Today was a day of driving, hiking and sightseeing in Banff and Yoho National Parks. The area we are in has four contiguous national parks. Banff was the first Canadian National Park. Yoho, Jasper and Kootenay National Parks share borders with Banff. These national parks cover a beautiful portion of the Canadian Rockies.
We hiked to Bow Falls, Johnston Falls, Takakkaw Falls, and visited Emerald Lake, the Spiral Train Tunnels, Lake Louise and Moraine Lake. We camped in the Lake Louise Campground that has an electric fence around the entire campground to keep the bears out. We also saw our first bear alongside the road in Yoho National Park. Both parks have many beautiful views of mountains, forests, rivers and lakes. Unfortunately it was raining most of the day, so the pictures didn’t turn out as well as things looked in real life.
Big Horn Sheep
Banff Main Street
Bow River
Bow Falls in Banff
Johnston Canyon
Johnston Canyon
Johnston Canyon
Johnston Canyon Falls
Johnston Canyon Falls
Johnston Canyon
Castle Mountain
Spiral Tunnels – Train entered in upper left of photo and exits tunnel beneath itself in the middle of photo
It was another rainy night in Canada. So far it has rained every day we have been here. And it was raining in the morning. Today we had scheduled a tour with Canmore Cavern Tours. Our tour was a 5-hour tour through Rat’s Nest Cave, a few miles outside of Canmore. The entire adventure took 5 hours, but we were only in the cave for 3 hours.
Rat’s Nest Cave is what they call a wild cave. There are no lights, paths, safety rails or stairs. You must crawl, squeeze and belly through the openings. The cave is close to how it was when it was discovered in the 1970s. They estimate the cave to be 50 km long, but only 4 km have been mapped. Our tour covers just ½ km close to the entrance.
We met out guide Jami at their office. She is from the eastern part of Canada. There was another couple from California that was part of our group. They usually have 8 people per tour, but we were lucky to only have four. At the office we collected our gear and then drove about 10 minutes to the cave parking area. We had a steep 30-minute hike to the cave entrance, and it was raining pretty hard the entire time. Fortunately we had our rain gear to keep us from getting too wet.
After 30 minutes of hiking we arrived at the cave entrance and put on all our gear; warm clothes (the cave is 40 deg), knee pads, climbing harness, waterproof gloves, red overalls and a helmet.
The first challenge was climbing up the wet rock to the cave entrance and we all made it. Once inside the cave there was a lot of climbing up and down slick rock walls, slithering on our bellies through tight chambers and even sliding on our butts down smooth rockslides. We only had ½ kilometer (about 1/3 of a mile) to go and that took us 3 hours. We were in a room that is called the Grotto and we turned off our headlamps and sat in the dark for 5 minutes. The Grotto had 2 pools of water and a lot of water flowing through the rocks. It was interesting to just sit and listening to the sounds of water dripping.
The climb out was a little faster as we were all used to the equipment and how to move through the cave. The hardest part was climbing up the slick rockslide just below the entrance. Eva struggled a little, but she made it to the top.
When we entered the cave it was cold, raining and we were hiking in the clouds. When we exited, the sun was shining, and it was nice and warm. The hike back to the van was very nice and we took a few pictures. The adventure was a lot of fun, and we were happy we did it.
After the cave tour we drove back to Canmore to buy a few groceries and gas up the van. We then continued up Hwy 1 into Banff National Park. Because it was Canada Day and the park had free entrance, it was a very busy day in the park. But it was late in the day by the time we arrived, so we didn’t have any issue at the entrance gate getting our park pass for the next 4 days. We stopped at a lake near our campsite for a few minutes, but we were in our camp at Two Jack Campground by 6 pm. It was a long and tiring day, so we will have a good sleep tonight.
It was a rainy and windy night as we slept behind the Visitors Centre. And it rained most of the day. We stayed in the van at our camping spot until around 10 am when we drove to the Visitor Centre to use their internet for a while.
