Our Trek to Alaska Begins...
- ahschneid
- 6 days ago
- 7 min read
Saturday 24 May We got set up and left after 9am. We wanted to cross the border in Sweetwater Montana, which meant some back tracking from Florence MT, but we had planned our trip that way so it was good. We didn’t even have to pull over at the Sweetwater MT border crossing. We just showed our passports and he waved us through after Steve answered a few questions. We were planning to stay in Coutts Alberta which is just about a half mile from the border crossing but the campground didn’t have water. We opted to keep driving another 5 miles to Milk River where there is a municipal campground called Under 8 Flags with full hookups. We had also found a 5pm mass to attend in Milk River at St. Peter’s Catholic Church. We decided to get set up at the campground after mass, so we parked our rig on the side street of the church. It turned out to be a small (about 20) congregation but it was good to get to go to mass. We didn’t think we’d make it timewise with the late start we’d gotten. Last (2024) summer when we attended mass in Canada, we had noticed that people stand at times that we (Americans) kneel. That happened again at St. Peter’s. The priest recognized that we aren’t regulars and he said “you must be the one who called to verify the time…” to Anita. After we got to the campground and got set up, we checked to see if our Internet would work, but it didn’t. So we just read and Anita jotted down notes on the computer for when we have Internet again and the blog can be caught up. The hope is that our T-Mobile Internet box will work in Alaska, since it is a state after all.
St. Peter's Catholic Church - Milk River Alberta - 24 May 2025
St. Peter's Catholic Church - Milk River Alberta - 24 May 2025
St. Peter's Catholic Church - Milk River Alberta - 24 May 2025
St. Peter's Catholic Church - Milk River Alberta - 24 May 2025
Sunday 25 May we drove from Milk River to Banff National Park where we had a reservation in the Tunnel Mountain Village 1 campground. We actually passed our exit up and drove an extra 40 miles or so. It was OK since it was sunny and the scenery was breathtaking. We even saw a coyote walking along in a field! We stayed two nights in Banff to have a day to site see.
We woke up early (6am) on Monday 26 May and were out the door by 7:30am. We wanted to drive the Trans Canada 1 highway AKA the Bow Valley Parkway. We hoped to see wildlife, but didn’t. We drove to Lake Louise and walked to the Lake shore which was about 2.4km. We were done with our walk by about 10:30am, so we started our drive on the Icefields Parkway. Not long after we were on the Icefields Parkway, a light rain started and became heavier at some points in our drive. We stopped for lunch at Athabasca Glacier and then continued driving. We wanted to see the Athabasca Falls, which was closer to the town of Jasper. The Icefields Parkway is halfway in Banff National Park and half in Jasper National Park. Where we stopped for lunch at Athabasca Glacier is just inside Jasper National Park. We could see burned spots from the 2024 wildfires at Jasper National Park. We saw a big horn sheep on the side of the road heading down and away from the road. We also saw three more big horn sheep eating on the side of a mountain. Steve saw a mountain goat eating up on the hill on his side of the road. After we saw the Athabasca Falls, we turned to head home. On our drive home we came upon a few cars pulled over looking at something. We stopped and saw that it was a moose! It was too far to get a good picture, but we could see it clearly with the binoculars. Steve said it was a young bull. We felt pretty good about all we got to see in our one day of site seeing in Banff and Jasper National Parks. We had driven over 350 miles by the end of our day. It felt like another travel day toward Alaska.
Trans Canada Hwy 1 - Banff National Park 25 May 2025
Trans Canada Hwy 1 - Banff National Park 25 May 2025
Trans Canada Hwy 1 - Banff National Park 25 May 2025
Trans Canada Hwy 1 - Banff National Park 25 May 2025
Trans Canada Hwy 1 - Banff National Park 25 May 2025
Rest stop
Trans Canada Hwy 1 - Banff National Park 25 May 2025
Trans Canada Hwy 1 - Banff National Park 25 May 2025
Lake Louise Visitor Center
Trans Canada Hwy 1 - Banff National Park 25 May 2025
Trans Canada Hwy 1 - Banff National Park 25 May 2025
Banff National Park 25 May 2025
Walk around the campground
Banff National Park 25 May 2025
Walk around the campground
Campsite at Tunnel Mountain Village 1 - Banff National Park 25 May 2025
Bow Valley Parkway (Hwy 1A) Banff National Park 26 May 2025
Lake Louise Banff National Park 26 May 2025
Lake Louise Banff National Park 26 May 2025
Lake Louise Banff National Park 26 May 2025
Lake Louise Banff National Park 26 May 2025
Lake Louise Banff National Park 26 May 2025
Lake Louise Banff National Park 26 May 2025
Magpie
Lake Louise Banff National Park 26 May 2025
Lake Louise Banff National Park 26 May 2025
Lake Louise Banff National Park 26 May 2025
Lake Louise Banff National Park 26 May 2025
Lake Louise Banff National Park 26 May 2025
Lake Louise Banff National Park 26 May 2025
Lake Louise Banff National Park 26 May 2025
Lake Louise Banff National Park 26 May 2025
Lake Louise Banff National Park 26 May 2025
Lake Louise Banff National Park 26 May 2025
Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise
Lake Louise Banff National Park 26 May 2025
Lake Louise Banff National Park 26 May 2025
Lake Louise Banff National Park 26 May 2025
A nod to miners...
