We stayed at a lovely campground called Riverview a few miles outside Rocky Mountain House. Fabulous place! It is right on the Saskatchewan River, though only a few campsites have a good view; we weren’t one of them! Big grassy sites that were quite level for grass.
After the exhaustion resulting from the Calgary part of the trip, we took it easy for a while. We did visit Tim Horton’s (great sandwiches) and Canadian Tire, both staples of Canadian life. We got to have a special activity at the Rocky Mountain House National Historic Park which I would like to spend more time. Rocky Mountain House was the westernmost big trading post for the Hudson Bay Company. There are actually four historic forts on the grounds, or at least the foundations are there. We just stayed at one end though, doing our activity (making moccasins by hand with Pendleton Wool blankets!), then spending far too short a time at another exhibit. There were docents everywhere, and we enjoyed the presentations about the Métis in the area.
They also had an enjoyable presentation about the music of their community. It was a combination of Scottish/Irish jigs with overtones of indigenous dancing – similar movement to jigs, but quieter with less pronounced foot movements. The Métis were persecuted in the later 1800s, and they were not permitted their language and dancing, but like most such groups, they just hid their actions and kept going.
The historic site was filled with lovely wildflowers.
We we’re headed to the Olympia Icefields the next day, but we were advised that most of the scenic pullouts aren’t big enough for motorhomes, so we drove the road in the car up and back. It was a great idea even though it was rainy part of the day. I think the sky and clouds gave a very gothic look to the mountains. We did see one bear by the side of the road, a two year old that was pretty skinny.
The sun and rain alternated the entire day.
Glaciers were numerous, and the melt from the snowfields and glaciers fed waterfalls everywhere we looked.
And of course there were wildflowers!
We then moved our rolling caravan to the Columbia Icefields for a overnight in the RV parking lot! Obviously dry camping without any hookups, but the views were impressive. We also took a ride to the Athabaskan glacier fed by the icefield on a specialized bus with MASSIVE wheels! Here is what the tour looked like from a distance (pictures taken before our trip).
The tiny dots in the last picture are the people in the first picture.
I think the pictures from the Icefields tour deserve their own post.