Later we went to a grocery store to get a few things. Food is probably a little more expensive that home, but not too different. It was funny that there is a mixture of metric and imperial measurements. Liquids were liters (for most items), but weights were pounds. The fruits and vegetables were expensive, but they had cherries on sale, so we bought a few pounds.
Cardston Temple
Next we drove to the Cardston Temple and parked at the church next door and ate our lunch. It was amazing how crowded the temple was. There were a many patrons and guests. After eating we went to the visitors center and learned about the construction of the temple. The construction started in 1913 and it took 10 years before it was dedicated. Of course, World War I was in that period. The exterior was finished in 8 years, but it took an additional 2 years to complete the interior and furnishings. This was the first LDS temple built outside of the United States.
At 4:30 pm we had an appointment to do baptisms for the dead in the temple. Eva had 20 family names she had prepared over the past few months, mostly her great uncles and aunts. Neither of us had done baptisms for many years, so it was interesting to go through these ordinances again.
After completing the baptisms and confirmations we were talking to a temple worker, and she encouraged us to attend an endowment session. The Cardston temple is one of the few remaining temples where the endowment is presented as progression process. You go from room to room, rather than stay in one room. This is how all the old temples worked before film and video. We didn’t hadn’t scheduled a time, but she said it would be no problem, so we attended the session. It was interesting and different. The rooms were beautiful, with painted murals on the walls. The celestial room was different than other temples we have attended. It had mostly dark wood on the walls and furniture, with a unique woodwork and tapestries. We were glad we went. On the way back to our camping spot, we stopped at A&W for dinner.
June 29, 2024 – Saturday
We camped behind the Visitors Centre again, but the night was quiet and calm with no rain or wind. Later in the morning we visited the Remington Carriage Museum, which was next to our campsite. This museum had hundreds of carriages and wagon from Canada and the US. Many had been restored by Mr. Remington. The museum was very nice, and we are glad we stopped. They are currently restoring several other carriages from other private collectors.
Don Remington of the Remington Museum
After the museum we continued north out of Cardston. We had planned on driving to a riverside campsite, southwest of Calgary, but it started raining and by the time we arrived near the campsite, the road was a gooey muddy mess. We turned around where the road became really bad with deep muddy trenches and holes. We decided to backtrack into Black Diamond a few miles away and paid for a tent site at the Lion’s Club campground. The rain later stopped, and it was a nice evening at a grassy campsite.
The Plains of Southern Alberta
A sloppy, muddy mess we wisely decided not to get into
June 30, 2024 – Sunday
We went to church at the Diamond Valley Branch in Turner Valley. It was a church meeting with three things that were uniquely Canadian. First, the opening hymn was “O Canada”, that had been glued into the end of the hymnal. Tomorrow is Canada Day, so they sang the national anthem. Second, the sacrament bread was sourdough bread. I have never had that in church. And finally, there were only two references to hockey from the pulpit. I thought there would be more. It was a nice meeting, and everyone was welcoming to us.
The modified hymnal with O Canada
After church we drove north to the Rocky Mountains and camped at the Wapiti Municipal Campground in Canmore. We have a fun adventure planned for tomorrow in Canmore.
We continued up I-15 to Great Falls. I have always wanted to see the waterfalls on the Missouri River. Our first stop was Black Eagle Falls. It was a little disappointing. Since we are in early summer, I was expecting the water flow to be higher. However, most of the water is diverted to the hydroelectric plant and only a little was going over the falls.
Black Eagle Falls
Eva dressed as Sacajawea
We continued to the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center on the banks of the river. They had many displays and movies about the Lewis and Clark Expedition of Discovery. They also had a high school history teacher come and talk about the expedition. It was all very interesting. One of the volunteers had a huge Newfoundland dog, the same type that traveled with expedition in 1805 for the 8000 miles from St. Charles to the Oregon coast and back.
