Our trip through Jasper and Banff National Parks in the Canadian Rockies was another outstanding adventure. I had been impressed with the Salmon Glacier Road, but this "took the cake". Our first view of the immensity of the Canadian Rockies was from Mount Terry Fox rest area where we stopped for lunch and took a picture of Mount Terry Fox which was named in his honor, a cancer victim who raised $25 million dollars for cancer research while attempting to run across Canada before his death. We pulled out of that rest area and directly in front of us was Mount Robson (elevation 12,972feet). This is the highest peak in the Canadian Rockies and what a sight - just a few clouds covering the top. From that point on, it was sensory overload with unbelievable mountain views. We came to the Jasper National Park entrance. This is a fee area and does require a pass if you are going to be staying in the park but not to travel through.
Jasper National Park is the largest of the series of parks in the Rocky Mountain region. Icefields Parkway is a spectacular, 230Km drive through remote, high altitude terrain with views of glaciers after glaciers. We drove through in 2 days, but could have really spent 2 weeks exploring all of the different park areas and probably not seen it all. I had just reached the top if a 7,600 ft peak when the check engine light came on AGAIN for the 3rd time this trip. The truck was not running hot, the boost was ok, nothing seemed amiss. Luckily we were able to pull off at a rest area and Bob put the code checker on and the code checker indicated "turbo/supercharger under boost" and an "EGR Exhaust Sensor" problem. We decided to go on to Lake Louise and spend the night.
We arrived at Lake Louise Campground around 4:30pm. This is one of many RV/campgrounds along the Icefields Parkway. The sites are all in the tall pines and only about 5 minutes from Lake Louise. Well, here we were in the middle of the Canadian Rockies on a Saturday evening in the little town of Lake Louise with the closest Ford dealership south in Canmore, AB. I forced Bob to drive down to the lake, so that I could get a picture of the famous lake and the Chateau Lake Louise. It was so cold and windy there and there were snow flurries blowing in our faces. It is a beautiful lake with different trails that you can take. The temperature dropped to 30 degrees that night and it was cold when we hooked up to leave in the morning. On the way south to Banff on Sunday, we passed both wildlife underpasses and overpasses. These have been built to allow the wildlife to cross the highway without danger to wildlife or drivers. Eleven species of large animals have used the crossing structures since January of 2009. The overpasses resemble wide grassy bridges with trees on two of the older bridge/overpasses - pretty cool.
We are on our way south today in search of a Ford dealership. Bob will add a comment or two about this. By now it was Sunday, and of course, nothing is open. Bob kept the code reader hooked up, and the truck was running ok, so we decided to take a chance and try to make it to Great Falls, MT, the next largest town. We reached Great Falls without any problems, but the Ford dealership there would not be able to even look at the truck until Wednesday afternoon or Thursday, at the earliest. The service manager felt that we would be OK driving and suggested that we head to Helena, Mt - the next nearest dealership. Off we went. This becomes a comedy. We reached Helena and the service manager there said that they could not possibly help us out until Wednesday or possibly Thursday. He called the Ford dealership in Butte, Mt and checked with them and the gal there said that she could fit us in sometime Tuesday morning so we headed for Butte and pulled into a KOA in the afternoon. Here we are, it is Tuesday, and we just dropped the truck off, hitched a ride back with the courtesy driver to the KOA where we have the 5th wheel parked. We are waiting to hear from them to see if we are safe to go any further or if something needs to be done. We have already traveled 700 miles just to have someone just put a code reader on and see if we have a false read or a real problem. Bob regrets trading in our old dependable Dodge Cummins (170,000 mi without an engine problem) for this monster. Just heard from the Ford dealer. Some kind of internal problem with the Turbo Charger - BUT they do have the parts to fix it so they got right on it. (Coincidence they have the parts or is this a common problem ???). To top all this off, Bob's computer decided to take a CRAP so he's been trying to get it going again. We have taken too many pictures to include them all in the blog, but if you click on the slide show, you can look at them all. So far on this trip to Alaska, we've taken over 1000 pictures. Thank God for digital cameras!! If we would have had to pay for picture development we'd be in the poor house. P.S. It's 73 right now but the gal on the radio said it's going to drop to 33 tonight with rain and SNOW and a high of 44 tomorrow. God I hate this place.(That's from Bob)
Our trip through Jasper and Banff National Parks in the Canadian Rockies was another outstanding adventure. I had been impressed with the Salmon Glacier Road, but this "took the cake". Our first view of the immensity of the Canadian Rockies was from Mount Terry Fox rest area where we stopped for lunch and took a picture of Mount Terry Fox which was named in his honor, a cancer victim who raised $25 million dollars for cancer research while attempting to run across Canada before his death. We pulled out of that rest area and directly in front of us was Mount Robson (elevation 12,972feet). This is the highest peak in the Canadian Rockies and what a sight - just a few clouds covering the top. From that point on, it was sensory overload with unbelievable mountain views. We came to the Jasper National Park entrance. This is a fee area and does require a pass if you are going to be staying in the park but not to travel through.
