RV Camping 4 Lakes in BC & Alberta

Good morning. We're at a nice campsite near Fernie. I can't for the life of me remember the name of it, so Mickey will add it in in the editing process. We had a nice trip here. We came in yesterday. Just a beautiful spot we're at. It's a really nice campsite. We were here last year. We'll put a link to our video last year when we were here, and I'm out just for a paddle in the morning. Mickey's doing much better. I was a little worried. If you watched our previous video, I was kind of worried. But really all it took was a couple back massages from me and some icing on her lower back and neck, and really just all she needed to get back to normal. So we're continuing on our journey, heading over towards Waterton Lakes, and looking forward to just enjoying the next several days. The weather's supposed to be great, and I'm out for a paddle this morning, as you know, and just about to head up on that bluff behind me. Such a beautiful day. Such a beautiful area. The mountains. It's just gorgeous. I really, really like it here. Mickey's relaxing right now and just watching the sun on the lake. Just gorgeous. She should have come out for a paddle, actually. That's the campground right over there. I can't quite see our van, but it's right by the water. It's gorgeous. Nice morning. A couple of boats just went by. But otherwise, nice and quiet on the lake. It's starting to get warm. So there's a slight hill behind me. A bluff. And if you know me, I don't like leaving any bluff unclimbed, so I'm going to try and get up there. It's going to be a bit more difficult because I didn't really wear shoes. These are knock-off Crocs. And my foot is getting better, as long as I don't use it too much. Whenever we go for a hike, it gets pretty sore. So we'll see how that goes. I'll give it a try. I'm going to try going up this way. My PFD probably doesn't need it to go up this hill. Beautiful. Ah, a little trail, kind of. It goes along the side. I'm going up. Again, a semblance of an old trail here. OK, time to head back down. Beautiful morning. We actually have to check out in a little bit. So I'll have to scoot across the lake and get down this hill without, hopefully, too much problem. Slow and steady wins the race. A trail coming up the side, so I'm taking it down. It'll take me a little farther away from where my boat is, but that's not a big problem. I can walk along the water. Good morning, everyone. Morning. I think Gordon told you that I'm feeling better, and I am. I'm so glad. It's such a relief to be able to continue our trip rather than cut it short and go home. Ice and back massages solution to everything. Yeah, I got my ice back. Yeah, I think this is the first relaxing morning we had because we both slept in. One thing we wanted to let you know about the BC Parks reservation system is that what happened was yesterday when we were checking out the Kootenay Lake Provincial Park and we couldn't find any spots. As we were driving back, Gordon said, hey, let's just try booking Kikkoman Park and see if we can get a reservation. I said, I don't think we can get a reservation same day because that was already the afternoon. Luckily, we just tried it out, and it actually worked. I think the new BC Parks reservation system, you can now book same day, which is great. A couple hours ahead, which the system didn't used to allow. Thumbs up, BC Parks. That's a nice change. We were just so lucky to get this spot. We've been here before, and we had a nice spot, but this is just wonderful. Yeah, and then the other point we wanted to talk about was Google Maps. Yeah, so on the way here, we'd been here once before, but don't know the roads very well. So we were relying on Google Maps, and that was a bit of a mistake for us. It took us down some circuitous route to a dead end road. I think technically we took us to the park, but to some roadway at the side and the back. So just cautionary note, if you do come to this area, I wouldn't rely 100% on Google Maps. Instead, you might want to rely on the highway signage. Yes, that's probably the better choice, once you get close to the park. Yeah, we chose to trust Google, and sadly it let us down this one time anyway. So if you're looking for a nice drive north up from Kaslo to Kootenay Lake Provincial Park, incredible views, beautiful scenery. And then once you cross the ferry to Kootenay Bay, if you take Highway 3A down to Creston, the views are just amazing. The lake just goes on and on. Yeah, Kootenay Lake, it reminded us to some degree of the drive from Whistler back to Vancouver, but it seemed like twice as long. Just beautiful lake, mountains, it's stunning. Yeah, so it's really worth the drive. Most people I think go on Highway 3 East, but it's nice to just take a detour and try these