last minute camper suspension rebuild. This trip was intended to be the scenic route leaving from Winnipeg, MB and ending up in Alaska, plot twist, I never got there. At least we are nothing but adaptable, but lets get into it. This thread may be photo heavy, I hope you have a good data plan. Join me on the seven week adventure, the full photographic experience can be found under the Bears or Bust tab on my site - HERE. Disclaimer for our southern friends, all locations are in Canada!
I spent the month previous to departure prepping the Bronco and my home/selfbuilt camper. It pulled nicely behind the rig, 7 pin pass through power doesn't appear to be high amperage for charging the camper batteries but its better than nothin. First stop was Regina, SK... checking the hubs at each fuel up. All good.
Learning how to live on the road. I must've repacked the rig and camper every second night along the journey, the weather was varying and so was the clothes/gear required. Stocked up on food and the following day headed down south to the East Block of Grasslands National Park. I setup camp with the other adventurers and got on with figuring this solo tripping out... Now, September in the prairies is traditionally cool and wet. This was not the case when I stepped out into the desert 40º (104F) air. Like the midday heat, the views are breathtaking.
The East block was mostly landscapes, buttes, and hot vibes. Nothing as far as wildlife goes but I would like to head back for Spring. Off to the West Block of Grasslands, 200kms away or so. First on my wildlife list was the Burrowing Owl, these little buggers are the same approximate shape and colour as the Black Tailed Prairie Dog and they borrow the burrows to boot... tough to find but a lifer is worth it. The Burrowing Owl used to be a regular occurrence in MB until industrialized farming/Ag tilled the land and forced them out.
A couple hikes, hawks and hops and I was back onto #1 and off to Calgary, AB to say hi to some friends. The last great storm rolled through, providing a light show like I haven't seen in years. The route from Calgary was up through Banff, thru 1A to Icefields, Up through to Jasper and back out aiming north towards Grand Prairie, AB to meet up with another MB expat. This portion, like all portions contained many hikes and viewpoints. Seeing old friends and making new ones is all in the adventure, talking with locals and regular campers to find hidden gems proved to be quite valuable. Everyone is so nice in the bush, I guess you are surrounded by like minded peeps eh?
Right before I left, I got the rig naked. Driving with no doors and roof is nutty. I love it. however I was not prepared for the euphoria of driving through mountain passes with the panels off. The Bronco was made for mountain roads, and ever single portion of the trip lead me to a better viewpoint as the vehicle allowed me to go to places I never knew were possible.
After hitting up some of the hotspots, cough cough Peyto cough, and skipping others, Cough Moraine. I got up to the Icefields to some new-to-me roads, from here on out, it is all foreign territory. There were a few waterfalls planned for a full day on 93A around Jasper... again, I am nothing but flexible, apparently, because the hike and descending drive at Mount Edith Cavell rewarded me with a Northern Hawk Owl family and a Bull elk with his Harem! How good.
Albert Bierstadt, John Muir, Ansel Adams, and now,...Colby "Boreal" from Canada. John Steinbeck also comes to mind, as you're not a bad scribe either.Again, sorry for all the Images. This is only a fraction of the 35,000+ taken over the course of the trip.
HELLO NORTHERN BC. Fall is chasing me down from the Yukon. After hitting up a Timmies, checking in with the fam, restocking, washing, planning and repacking I was ready to move on and really slow down now that there is zero scheduled pressure. Watson Lake has a great truck stop by the Signpost Forest, check that out if you are bombin around! Since we are doing the scenic tour, lets make it a real good one... Stewart has some cool ecology. My family has always raved about Prince Rupert, maybe it was Prince George... I don't know, add them to the list... Have you ever heard of the Nisga'a Region? Neither had I, guess what, its a volcano with a lava field and culturally charged heritage, it seems geographically cool.. what's not to like. Lets go to all of them! Interior BC, here I come.
The Nisga'a locals have a guided hike to the Tseax Volcano Cone, well worth listening to the tribe member discuss the history, the folklore, the tragedies, the future and the politics.
Being able to meet and travel alongside Julia, Walter and Wilma (Pup) from Germany in their home on wheels was a moment I won't forget. As im writing this they have made their way down along the PNW and recently arrived in Baja, Mexico! Best of luck you guys!
Everything is simply stunning, the land, the species, everything we have in our backyard... is it weird to say that travel makes you appreciate things more?
To get into the Tweedsmuir/Bella Coola region you need to descend through Heckmans Pass down The Hill - 17 kms of switch back @ ~20% grade. The Bronco was kept in 2nd gear and the brakes were used as needed... till they faded; The 2000lb trailer pushing down washboard single lane gravel did not help the case. I pulled over at about 14kms and let the smoking pads cool for 15 minutes before continuing the final descent.
Finally, its Bear Time!
After a couple of "unbearable" days, I decided to try a 4x4 trail to "PURGATORY". Let me tell ya, it felt like heaven when we arrived at the viewpoint!
While I was out of service camping, my mother, who was upset for me that Katmai got cancelled, lined up a session at "Bear Camp". Unbeknownst to me, when I arrived back in connectivity she said head to the Chilco. So I did what any good son does, follow their parents advice, especially for some good Bears. Little did I know at the time what roads laid ahead, if you thought Yukon or Nisga'a roads were bad.. The Chilcotin and Tweedsmuir areas wanna toss their names in the ring.
Like all good things, this too must come to an End. There isn't a ton of fitness required to photo bears eating and luckily for me, the final segment of this trip had many Km's lined up.
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