Jasper National Park is the largest of the series of parks in the Rocky Mountain region. Icefields Parkway is a spectacular, 230Km drive through remote, high altitude terrain with views of glaciers after glaciers. We drove through in 2 days, but could have really spent 2 weeks exploring all of the different park areas and probably not seen it all. I had just reached the top if a 7,600 ft peak when the check engine light came on AGAIN for the 3rd time this trip. The truck was not running hot, the boost was ok, nothing seemed amiss. Luckily we were able to pull off at a rest area and Bob put the code checker on and the code checker indicated "turbo/supercharger under boost" and an "EGR Exhaust Sensor" problem. We decided to go on to Lake Louise and spend the night.
We arrived at Lake Louise Campground around 4:30pm. This is one of many RV/campgrounds along the Icefields Parkway. The sites are all in the tall pines and only about 5 minutes from Lake Louise. Well, here we were in the middle of the Canadian Rockies on a Saturday evening in the little town of Lake Louise with the closest Ford dealership south in Canmore, AB. I forced Bob to drive down to the lake, so that I could get a picture of the famous lake and the Chateau Lake Louise. It was so cold and windy there and there were snow flurries blowing in our faces. It is a beautiful lake with different trails that you can take. The temperature dropped to 30 degrees that night and it was cold when we hooked up to leave in the morning. On the way south to Banff on Sunday, we passed both wildlife underpasses and overpasses. These have been built to allow the wildlife to cross the highway without danger to wildlife or drivers. Eleven species of large animals have used the crossing structures since January of 2009. The overpasses resemble wide grassy bridges with trees on two of the older bridge/overpasses - pretty cool.
We are on our way south today in search of a Ford dealership. Bob will add a comment or two about this. By now it was Sunday, and of course, nothing is open. Bob kept the code reader hooked up, and the truck was running ok, so we decided to take a chance and try to make it to Great Falls, MT, the next largest town. We reached Great Falls without any problems, but the Ford dealership there would not be able to even look at the truck until Wednesday afternoon or Thursday, at the earliest. The service manager felt that we would be OK driving and suggested that we head to Helena, Mt - the next nearest dealership. Off we went. This becomes a comedy. We reached Helena and the service manager there said that they could not possibly help us out until Wednesday or possibly Thursday. He called the Ford dealership in Butte, Mt and checked with them and the gal there said that she could fit us in sometime Tuesday morning so we headed for Butte and pulled into a KOA in the afternoon. Here we are, it is Tuesday, and we just dropped the truck off, hitched a ride back with the courtesy driver to the KOA where we have the 5th wheel parked. We are waiting to hear from them to see if we are safe to go any further or if something needs to be done. We have already traveled 700 miles just to have someone just put a code reader on and see if we have a false read or a real problem. Bob regrets trading in our old dependable Dodge Cummins (170,000 mi without an engine problem) for this monster. Just heard from the Ford dealer. Some kind of internal problem with the Turbo Charger - BUT they do have the parts to fix it so they got right on it. (Coincidence they have the parts or is this a common problem ???). To top all this off, Bob's computer decided to take a CRAP so he's been trying to get it going again. We have taken too many pictures to include them all in the blog, but if you click on the slide show, you can look at them all. So far on this trip to Alaska, we've taken over 1000 pictures. Thank God for digital cameras!! If we would have had to pay for picture development we'd be in the poor house. P.S. It's 73 right now but the gal on the radio said it's going to drop to 33 tonight with rain and SNOW and a high of 44 tomorrow. God I hate this place.(That's from Bob)
1 comment:
Hi Guys, Glad you are back. Sorry to here about your truck. I know you were glad to see the bear at Hyder. We are in MN and it has cooled off here but no snow. Hope you get the truck fixed soon.
Glen and Barb
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