new roads. And the roads are really quiet, there's hardly any traffic. Yeah, they're good roads. They're not quite as fast, but they're good. Yeah, so it's definitely worth the extra drive. So today we're going to head over to Waterton Lakes National Park, which is just right across the provincial border into Alberta. It's about 2 hours and 20 minutes from here. And so we're going to be there for 3 nights and hopefully do some great hiking, maybe some paddling too, because there's some lakes obviously, Waterton Lakes. And yeah, it'll be fun. And the weather's supposed to be wonderful. Spectacular. So yeah, we're really looking forward to it. So hope you enjoy this part of the trip with us. And I should add too, we continue with our sort of anti-COVID, so we're very cautious as we noted in our previous video. Hand sanitizing, being very cautious, not getting within 2 meters of other people. Most places have been really good. Most of the BC parks have been very good in terms of reminding that. Even the small ferry system, they weren't allowing people out on the ferry. Now the ferry trips are quite short, and even the small vending places at the ferry docks, same thing. 2 meter distance, spray your hands before you do any transactions with them. So, you know, very conscious of that, and we'll continue to be that way as we continue on in our journey. It's different for this trip. We're out for 2 weeks, and we literally have everything we need for 2 weeks. So our fridge is absolutely stuffed full. Mickey was surprised we could get it all in. And because we also may be doing a backpack on this trip, we have 2 full backpacks with tents and things you need. Heavier than normal sleeping bags, so it was a bit more of a challenge for us to actually pack this time. So every nook and cranny in the van, which is a Class B van, is full. And, well, not really. We could actually do a better job, but it's pretty full compared to normal. And then we've got a couple extra backpacks that we have to kind of move around. One sitting in the bathroom right now, because we're not using the bathroom, but we'll take it out when we stop and get stuffed under the bed. It all works. I was surprised that we could get all of that in there. So we've been very pleased with that. And the only sort of nagging issue is we have something that rattles crazy loud over really rough roads, and we just can't seem to figure out what it is. But hopefully we'll get that fixed sometime on this trip as well. Hot tip. They have a dump station in Sparwood at the visitor centre. Hi, everyone. So we ended up at Norbury Lake Provincial Park. We're about maybe 13, 14 kilometres south of Fort Steele and not too far out of Cranbrook, BC. Now we're heading to Waterton Lakes, which is just across the BC border in southern Alberta. And we actually arrived there. Drove in. Beautiful drive. Lake is gorgeous. Mountains all around. Campground, not so great. It's kind of like a bit of a Walmart with grass. But that just kind of happens when you're, I guess, in a national park. And I think it was the only one of the campgrounds that was open. Yeah, there was only two loops open in the town site campground. But we just felt, both Mickey and I, felt uncomfortable. And in part because we've been trying to just restrict our travel to BC, which is what's been encouraged during this whole process. Now, Mickey and I, we thought, well, we're literally just across the border and we're going to basically self-isolate the whole time. We're in our van. We don't have to use their washrooms. You know, we're completely isolated for hiking. So we're not really going to see anybody. We didn't even have to stop for gas. We could buy gas in Fernie, which we did, and drive straight through and then drape back. So that all worked fine. But we just felt really uncomfortable. We were the only BC plates at the campground. And, you know, it just didn't feel right, at least for us. So we basically got up the next morning, took a quick couple other shots of some video of the lake, the mountains, which was just beautiful, and turned around and came back. Coming back on a Friday in the summer when everything's busy, trying to find a place to stay was a bit difficult. We stopped at a couple of parks. One of the ones that we were in just the other day, Keekamon. And then we stopped at Mount Fernie. And both were full and this was like, you know, noon. So we ended up here and it's just a great park. There's Norbury Lake, which is a smaller lake with a couple of residences on it. And that's just like right in the main part of the park. Most of the people actually right now are down there at the lake. And then just across the road is Peckham's Lake. And walked around there yesterday. And then this morning was able to get a nice paddle in at