August 8

SOLTESWEB.NET ALASKA TRIP 2005 - AUGUST Page 8

Friday, August 26, continued

These were some of the silly vegetable sculptures that the youth exhibited at the fair. We both loved the cabbage frog and were glad it won first place.

We came back exhausted, but had time to do grocery shopping before parking for the night at (no, not Wal-Mart) the Zeller's - Safeway parking lot. :)

Wildflower collection

Saturday, August 27 - Topley Salmon Hatchery

Slow day today...rained a lot last night, some this morning, and still raining tonight. We spent a lot of time at the Saturday AM Farmer's Market and Visitor center. Ed was able to hook up at the Visitor Center to upload several web pages; Patty made several phone calls to family there as well. Ed also was able to get a great price on a new camera using the internet, and will have it shipped to Texas to wait for us. The camera he is using, a Fuji S7000, has already taken 9800 pictures (we're showing you only a small fraction of them), and is in great working order, making it a good prospect for a used item sale on eBay...sorta like trading cameras.

Since it was raining in early afternoon, we decided to skip the second rodeo and move on. Not much to report on the highway. We took a side road to the Topley salmon hatchery on Babine Lake hoping to see some of the "biggest sockeye salmon spawning beds in the world", but the salmon are late this year. The hatchery is still not in operation to allow the salmon to reach the spawning beds. Many salmon, however are ready, as you can see from this picture.

Babine lake is a large lake in the middle of B.C., with some of the best salmon fishing in Canada. We are parked overnight in a Lions campground overlooking the lake. With the rain and gray weather, it looks like fall. We'll try to get a picture of our campsite tomorrow morning.

Sunday, August 28

We got a fairly early start out of the campground, then looked in again at the hatchery. There was activity as they were counting salmon through a gate. The sockeye salmon are very colorful at this stage - bright red bodies and green heads.

We found a nice Vineyard church at Burns Lake, and really enjoyed the service. We were looking for a church , and passed this one at 10:25 am with the service starting at 10:30!

We traveled much today, and got to a pullout at Slim Creek, about half way between Prince George and Jasper. The sunset was very nice...but at 8:30 pm! We're losing light at night, but when we get to Alberta tomorrow, it will be 9:30 there (Mountain Time).

We found a few more plates. Do you wonder what was behind "not for her" or "snowshoe"?

We also wonder about that bumper sticker.

Monday, August 29

We continued today on BC Hwy 6 until we reached Jasper. Before we got there, we went on a short hike to see some falls.

How about the elk we saw on the side of the road?

Miette Hot Springs

We spent a few hours at the Miette Hot Springs, a few miles north of Jasper. The lifeguards were wearing snow jackets because the air temperature was about 45 degrees F (7C), but the water temperature was 102F (39C). We soaked for about three hours and looked a little like prunes, but we were very relaxed after it all.

Staying the night at a Parks Canada campground called Pocahontas, near the hot springs. The National Parks in Canada are getting expensive: $8 per person per day just to be in the park, plus $19 a night for a campground with no services!

Road to Jasper

Tuesday, August 30 - to Whistlers Campground, Jasper

Touring today. Seems like we have sun in the am and evening, but not in the pm., but at least no rain! We drove to several turquoise lakes set amid enormous, rocky mountains. Lots of evergreens. At Medicine Lake, Patty was first to notice that the air had that sweetness and freshness that impressed her at Yosemite. Is a combination of the clear water and evergreens? Do you know? We ended the day at the Whistlers campground in Jasper, where we were also treated to an excellent evening talk on grey wolves by a Park Canada interpreter. What a day! Here are some of the pictures we took today.

Miette to Maligne