A Newfoundland Dog
The Big Missouri River
We did a short hike to Big Spring, one of the largest freshwater springs in the county. It feeds millions of gallons a day into the Missouri River. After leaving the spring we drove about 15 miles to the Great Falls. Again we were disappointed that water was low and there was not much going over the falls. At the interpretive center they had pictures of the falls before the dams and after the dams. Before the dams the falls were massive and beautiful. When the expedition encountered the falls they had planned a day to portage around, but there were 5 huge falls and they had to portage for 18.25 miles. It took them two weeks.
The Big Springs
Crossing to the Great Falls Island
We were not sure what this means
Ryan Dam and the Great Falls
We had reserved a spot at Two Medicines Campground in Glacier National Park for the night. We arrived around 6 pm and enjoyed the evening at camp. We planned to go into Glacier NP tomorrow, but we found out that timed-entry reservations are required. We will leave real early and see if they will let us in the park.
The Plains of Montana
Two Medicine Campground
June 27, 2024 – Thursday
It started raining early in the morning and was raining when we woke up. We left camp a little after 6 am, hoping to arrive early and be able to get into the park without a reservation. We drove about 10 miles until we finally got internet access. We tried to get the reservations but found out the requirement for reservations didn’t apply to the East Glacier NP entrance, only the West entrance, so we didn’t need to be in such a hurry.
However, about 20 miles from the park entrance there was a fatal auto accident in the rain, and we had to turn around and detour through Browning, MT. This added about 30 miles to our trip.
The other reason we wanted to leave early was so we could stop at the visitor center at Logan Pass at the top of the Going to the Sun Road. Last time we visited, the parking lot was full, and we didn’t stop. This time there was plenty of parking because it was rainy, cold and we were in the clouds. The clouds did clear occasionally, and we were able to get a few pictures. The rain continued off and on for most of the day.
The snow at Logan Pass
St Mary’s Lake
Wild Goose Island
Later in the evening we crossed the Canadian Border at Carway and drove into Cardston. We spent the night at a parking area behind the Cardston Visitor Centre. It was nice and quiet, but windy all night long.
Today we started our Alaska trip. We are leaving our house with Alyssa and the boys still here until they leave for California on Thursday morning. Kayla is also turning our house into a girl’s camp for her ward in Layton. They could not find a place to hold their camp, so Kayla volunteered our house. They have a small group, so they will sleep in our basement and enjoy activities around Lehi. They are touring the police department, doing crafts, having a talk on mental health from Kiera and taking a pastry class at Lehi Bakery. They are doing other things, and Kayla has worked hard to get everything setup and planned. She is really good at that. On Thursday, she and Rosie will go to California with Alyssa for a few days.
Eva, Alyssa and the Boys
We left home to start our Alaska trip before 9 am. We made it one mile before we had to make a stop at Lowes and then Home Depot, looking for a plumbing part so I could modify the water system. We then stopped a Kohls so Eva could return a few Amazon purchases that needed to be done before we left.
So we finally got on the road out of town around 10 am. Our first day of travel was not great as Eva was sick. She rode in the back of the van sleeping on the couch for most of the day. We stopped for gas in Idaho Falls and then found a nice campsite on Stoddard Creek north of Dubois, Idaho. We camped in a shady spot on the creek and took it easy the rest of the day. Eva started feeling a little better towards the evening.
Camping at Stoddard Creek
June 25, 2024 – Tuesday
We had a slow start for the day but left camp before 10 am. It was a driving day as we continued north on I-15 into Montana. Our plan was to have long driving days until we get out of the US, then we can slow down as we travel through Canada and Alaska. We found a nice free campsite in the town of Cascade, Montana. It is a city park where they let you camp for free for up to 3 days. We were the only ones there and had a nice level and shady spot. It is close to the freeway, but the noise is not too bad.
We took a short trip south this week looking for warmer weather and somewhere new to hike. We had never been to Gold Butte National Monument that is just southwest of Mesquite, Nevada. We left home a little after 9:00 am and didn’t stop until we stopped in Cedar City for gas and lunch.
