A Long Break...

We are back in the United States!  We had such a fantastic time in the Canadian Rockies but finding Internet proved to be harder and more effort than we feared in the remote areas we visited.  So, over the next week or so I'll make several 'Canada' entries with some of the highlights of our time there.

Our first destination was Revelstoke National Park. We crossed the border into Canada at Osoyoos, British Columbia.  The line of vehicles going through the border station took about 30 minutes and after a few questions about weapons and showing our passports and Maya’s rabies certification, we were legally in Canada.

British Columbia 97 north was our route and along the way, we passed mile after mile of cherry, apple, pear and plum orchards, vineyards and wineries and fields of corn.  Roadside fruit and vegetable stands were everywhere and we could have been legally drunk in about 30 miles (or I should say 50 kilometers),  if we stopped at every winery.  We bought pounds of fresh peaches, prune plums, apples, ripe tomatoes, cucumbers and corn. 

After staying a night in Kelowna at a commercial RV park, we drove north on BC Hwy 97 until we reached Sicamous and then we took Trans-Canadian Hwy 1 east to the town of Revelstoke and just a few kilometers from Revelstoke National Park.  We walked the quaint little town of Revelstoke and enjoyed the gorgeous flower baskets and planters in front of all the shops and the mountain peak views in every direction. It felt like an Austrian or Swiss village. 

Downtown Revelstoke

Revelstoke National Park is fairly small and has no camping facilities in the park so we drove a short way over to Glacier National Park to camp. Over the next several days we hiked and explored both parks. Both of these parks are not officially in the Rocky Mountains, but the Columbia Mountains.  The Columbia Mountains are the only inland temperate rain forest in the world.  All the other temperate rain forests in Northern California, Oregon, Washington, Canada and Alaska are on the coast.  So this area and these two parks are quite unique.

Giant Cedar Boardwalk Trail in Revelstoke National Park