Alberta - August 2018

Kilometers driven in Alberta: 1,683. Total: 9,699km

A tire change is now due here. From left front to right back, from right front to left back and vice versa. Then we get a good road map and information material from the visitor center.

First of all, today we head north-west until just before Drumheller. There is the Hoodoo Drive here, where hoodoos can be seen, sand sculptures as nature formed them.

to the visitor center and get us maps.

with this great panorama is entertaining. We go to the Interlakes Campground, which is located on Lower Lake. The campsite is great.

Die Nacht bricht herein und es wird stockdunkel. Keinerlei Laternenlicht in der Nähe, eine Stadt auch nicht und der Mond ist nicht zu sehen. Dafür aber ein unglaublicher Sternenhimmel.

Nachdem wir seit Tagen stundenlang gefahren sind, haben wir heute einen Tag Auszeit. Wir wollen laufen. Der Trail, den wir ausgesucht haben, weil er im Reiseführer (Ausgabe 2014) als ganz toll beschrieben wurde gibt es seit 2008 nicht mehr. Also fahren wir ein kleines Stück zum nächstbesten Trail, der an einem See entlang führt. Wir haben vor, ein Stück zu laufen und wenn wir keine Lust mehr haben, umzudrehen.

Am Parkplatz steht ein Warnschild: Vor 2 Tagen wurde hier ein Grizzly gesehen. Hm, wir gehen trotzdem los.

Auf dem Weg kommt uns ein älteres Paar entgegen und die Dame meint, dass einmal um den See laufen 6 Stunden dauert. Das können wir nicht glauben, weil er so groß nun nicht aussieht. Allerdings kann man ihn von keiner Stelle vollständig überblicken. Wir haben ein wundervolles Panorama auf den See und die Berge und genießen den Weg. 

Nach 1 ¼ Stunde erreichen wir einen weiteren Parkplatz und stellen fest, dass wir tatsächlich erst ein Viertel des Weges geschafft haben. Zurück oder weiter?

Wir entscheiden uns für weiter. Unterwegs erreichen wir 2 Wasserfälle. Der Trail ist toll, bis auf ein kleines Stück, wo wir über ein Geröllfeld laufen müssen. 

We are actually 6 hours on the road and happy when we reach the motorhome. That's enough now, we're pretty broken.

We didn't see a bear - and even better - he didn't see us either :-)

In the evening Emma and Wilhelm, 2 Dutchmen come with their bikes and ask if they can stand on our pitch because the campsite is full. Our pitch is huge and they only have a small tent, so no problem. The two started in Vancouver, have already covered 1300km on their bikes and 1700km still to go. Respect!

Everything that needs to be done is taken care of in Canmore: refueling, shopping, dumping, and replenishing fresh water. The latter can be done here at the visitor center.

We're going to the

To the Protection Mountain campsite. You have to get to a place early, otherwise they'll be full. Today it is time to do laundry again and our own “washing machine” is used. We filled them up before we left and the ride did the rest. Worked

Our first port of call today, Moraine Lake, is unavailable. The road is closed. We're going over that Icefield Parkway to the

and make the first stop at Bow Lake

We have been looking for a campsite since noon. Everything fully occupied. Our satnav messed up the last possible place in the park because it told us on the highway that we had reached our destination. We can see the square too, but have passed the driveway for quite a while. (The signage isn't great either). We have no choice but to leave the park and look for a place outside. We'll find one shortly before Hinton.

Then we drive to the small town of Hinton. We or the car need an oil change. We had already made various inquiries on the way, but no one had time.

At the first address today, they are ready to change the oil, but then they discover that the car is too tall for the workshop.

You don't have time at the second address.

At the third address you are ready to change the oil. However, when it is our turn, the good man discovers that the make of our car is not in his computer. Then there is no oil change :-(

At the fourth address you are also ready, but we have to wait 3 hours. All right, it's all worthless. It is already 1 p.m. and looking further does not make much sense. So we wait at 33 ° C right next to the highway.

It's our turn after 2 1/2 hours and everything works perfectly. The only thing they don't have is oil filters for us, but Reinhard had (hopefully) packed enough of them.

At 4.30 p.m. the car is ready. Since we can't get anywhere today anyway, we stand a few hundred meters further in the parking lot of Freson Bros. They expressly allow overnight stays in the motorhome in their parking lot.

A long way lies ahead of us. We leave Alberta and go to