We drove west from Cedar City through the mountains to Gunlock to see the waterfalls at Gunlock Reservoir. These falls only appear when there is enough water to breach the spillway at the south end of the lake. The water runs over and around the red sandstone cliffs and rocks. This only happens when the lake is full, which has been rare during the recent drought in Utah. However, this is the second wet year in a row, so the falls were active this year. Mid-March is early in the year, so the falls were not that great. It will only get better as the water flow from the snowmelt increases. I was here in April of 2019 and the volume of water was much greater. But it was still nice to see and hike around the falls.
After visiting the falls, we continued the backway through the desert and mountains to Mesquite. After filling the gas tank we continued to Bunkerville, which is the start of the road to Gold Butte National Monument.
The road was quite rough and hard to drive. It had been paved and repaired many times and that made the road very rough. We had 22 miles of this type road until we arrived at the monument lands. There was a bit of smooth pavement at the beginning of the monument, but then turned to dirt roads. This was much better than broken pavement just out of Bunkerville
We camped the night at the former CCC camp at Whitney Pockets. We were surrounded by a lot of interesting rock formations. A lot of Gold Butte NM has red rocks similar to the Moab area, but not as concentrated and spread throughout the park.
Just across from our camp was the CCC dam that was built in the 1930s to capture runoff from the rocks and then use the water for cattle. It was a nice calm and warm evening.
The next day we hiked the Falling Man trail. This is a short trail where you need to crawl through a short tunnel in the rocks to see the petroglyph of the falling man. There are many other petroglyphs in the area around the trail. You have to just climb and wander between the rocks, cliffs and washes to see the rock art. I had the GPS coordinates to many of the petroglyphs and that helped us find them.
The next trail was to the 21 Goat Panel. This was a short hike through a wash to a large petroglyph panel with many goats chipped into the rocks. We didn’t count them all, but there were more than 21 goats. It was an impressive display of ancient rock art.
Next we drove 20 miles south, deeper into the park. Our next hike was in 7 Keyhole canyon. This is a slot canyon where you pass through 7 openings that are shaped like upside down keyholes. It was quite beautiful and interesting. There is also more rock art spread through the slot canyon.
Our final hike for the day was at Little Finland, named for the red sandstone fins that filled the area. It was interesting to wander and hike through the continuous rock formations.
After finishing the hike, it was getting late, so we camped just below the red-rock fins. Later as the sun set, the clouds cleared and the sun really lit up the red cliffs.
The next morning we drove through the dry washes further south to the Devil’s Throat, a huge sinkhole that appear in the early 1900s. Some cowboys working in the area saw a big cloud of dust appear in the desert and after investigating found the huge sinkhole that had just formed. It is now over 120 feet wide and slowly getting bigger.
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This was our last stop before we headed north. The area is quite remote, and we only occasionally saw other people. 80% of the roads were gravel/dirt and not too bad. But 10-20% of what we drove were through the washes and sometimes it was rough. There were a few spots that high clearance was really needed, but we never had to put the van in 4X4.
On this trip I was testing taking videos with the drone. This is a video of the shot that I put into a quick YouTube video.
It took several hours to drive back to Bunkerville. On Monday we had lowered the air on our tires for a smoother ride on the rough roads, so we had lunch and aired up the tires before hitting I-15 and turning north. We wanted one more day in the sun and warmth, so we found a camp in Cedar Pocket, 15 miles south of St. George. The next morning we continued north on I-15 to our home. It was a fun trip to a new place for us.
For the next 18 months we will be in South America serving as Humanitarian Missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This is an adventure that we are very excited to start. We hope to meet a lot of new people and see a lot of beautiful places. We also hope to help the people of South America.
We will arrive in Buenos Aires on Dec 12, 2021 and we be working throughout the countries of Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and Uraguay.
Click the link below to access the new blog and see some of the pictures from our adventure.
