Our Volksvegan Adventure

Canada has been quite an adventure! We are still in Banff National Park, and recently went on a 6-day backpacking trip which was really incredible. The park is beautiful and we saw lots of wildlife. The best thing about Canadian National Parks is that they allow dogs in the backcountry, so Juneau got to come with us and of course he loved it, especially the snowfields and the wildlife.

Our backpacking trip began at Johnston Canyon, which has two beautiful waterfalls (and lots of tourists). Then we went through the “ink pots” which are natural cold springs that swirl and bubble up from the earth and create clear pools. Our first stop was Luellen Lake, about 19 km from the trailhead. At the campground, we met two Canadian guys, Mike and Art, who were in the midst of “coctail hour” and invited us to join. As we were chatting by the fire, I heard some rustling in the bushes across the creek. I watched for a bit and saw a huge bear! I alerted the guys and we watched as a mama grizzly appeared with her cub. We made a bunch of noise and scared her away from the campground. She and the cub walked around the far side of the lake instead, and we got to watch them the whole time. It was quite a mystical experience, especially for our first night of our backpacking trip.

The next day we hiked to Badger Pass Junction campground and did a day hike to Pulsatilla pass, which was beautiful and had a great view. The campground was full of mosquitos though, and we all got eaten alive. It definitely made us tougher though, and the bugs didn’t bother us much the rest of the trip. On day three we headed over Badger Pass. It was a beautiful but steep hike, and it was really windy at the top of the pass. We headed down the other side to make some lunch when I spotted some Bighorn Sheep across the valley. We got down to a flatter spot and suddenly the Bighorns were everwhere, all over the trail we were about to hike down! Juneau got very excited and wanted to chase them, but the sheep didn’t seem to notice us much. We watched them for a while from just above their grassy spot, maybe 30 feet away. We ate some lunch as we watched them and counted 17 big males in the herd. Then they headed down the valley and we followed them for a while down the trail. They went up the hillside as we continued our hike, and we got rained on a little bit on our hike to Block Lakes Junction campground.

At Block Lakes Junction we were once again the only people camped there, but there was trash and an illegal fire ring we had to clean up from previous campers. We set up camp and made dinner, and then the rain came back so we decided to call it an early night. The next day we continued on to Sawback Lake, past the beautiful glacier-carved (and aptly named) Sawback Range. The campground was a little ways from the lake, so we set up camp and day hiked to the beautiful lake. The lakes in Banff are all freezing cold from glacier water, so we didn’t do any swimming, although when we put our feet in they pretty much got numb right away!

On day five we hiked from Sawback Lake to Mystic Valley. We saw a few helicopters on the way but other than that the hike was pretty quiet. We stopped for lunch at a creek and when we got to the campground there was one girl camping there. She didn’t come out of her tent or say hi to us at all, so we called her the hermit. We had to dismantle another illegal fire ring (the backcountry campgrounds all have one metal fire ring that is supposed to be used communally, there was one set up in the camping area which is not a good idea because cooking near camp can attract bears). We hiked over to the gorgeous little Mystic Lake before having dinner and a fire. When we got up, the hermit was gone but she had left her trash, so we packed that out along with our own trash and the stuff we’d been cleaning up along the way. We were amazed at how many people disrespect the parks by leaving trash around!

The hike out took us over Mystic Pass, which was beautiful but steep. Our last hike was our longest, over 21 km. When we got back to Johnston Canyon we were very tired and sore, but it was a great trip and we had even made some Canadian friends! The hike was a bit over 80 km total (around 50 miles), so I feel tougher already! I will be uploading pictures as soon as I can, and I even created a photo collection on flickr for our trip, so watch there for pictures of the wildlife and beautiful scenery!

Yesterday we drove over to Lake Louise and saw the beautiful lake and the Victoria Glacier. We stopped by Moraine Lake before coming back to Banff. For now we are in the town of Banff, visiting our new friend Art who lives here, and I’m getting some work done. We plan to go to Mt. Assiniboine Provincial Park for a 4-day backpacking trip. Mt. Assiniboine is called the Matterhorn of the Canadian Rockies and you have to hike into the park, so we hope to start that trip the first of August. We’re enjoying Canada, and although things are expensive, the people are really friendly and the town of Banff is really cute. We hope to see a few more parks on our way out, then go back into Montana to see our friend John at Glacier National Park before going to McCall in mid-August for my parents’ 30th anniversary party. I’m way behind on pictures, so I better get those uploaded. Stay tuned!