Icefields Parkway Banff National Park 26 May 2025
Icefields Parkway Banff National Park 26 May 2025
Crowfoot Glacier
Icefields Parkway Banff National Park 26 May 2025
Crowfoot Glacier
Icefields Parkway Banff National Park 26 May 2025
Icefields Parkway Banff National Park 26 May 2025
Athabasca Glacier - our lunch spot...
Icefields Parkway Banff National Park 26 May 2025
Visitor Center Athabasca Glacier
Icefields Parkway Banff National Park 26 May 2025
Icefields Parkway Jasper National Park 26 May 2025
Icefields Parkway Jasper National Park 26 May 2025
Athabasca Falls
Icefields Parkway Jasper National Park 26 May 2025
Athabasca Falls
Icefields Parkway Jasper National Park 26 May 2025
Athabasca Falls
Icefields Parkway Jasper National Park 26 May 2025
Athabasca Falls
Icefields Parkway Jasper National Park 26 May 2025
Athabasca Falls
Icefields Parkway Jasper National Park 26 May 2025
Athabasca Falls
Icefields Parkway Jasper National Park 26 May 2025
Athabasca Falls
Icefields Parkway Jasper National Park 26 May 2025
Athabasca Falls
Icefields Parkway Banff National Park 26 May 2025
On the drive back
Icefields Parkway Banff National Park 26 May 2025
On the drive back - A moose!
Icefields Parkway Banff National Park 26 May 2025
On the drive back
Icefields Parkway Banff National Park 26 May 2025
On the drive back - a bull moose
Icefields Parkway Banff National Park 26 May 2025
On the drive back Bridal Falls
Icefields Parkway Banff National Park 26 May 2025
On the drive back Bridal Falls
Icefields Parkway Banff National Park 26 May 2025
On the drive back - Bridal Falls
Icefields Parkway Banff National Park 26 May 2025
On the drive back - Athabasca Glacier
Icefields Parkway Banff National Park 26 May 2025
On the drive back - Weeping Wall
Icefields Parkway Banff National Park 26 May 2025
On the drive back - Weeping Wall
Icefields Parkway Banff National Park 26 May 2025
On the drive back - Weeping Wall
Icefields Parkway Banff National Park 26 May 2025
On the drive back Weeping Wall
Steve contacted a couple we had met in Congress AZ who live outside of Edmonton, which is our destination for 27 May. Wes and Faye invited us to stay at their place, saying they have lots of room. We arrived at their place around 4pm and they were most gracious hosts. They invited us into their house and showed us around, then they took us for a walk on their property which totaled about a mile. We always like to walk after a day of being in the truck, so it was perfect. We decided to go out for dinner around 7pm. We got back from dinner around 9:30pm and we were all tired, especially Steve and Anita. We planned to be on the road by 7am the next day so we said our goodbyes before we all went to bed. It was really quiet out in the country and we slept like babies. The 6am wake up came way too quickly. We waved at Wes and Faye on our way out. Their little dog had alerted them that we were on the move.
Our walk in the woods - Sturgeon County Alberta - 27 May 2025
Wild Cranberry
Our walk in the woods - Sturgeon County Alberta - 27 May 2025
Wes' game camera picked us up where we stopped to chat at the "lick stick"
Our walk in the woods - Sturgeon County Alberta - 27 May 2025
Sunset
Us with Faye and Wes at their home
Sturgeon County Alberta
The same camera that picked us up the evening before had a few deer the next morning...
Whitetail at the lick stick
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