We had a short camping trip to southern Utah for fall break. None of our kids were able to come, but the Pauls, Muirs, Stewarts and Scott Thayn family attended. It was a little cold for this trip. We saw a few patches of snow on the ground, but as long as the sun was out during the day, it was warm. However, as soon as the sun went down in the evening, it got cold fast.
Eva and I left home first and were able to get a camping spot on Hancock Road, just north of Kanab. It was a little close to the road, but it was large enough for all the camping trailers. The rest of the group arrived throughout the evening, so we didn’t do much that evening.
Thursday morning we hiked the Peek-a-Boo slot canyon. Because it was fall break for the schools, everywhere was pretty crowded with a lot of families. The drive to the trailhead was full of deep sand, but we all made it fine. The hike was short, but fun.
After lunch we went to “Belly of the Dragon”. This is a drainage cave under the highway, but was carved from solid rock. It was fun to climb through and the kids all liked it.
Friday we left early to drive to Wire Pass. The trailhead was about 60 miles away near the Arizona border. We were amazed at the improvements at the trailhead. I had been there about 15 years ago and the parking area held about 10-15 cars. Now the parking lot was large and could probably hold over 100 cars. There were 30-40 cars there now and a lot of people in the canyon. We passed dozens of people in the canyon and at times it was too crowded.
Wire Pass is a short, but narrow slot canyon that leads into Buckskin Gulch, the world’s longest slot canyon at 17 miles long. We went into Wire Pass and after a short walk, we came to the only obstacle in the canyon. When we were there 15 years ago, it was a 3-4 foot drop off a large boulder. However, now the drop off was 8-10 feet and undercut below the boulder.
With our large group, we were able to get everyone down easily. After passing through the first section of narrows, we saw that there was now a by-pass trail to avoid the obstacle.
We hiked through Wire Pass to the intersection of Buckskin. After eating lunch we went down Buckskin until we hit knee deep water. We then turned around and hiked up Buckskin a ways. Wire Pass had deep canyon walls and is only 3-6 ft wide. Buckskin has deep canyon walls, but is wider than Wire pass. Both have really pretty sections.
After exploring for a while we retraced our path through Wire Pass back to the trailhead. We hiked about 6.2 miles through the canyons.
On Saturday, we went to Pink Coral Sand Dune State Park, about 10 miles from our campsite. The dunes are a light pink color and made of very fine sand. However, it was a windy and cold day. When you were on the dunes the sand was blowing everywhere. The kids had a wooden sled and they were able to ride it down the steep slopes of the dunes. It was too windy for me and Eva so after lunch we left for home. We were able to get home around 7 pm.
This will be our last van trip for a while. We will be putting the van in storage for 18 months while we go to Argentina.
We decided to have a fun weekend in St. George with the family before we leave to South America. Eva was able to rent a house with a swimming pool and 5 bedrooms in the Santa Clara area.
We had a great time. The grandkids all loved the pool and hot tub. We pretty much spent the entire weekend in the pool. Rosie was swimming like a fish. She would jump off the highest deck into the deep part of the pool. She was also able to dive and get the dive toys off the bottom. Pretty good for a 4 year old. Chandler also really liked the pool and as he became more comfortable he was able to spend time in the deep end of the pool. Rosie and Chandler probably spent 6-8 hours a day in the pool.
Everett was a little more cautious when getting into the pool, but he was able to play in the shallow end and in the hot tub. Two-month old Arlo also loved the pool. We would let the hot tub cool a little and he loved being held in the water. He was able to float on his back, with me only holding his head out of the water. I don’t think he even cried once while in the pool.
On Sunday we went to Pioneer Park in St. George and took family pictures against the red rocks. They turned out pretty good, even though we just used an iPhone and a tripod.
It was a great weekend and we were glad to have the entire family together. It has been a while since we were all together for more than just a couple of hours. We love all of them very much.
Corey & Eva's Travels 
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