We're we tucked up fast asleep just after 9.30 last night, shattered after the long drive, so no surprise, we were awake early! Just after 6am!! Keith had woken with a sore ear. He had mentioned it last night when we arrived at the hotel. His right ear canal was swollen and closed up. He had a quick chat with the insurance people to see what they suggested. They were super helpful and agreed with our suggestion to check with a local pharmacy first as there wasnt much options for Dr's where we were and if it got worse speak to them again tomorrow when in Jasper.
Having had a chat about what we wanted to do today we decided to head to Helmcken Fall early as we were up, about 45 mins away, then return to Clearwater when the pharmacy was open.
We had breakfast included with the room so popped to the dining area for a cooked breakfast, then packed the cases and checked out. We were on the road before 8am! We passed very little traffic on our way and felt like we had the whole of Wells Grey Provincial Park to ourselves. With just 4km to go the road signs stated that the falls viewing area was closed due to renovation! What!! 41 of 45km completed up a dead end road before a warning! Not impressed.
Not much we could do though, so we turned around and decided to stop at some of the other stopping points we had seen on the way. First stop was a narrow "wooden" bridge we had crossed. Very pretty and very fast flowing through this narrow point in the river.
Pics to follow, sorry
Onwards, and our next stop was Dawson Falls. We had a short walk through the woods, I was a little nervous as we were literally alone and I was conscious it could be bear country, but once we heard the thunder from the water and glimpsed the stunning river and falls I soon forgot about bears. Not tall but such power, it was amazing.
We returned to Clearwater and spoke to the chemist who was very helpful and suggested some antibiotic eardrops as a first step. She thinks it could be an insect bite, he does have one on his cheek and another appeared later in the day on his hand, he must be tasty! We then popped into the supermarket next door to grab some lunch stuff for later (crackers, cheese, turkey and cakes/pastries). We also popped in to Tim Hortons for a coffee and a small box of Timbits.
Back on the road and we drove until 12.30 when we got to Blue River where we decided to stop and enquire about the safari cruise I had heard about. We were in luck with space on the next trip in about half an hr. From the signs outside we assumed this was an hour long boat trip, oh no ... 3 hrs later we returned to Dock! They had suggested we wrap up warm as the second part of the trip often gets chilly so we returned to the car to get our coats although we thought this might ge a bit much. Then we had to don life jackets and they also handed out waterproof ponchos as the weather looked unsettled and said to pop then under the seats until needed.
We started out on what looked like 2 long canoe/kayaks strapped together, not what we were expecting, but hey ho, we'd paid up so off we went. Keith looked a little dubious! We were guided out onto Mud Lake (named after a mountain) and learnt about the habitat surrounding the lake, the trees, the weather and the animals, whilst keeping a lookout on the shore for moose or bears. The guide said if we had waterproofs it might be a good idea to pop them on, no one did, until about 2 minutes later when the cold rain started and we realised he knew better than us! It didn't last long, just a passing shower, but we all kept the ponchos on.
After a while we headed for a pontoon in the middle of the lake where we disembarked and waited for 2 jet boats. We then swapped places with their passengers and set of for a thrilling ride round the bends of the Blue River. We also met the owners 2 dogs who just love joining the passengers on their ride.
Lots more pics to follow but on other camera so will probably wait til I get home!
We paused for a while near the base of Mud Mountain, with a little more chat from the guide, before we set of back down the river to the lake. We paused again by a small "beach" area, and there we saw a black bear! So lovely. We watched for a while til it wandered off back in the woods and we headed back to the pontoon. We swapped boats again back to the double canoes and headed back to the shore first stopping to view a waterfall. The rain had started again along with some hail. We were very grateful for all the layers of coat, life jacket and waterproof ponchos!! The weather changes quite quickly.
Back on dry land, we sat and ate our lunch, although by now it was 4pm, before getting back on track with our journey to Jasper. We did stop for another fuel stop on the way but other than that we just kept going. As we got nearer the scenery changed to more snow capped mountains, taller than the Whistler ones. As we left British Colombia and entered Alberta we rounded a corner to see the most impressive sight, Mount Robson. Absolutely stunning! Just breathtaking.
We also changed time zone so now 7 hrs behind Uk time not 8. We drove on and eventually got to the park entrance and purchased an annual parks pass (c$153). Soon we were entering Jasper itself and quickly found our accommodation for the next 3 nights, The Red Chair Inn, a private apartment found on Airbnb. Its a lovely basement apartment, very clean and modern.
Tired from another busy day, we walked the short distance to town and grabbed a takeaway pizza from pizza hut. Strangely it shares a shop, counter and staff with the KFC who sell fries here not the biscuits the Americans do!
We took the pizza back to the apartment and chilled with a bottle of red wine left by the owners.
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