Lacombe AB to Campers Haven BC

There was some excitement yesterday just as we got into Lacombe, as several Emergency vehicles screamed by while we were getting fuel, heading out of town in the direction we had just come from. Not sure what the problem was, but there was a good assortment of vehicles and they were sure excited.

We had a nice overnight stop at the Lacombe city campground. Some excitement there too, briefly. After we checked in we had a visitor telling us that a 4 year boy was missing from a nearby residence, and to keep a eye out. Luckily he was soon found.  

In the morning a few magpies were roaming the campground. Pretty common here, but pretty unusual to us:

About Bluejay size, a crow relative

Interesting how different the same bird looked with different lighting.

We had a lovely drive west across hwy 11 and on into Banff National Park. This lead-up through the foothills is just gorgeous in places. Don't forget you can click on any picture for a larger image.

Mount Michener from hwy 11

Nice lunch spot

The only wildlife we saw on the morning drive

After entering the Banff park about halfway up the Icefields Parkway, we headed south to take TCH#1 east, intending to head south from there into the Kootenay Park area on hwy 93. Well, 93 was closed to traffic! There was a sign mentioning some road line painting going on, but it was thoroughly closed. Later we found out it was closed due to forest fires near the road.

So, back on TCH#1 heading west this time. There's not a lot of route choices in this part of the world, so we now have to take TCH#1 right through. Yes, it's a tough life on another great drive. :-)

Trundling our way west, we were abruptly halted about 6km east of Field BC (#6 on our route map) by a line of traffic stopped in front of us. At first we assumed it was a construction delay, but eventually we heard there was a major crash just west of Field, about 7 km ahead, and the road was completely blocked. This was about 2:15. 

Looking behind us

A look ahead. There was construction too, not active today.

Lots of rumours developed about when/if the road would re-open. Again we considered alternatives, but again - not really any feasible options for us. So we waited. Being pretty much self-contained, we were better prepared for a wait than many of the other vehicles. Many of those did a Uturn as time went on.

Finally about 5:30 we started to move for real. When we got to the accident site about 6:20 we saw a small very mangled red car, and a fullsize pickup truck with significant damage. The news reported later that there was one fatality.

Once we got past the accident site, the oncoming traffic was backed up for over 20 kilometres (we measured it). We were lucky. A lot of that backup was 2 lanes worth of vehicles too! Plus heavy traffic was heading east to steadily add to the line.

On our way again, we were appalled at how aggressively some people were driving, after what we just saw. Amazing!

Reaching Golden BC we fueled up, and found all the campsites in the immediate area were full, so we carried on West. Getting tired, we pulled off for a cold supper and a break, then pressed on some more to somewhat rustic Campers Haven, near Donald. It sure felt like a haven to us, much later than we usually make camp! 

The map may look a little odd, but it's right. Our route choices didn't go completely smoothly today, even apart from the accident delay.