Blast off!

Success! Our goal was to camp at least once this summer and after our last attempt failed, we were more determined than ever. To improve our chances, we decided to camp mid-week (I know, I know.... we could book a campsite and be guaranteed a site, but many of the campsites that we want to visit are first come, first served. Also, Dale's schedule is erratic at best... so we have to do all of our trips as last minute and pray). We hoped that there would be enough people NOT on holidays that we would find a campsite, and to that end, we headed out on Tuesday afternoon after taking my sister, Tonya (who had visited with her delicious baby boy for the previous few days) to the airport. Our original intention was to drive up to the Columbia Icefields, but after driving as far as Lake Louise (a 2.5 hr drive from our house) and realizing that the ice fields are another 2 hrs further, we decided to camp at Lake Louise instead..... This action precipitated a serious case of Deja Vu......


 the campsite was full.......


With dread in our hearts, we quickly went over our options and resolved to check every campsite between Lake Louise and home until we found a campsite.... even if it took all bloody night! Fortunately, the next two campsites we checked were both almost empty and we chose to stay at a lovely site called Johnston Canyon Campground. The grounds were beautiful, the facilities clean (and I was happy to have flush toilets, although that was not a requirement) and the walking trails were wonderful...... the only downside was that the train tracks were not far off  (I'm guessing a kilometre?) and I was roused at 3:40 am by the ever growing volume of a train passing near  through our tent, punctuated by two rather loud blasts from the horn........

Knitting around the campfire... ahhhhhh.... That's Eli's BTSS, I'm hoping my next blog post will be about it's completion.....	making sure the marshmallow is perfection
this is the life...

The next morning we got up, had a leisurely breakfast and walk by the river and then broke camp. We then hiked up the Canyon to the lower waterfalls. What a Gorgeous! hike!

We followed this up with a drive to Lake Minnewanka and a picnic at the old Bankhead Ghost Town, although we somehow completely missed the "town"..... Eli and I hiked up a nice trail through the trees, apparently missing the "easy" 1.1 km loop through the actual ghost town...... and choosing the trail that lead somewhere up, up and UP...... Now that I know there is a ghost town there, I want to go back! Next time...... we found an awesome camp site close by that is situated on a lovely little lake.... we hope to get there for one night before school starts next week, although it might have to wait until next summer......


Even though it's a lot of work for one night.... I think it's totally worth it!.........