the lake reasonably early. About 8.40 I've been out here on, I think it's Peckham Lake, maybe Peckham's. A little later than normally we'd be out or I'd be out. I like to get out usually when the sun's just coming up about 6 a.m. But we slept in. So it's a beautiful morning. This is about the only quiet time. The challenge with this lake is it's beautiful. But it's not very far off the highway out to Fort Steele. So every time I tried to get this picture of just water and birds chirping, two things were happening. First, there's a ranch not too far behind. And I guess up a little while ago the cows must have just been getting up too. So they were making a lot of noise. And then every time I was just listening to some birds chirping, a truck would drive by on the road. So one of the challenges of being up a little later. Anyway, it's a beautiful spot. Gets fairly busy, I think, during the day. There's a couple of public beaches. Sun's just coming up over the ridge, Mountain Ridge to the east, which is on the other side of that ridge is Fernie. Beautiful, just beautiful. And then we've got this beautiful area behind us that you'll see in some of the video. It's just a great place. It reminds us of the other park. Skihist. Skihist, yeah. Just dry, beautiful trees, ponderosa pines, nice campsite, very quiet. Yeah, I really like it here. Yeah, the other advantage here too is it's all first-come, first-served. And I think they have about 48 sites. So yeah, I don't think a lot of people know about it. So maybe that's why it helped. We were talking about whether we should actually put it in the video or not. So something we could keep for ourselves. But it did fill up last night. So yeah, all the spots were taken by about 5 o'clock. So today we're actually going to head over to Fort Steele, which is a, what is it? Heritage town. A heritage town. It's about 15 kilometers, as Mickey mentioned, about 15 kilometers away. We'll wait for the heat of the day and then probably leave this spot, go visit Fort Steele, and then come back for another great evening. ♪ The origin of Fort Steele is closely linked to the discovery of gold on nearby Wild Horse Creek in the 1860s. The gold rush peaked in 1865 when an estimated 5,000 prospectors flooded into Fisherville, combing the hills in search of their fortune. The gold strike was rich, as many men reportedly earned from $40,000 to $60,000 that summer. Superintendent Samuel B. Steele and 75 members of the Northwest Mounted Police established the first post west of Rocky's Kootenai Post. Fort Steele became the region's commercial, social, and administrative center and quickly grew to over 1,000 people. In 1898, the local prospector newspaper listed the town's thriving businesses, including 11 hotels, 4 restaurants, 4 general stores, a hardware store, a brewery, and a wide assortment of other establishments, ranging from a Chinese drugstore to tailor shops and barristers. The boom at Fort Steele began to slow in 1899 due largely to the efforts of Colonel James Baker, the local member of the Legislative Assembly. Finally, in 1904, the provincial government offices were moved to Cranbrook, and by 1910, Fort Steele was in a state of sharp decline. In the late 50s, local citizens devoted to bringing Fort Steele back to life petitioned the provincial government to protect the old town. In 1961, the government declared Fort Steele a historic park with a mandate to preserve, present, and manage for public benefit the historic settlement of Fort Steele. Okay, the bakery is actually open. Cinnamon buns and other goodies. We're about to find out. Veggie rolls, not so bad. Cinnamon buns, definitely going down on the health, but high on the taste factor. Oops. And then ice cold root beer. Yay! Just the things they would have sold. Same things I think they sold in the 1800s. You're a nice guy. You're a nice guy. All right, this is for one of our viewers, Adrian. Thinking of you. So we're at Fort Steele, and we're just loving it. It's just amazing. Great history. Buildings are phenomenal. Most of them you can only look in the window. This one is the officers' quarters for the Northwest Mounted Police. And yeah, it's nice, and it's cool in here. It's just great. We're lucky, too, we're getting such a great day for weather. And the mountains, and the rivers. It's just an amazing place. Yeah, it's a beautiful area. Thank you everyone for joining us on our quick overnight stop at Waterton Lakes National Park. And an unexpected stay at Norbury Lake Provincial Park. Yeah, which was really nice. We enjoyed it. So hope you enjoyed the video, and be sure to subscribe if you haven't done so already. And thanks for watching. See you next time. And stay tuned for the next video when we go backpacking at Yoho National Park in the Lake O'Hara area.