Well, we’re in Canada! We got through the border very easily (they didn’t even ask for our passports, weird!) and we stopped in Fernie, BC our first night. Then we headed up to Kootenay and Banff National Parks, which are both GORGEOUS! We are in Banff right now and will be departing on a 6-day backpacking trip tomorrow morning. I’ve gotta bust my butt to get the Co-op newsletter finished when we return from backpacking. Luckily there’s internet in the town of Banff within the park. We’ll probably drive through Banff and do a few day hikes after that, and then possibly see Jasper and Yoho National Parks (we bought a pass for them all so we gotta get our money’s worth).

Banff is amazing, the mountains and waterfalls we’ve seen have been beautiful. The people are very friendly too, and Canadian accents are pretty cute (especially the little old ladies). Although we’re finding that everything in Canada is expensive, especially in the National Parks. We’re trying to cook instead of eating out and finding free camping whenever we can.

We’ll be stopping back through Glacier when we head back through the states to see our friend John, and going to McCall for my parent’s 30th anniversary celebration in mid-August. Other than that, the itinerary is unknown, and that’s just the way we like it.

Whew, it’s been a fun outdoorsy week! We stayed in Bozeman for a little while and Seneca got a new alternator installed so the bus is back in business. We did some backpacking and hiking in the area with our friend Joe. Bozeman is beautiful and it doesn’t take long to really get away in the mountains surrounding the town. We went to Hyalite Canyon and hiked up to the lake to camp. The next day we hiked up beautiful Hyalite Peak and did some ridge walking before heading back down. The photo shows Sen & I on the saddle of Hyalite Peak. After two nights at Hyalite lake (and a bunch of mosquito bites), we went for a day hike at Beehive Basin. Both places were beautiful, but the hiking certainly made my legs sore. I think we’re getting buff with all this hiking!

At Hyalite Lake we saw mountain goats scrambling on the ridge above and we had a thunderstorm sounding off the mountains as we slept the second night. It was great to finally get a backpacking trip in, and Juneau loved it, especially the snow patches. Stay tuned for pictures once I get them all uploaded!

After Bozeman we headed to Missoula, where we stopped for an excellent vegan meal at Tipu’s Tiger, a vegetarian Indian restaurant. We stopped at the Good Food Store to stock up on organic food and then headed toward Glacier National Park, camping along the way at Seeley Lake campground.

Glacier is amazing. We drove on Going to the Sun Road to St. Mary campground, then back through on the road today. The views are fantastic as we climbed through the park, and the bus handled the steep hills just fine. The best part of Glacier was the wildlife. We saw baby & mama mountain goats who were really unafraid of people right near the road, and several more on the cliffs. The babies are soooooo cute! We also saw a bighorn sheep on the cliff, posing for cameras. After leaving the beautiful park, we gave the bus a good cleaning and we’re now in Whitefish, Montana, at the Great Northern Brewery sampling their beer selection (and making use of their free wireless). We plan to head up to Canada now to visit Banff National Park and a few other parks and towns along the way. I’m hoping to get some internet access soon so I can work on the Co-op Newsletter, so stay tuned for photos!

Today Seneca got a new alternator and installed it, and our problem is fixed! We’re back in business! We are planning to do a backpacking trip with Joe near Bozeman for a few days, and then we’ll be heading up to Glacier National Park to visit John, and then possibly up to Canada.

Bozeman is a cute little town and we’ve enjoyed our stay here. It’s good to have friends in cool places, especially when you break down. We’re excited to get back on the road, and I have uploaded some photos to flickr, so check ‘em out!

The volksvegan adventure really begins! We left Boise Friday evening and headed to Craters of the Moon National Monument, where we camped for the night. In the morning we went into the park, which is a black moon-like desert created by ancient lava flows. It’s an eerie and yet beautiful landscape, and we did a bit of morning hiking and cave exploring. Then we headed east to Yellowstone National Park.

