Blanket Creek BC to Goldeneye Lake rec area AB

Getting caught up - this is today's entry, Fri Aug 17.

We broke camp even earlier than usual (6am), tried to be very quiet leaving Blanket Creek PP. In Revelstoke we topped up fuel for the van (PetroCan) and for us (Denny's). We tried to do a blog update there but no go. Regular email went out ok though. 

Hopefully this pic was not a bad sign for the day to come...

Ominous black birds

It was quite hazy in places today as we went along TCH#1:

Better in other places though, as well as sporadic construction all along #1:

I've sometimes wondered how they hang those large sheets of what looks like heavy chicken wire, to restrict falling rocks from getting on the highway. Today we found out:

These cranes were huge!

Hang on fellas!

And for the really steep bits

 

We saw what looked like a (maybe small) active fire just a ridge away from TCH#1:

 

It was looking ok along the south part of #93 after we headed north from #1. Hwy 93 becomes the Ice Fields Parkway further north:

However it got worse as we went along. We intended to go a ways north past the Saskatchewan #11 exit, but soon came back to it and started heading east. We really enjoyed that drive on the way west.

Today though, not so nice. On our way west a couple of weeks ago we posted this picture of Mt Michener:

Here's how it looked today:

 

We ended up with a nice camp at Goldeneye Lake Recreation Area. There is boondocking in the area, but 10 km or more on rough gravel roads to get there had little appeal.

We stopped quite early today, partly due to the early start and partly because sites were already filling up for the weekend. No site services; vault toilet facilities again, but quite clean this time.

We were able to get some solar charging today

Today on TCH#1 the westbound traffic was much heavier than our eastbound direction. In earlier years I'd have expected the westbound peak to be over now, but I guess that's why we found the BC roads generally very busy. 

When we changed from towing a trailer to using just a van, we thought our early morning starts and early afternoon stops may change. It's so much easier making camp with the van than with trailer setup, it's not a big deal pulling in late. However, it seems the early start / early stop pattern is just what we prefer doing. The early mornings increase chances of wildlife sightings (not this trip though, we saw few large animals from the road. Just a few deer here and there, and some elk in Prince Albert NP), and there's usually less traffic and less winds. The early stops increase chances of getting a site, since we rarely reserve, and also give us some afternoon relax time.

Today's route: