Day 56 Kootenay National Park Yack, BC Rest Area

Captain’s Blog

Tuesday

July 28, 2009

It was slightly overcast and drizzling when we left the overflow lot. We decided that instead of getting a CG then returning to see the sights in Kootenay we would stop along the route if there was ample parking for the MH.

Our first stop was at the Continental Divide at Vermillion

Pass the dividing line between Pacific and Atlantic watersheds.

There was a hike that supposedly brought you to a great view but we did the hike and never did find that spot. Along the way we did see some unusually looking mushrooms.

We stopped at a CG in the park that was empty and decided that we didn’t want to stay there alone. Kootenay is a little out of the way and is not as heavily visited as the other National Parks in the area.

Within five minutes of Continental Divide is the Marble Canyon. Visiting the Marble canyon

required another fairly long hike up hill. It was well worth the

stop because the canyon was absolutely magnificent and the best part was the waterfalls at the end. The sky blue waters within the canyon gorges were beautiful and the intensity of the falls caused by the thundering glacial meltwater spectacular.

Our next stop was to the paint pots another fairly long hike to the cold, iron rich mineral springs that were once mined for its’ ochre. The paint pots colorings were very rich and vibrant.

Kootenay is fairly small and all that we wanted to see was in a short geographical span. We decided to head out and find a campground to spend the night outside of the National Park.

1. As we drove along every campground we stopped at had a full sign on it. Remember, we passed up the empty CG in Kootenay. We finally saw a CG that looked promising and at that point we needed gas – we were on empty!!! (r0n NOTE: NOT we had 1/4 tank enough for about 130 miles) Well, the entrance to the gas station and BG was not clearly evident so we missed the entrance and ended up on a narrow road to nowhere. We both thought oh-oh we’ll have to unhook the car so Ron can turn the rig around. Well, there was a wide spot in the road – kind of- and Ron turned the MH around with the car in tow by the skin of his teeth. I’m not sure how he did it but we were precariously close to ditching on either side of the road.

Finally, we get in line for fuel and guess what ??????? All the pumps had bags over them sating out of order. Not good. I went to talk to the owners and check out if a campsite was available and they informed me that there was and electrical outage and they could not pump gas or register anyone for the CG – they did have a site. The wait could have been anywhere from 45 minutes (r0n NOTE: there estimate I have been involved with power outages before) to who knew how long so Ron decided we should leave and get gas and a campsite elsewhere.

We did manage to get gas ten minutes down (r0n NOTE: prompted by fitsata looks and reminder if we have under 1/4 we can not run the generator for her hair dryer) the road but not without a struggle. Getting into the station was a challenge because of the location of the pumps. We waited in line and when it was our turn Ron was about to move up when a pick-up truck swerved in front of us (r0n NOTE: now they got the look)and took our place at the pump. Not a good move and rude, too. Well, after filling the tank the two guys stood around the pump chatting. Understand that we are taking up a lot of room and blocking traffic due to the size of the MH and tow car so I got out and asked these dopes to move (r0n NOTE:read between the lines) . Finally with a ½ tank of gas – (at $4.90 (r0n NOTE: hair dryer safe level) we only wanted enough gas to get us back to the States) we were on our way. I noticed a Wal Mart and thought we should spend the night but Ron felt like a CG so on we went. (r0n NOTE: I have no recollection of not wanting to stay at a Wal-Mart?)

Needless to say every CG along the way was full. And to think we passed up and empty CG. Finally we ran into a rest area about ten miles from the border and decided to spend the night there. It was a nice spot and there was another MH there so we weren’t alone. We went through another time zone so were now in Pacific time losing another hour. It got dark much earlier and the sky was overcast. Soon the rain came and the dreary night had us off to bed – me at 8 PM and Ron at 9 PM.