We visited Yellowstone last summer, but wanted to drive through again and see some things we’d missed. The park is just beautiful, although in July it’s full of tourists. We saw many animals on our drive through, and babies of each species too! We saw elk and deer, lots of bison (the babies are so cute and playful) and even a mama grizzly and her two cubs! You can see photos of our adventures and the wildlife we saw on my flickr page. Driving through Yellowstone was wonderful, and of course we stopped to see Old Faithful, which sprayed high and splashed all over us (everyone around us ran, but we loved the shower, and the water was cold).

As we continued our drive through the park, we noticed that the battery light stayed on when we started the bus. Later on, we lost power and needed a jump start to get going. We ended up camping at Canyon Village campground (thanks to them finding us a spot because we’d broken down) and in the morning we went to a shop that was right near the campground. Apparently the alternator is not charging the battery, and the battery was dead so we replaced it there. Not quite knowing what was wrong, we decided to head to Bozeman, Montana.

Our friend Joe lives in Bozeman, and thankfully we could stay with him and figure out yet another bus problem. We drove into Bozeman with no alternator (so we couldn’t stop the car, and we didn’t use anything electrical) but we made it! On the way out of Yellowstone we saw the grizzlies and enjoyed the scenery from the bus, and when we arrived in Bozeman, Joe showed us around a little. He lives right near the Co-op, which is awesome, complete with a juice bar and little grassy area for dogs. We’ve been walking around and even found a bar Joe’s friend works at to get grease. Sen is working on diagnosing the electrical/alternator problem and will be getting a new alternator put in while we’re here. Stay tuned…

If all goes well, we’ll be doing a backpacking trip around Bozeman with Joe, and then heading up to Glacier National Park to visit our good friend John who works there. Keep your fingers crossed for a speedy solution to our bus problems. It’s been one problem after another with this bus, but we’re remaining optimistic for now. I’ll upload pictures as soon as I can!

After a lazy Independence Day, we got good news from the mechanic. Apparently he was just having a bad day when he threw a hissy fit about the grease, because he ended up getting the work we needed done. He found out that our problems starting were due to the glow plugs being bad, so those were all replaced. Now she starts right up on the first try every time! He also did some work on the brakes and checked the engine, and it looks like the coolant problems didn’t cause any permanent damage to the engine. Woohoo!

So, we’ve been cleaning, packing, and filtering the grease we collected while we were here and plan to head out later this afternoon once the 100+ degree temperatures start cooling off a bit. We’re heading towards Yellowstone National Park, and hope to stop at Craters of the Moon to camp tonight. In Yellowstone, we’re meeting up with our friend Joe from Bozeman and will spend the weekend in the Yellowstone area and Bozeman. From there, we hope to go up to Glacier National Park to see our friend John who works there, and then we’ll probably go up to Banff National Park and the little town of Nelson in Canada. After that, who knows!

It’s good to be getting back on the road. We had a great time in Boise and it was wonderful to see so many friends, but now that our bus is running better than ever it’s time to get ‘er out on the open road again. Ta ta for now!

Well, we’re still in Boise. It has been fun seeing friends and we went to my friend Jen Jen’s wedding reception on Saturday. We even picked up some free grease (thanks to FillUp4Free) in nearby Middleton.

We waited into the week because Tuesday was the earliest that Wagon Works (a VW place that was recommended to us) could get us in to check out the engine and put in new glow plugs. Yesterday we got up early and took the bus into Wagon Works. A few hours later Sen got a call from the mechanic there. He basically bitched at him and insulted his work on the bus because it was running on veg oil. He didn’t understand the grease system, but instead of asking us about it, he just said it was stupid and he wouldn’t work on it. I guess it’s obvious we’re in Idaho…

We finally convinced the mechanic to change the glow plugs, since he had tested them and found that two were bad. But he wouldn’t test the compression or check our engine to make sure that the coolant problems didn’t harm anything. So, I can’t say I recommend the grumpy mechanics at Wagon Works who fear what they do not know… Unfortunately, today’s a holiday, so nothing’s getting done and it’s supposed to be 105 degrees, so we’ll be spending some time in my parents’ pool! Hopefully the new glow plugs will allow her to start up better, and we’ll be back on the road soon.