days 18 and 19 - travelling towards BC coast

Tuesday June 20  - Day 18 of trip – Drive to Mt. Robson, BC

Day started off well with death. No, not the death Mary expects..... the early eating of her grandson by a deranged and rabid bear, but with the death of an invader. That's right.  Mr. Mouse bit the big one (peanut butter).

Of course, once Amanda got a good look at the critter, she insisted on digging it a grave, complete with headstone….. Mary would have been proud (sorta….)

Then the whole gaggle of 9 hiked up Tunnel Mountain. Excellent weather, and everyone did great. Travis found the hat I'd lost on the Saturday hike up the same hill. :)

Left Banff and headed towards Jasper up Hwy 93, aka the “Icefields Highway”. This is a beautiful road. We saw fantastic mountains, glacier after glacier, and lots of wildlife.  Several bears, all blacks and all near the road.  Lots of pictures of just fantastic country.  Maybe the prettiest road I’ve ever traveled.  Actually an improvement on 93 down in Montana. J

En route, we also saw a bachelor party of 4 bull elk right next to the road. Two of them were STUDS!  As Deanna was taking 80 pictures of them, she had to be wondering “So what’s so hard about hunting elk? And why do you keep shooting small ones?”

big bull getting bigger.....

Once we arrived in Mt. Robson, we walked over to the nearby river and did a fair job losing tackle but a poor job putting trout in the net. 

Wednesday June 21  - Day 19 of trip – Drive to Smithers, BC

Happy to have another long day of driving done with no issues. J

I believe we saw 7 more black bears on the road, (highway 16).  Short drive expected tomorrow into Prince Rupert, getting ready for the ferry ride the day after tomorrow! 

one of the smaller, rougher looking bears we've seen, but an excellent photo.  he's looking at Amanda in this photo...

Camp is nice, but I briefly feared unexpected death from mosquito attack in the bathroom. Killed 3 before getting out of there.