Toward Jasper - August 14

I can finally say that we have warm/hot weather and I have finally !! taken out some tees and Capris. My feet are in flip-flops finally!!!!  We have only had occasional rain showers and all of British Columbia is so dry that there are no campfires aloud anywhere.
After we left Smithers  we  drove  to Burns lake. They have a municipal campground on the lake. Pretty place and the price was right (free) but as we shortly learned it was a hangout for the town drunks.  We initially had 5 natives at the site over from us drinking to the point where one of them fell asleep and his buddies left him there for hours ubtil he finally woke up and staggered off into town. We then had an enjoyable dinner and watched some of the local families who  brought their kids over to play in the lake. Later that night 7 cars showed up with other locals who caroused until late in the evening. The next morning there were broken bottles, empty beer cans, etc. all over the place.  We drove out very carefully and were glad to leave that town behind.

The weather is getting better. We continued on to the town of Vanderhoff. This one has a Swiss influence. Thankfully it was a very cute, neat and clean town. There wasn't much to see here so we backtracked a little and drove 30 miles out to the Historic town of Fort St. James. This was right up mu alley as it was a restored old fort from the early 1800's and was part of the Hudson bay Fur trading business. this was one of the major stops along the fur route. There were several old buildings to see and the guides were all in period costumes. We really enjoyed seeing this site.  They rent out the bedrooms in the Fort Administrators house. There is no running water in the house. For the comfort of their guests they have a washroom hidden in a seperate building and they have replaced the straw mattresses with new modern mattresses. They will provide dinner and breakfast. The side dishes for dinner are prepared for you but when you are ready to eat dinner you have to cook either your steak or your fish on the wood stove. the next morning the docent will fix pancakes and coffee over the wood stove. I think it would be fun to stay there. You have the run of the site after the visitors leave. You will even have chickens, shepp and cows keeping you company. We were given permission to spend the night in there shaded parking lot overlooking the river.  We had a restful night here thank goodness.

Inside the Fort grounds

Garry "relaxing" in the fur trappers barracks

One of the bedrooms you can stay in.

Wood stove used for cooking.

Inside the mens barracks.

Carol talking to Docent in the Trading Post.

 

The last 2 days we have been parked in a provincial park campground managed by the town of McBride. No charge. It sat right on the LaSalle lake a beautiful fresh water lake. We were surrounded by the Caribou Mountains. They are the outer mountain range before we get to the rockies. .The water was crystal clear and we could see the mountains reflected in the water. Gorgeous. We felt very peaceful here. That evening  we were joined by another camper and a couple who were tenting. They all left the next morning and we had the place to ourselves all day. We put the awning out, got our chairs out and just vegetated by the lake. it got hot enough in the afternoon and the lake looked so inviting that we ended up going for a swim and taking a bath in the lake. It was cold initially but we got use to it pretty quick.

Beautiful laSalle Lake.

Resident geese.

 Still no campfires allowed because of the dryness of everything. Later  that afternoon we were joined by an educational summer camp of 11 kids and 2 counselors who were canoeing, rafting and hiking from Mt. Robson (outside of Jasper) to Vancouver. They had come down to cool off  in the Lake. they were actally camping  on someones property a little way up the highway.

Bathing the old fashioned way.

Garry in the Lake.

 They left at dusk and we had 3 car/trailers arrive to feel up our little paradise.  Oh Well. We had a clear night last night and actually saw stars for the first time in awhile. It is actually starting to get dark around 10 now. It is helping us to sleep better. We are now in a campground with elec. and water outside of McBride.  Believe it or not we are actually running the Air Conditioner. First time all summer.We need to do some servicing to the camper as we get ready to go into Jasper National Park. Stay tuned.