It is time to leave Banff behind and make our way further west. We have no set path and we will drive until we find a place to camp for the night. There are places we wanted to stop and believe it or not, we found some impromptu places to go as well. So onward we go on this adventure where we figured out later that day we ended up passing through and/or visiting 4 National Parks that day.
Wednesday – The Day of National Parks
It was another cold night but both myself and Hayden used an emergency blanket inside our bags for extra warmth. This might not be the best idea with a squirmy kid, as all you heard was the crinkle crinkle of foil. (I’m sure Dan was close to evicting us that night). However, we were headed towards the warmer parts of the country, so our nights should be more comfortable.
We had two days ahead of us until we had to be in the Vancouver area to catch a ferry to Vancouver Island, so we tried to take in as much as we could on our drive. These are the long days for all of us as we spend many many hours in a vehicle, stopping when we could to have a little break.
The first stop of the day would be in Yoho National Park where we hiked in to the beautiful Takakkaw Falls. Takakkaw means “it is magnificent” in Cree, and magnificent they are! During certain viewing platforms, the water from the falls will produce a huge rainbow. We could also feel the cool air from the falls as this is fed from a glacier at the top of the mountain.
Beautiful! 
The views are Magnificent!
Just down the road in another really cool stop. There are two major river systems coming together as one, the Yoho River and the Kicking Horse River. One is a glacier fed river that is full of rock flour (so it looks white and cloudy), while the other river is very clear from the silt already being settled out higher in its origin. We managed to scramble our way down to the rivers edge and had a little fun rock jumping and getting pictures.
Where’s Waldo, Hayden version 
Jumping some cool rocks
Onward we went across BC to our next stop, Glacier National Park. Here we did a quick lunch stop in a picnic area. As we drove through there were many places to go hiking, but we were on a bit of a push to get as far as we could that day so we opted to not complete any.
Impromptu Stop
Driving along the highway we spotted a sign that boasted about a mountain top flower meadow. Dan did a little research, as I was driving, and this was located at the top of Mount Revelstoke National Park where you first had to complete 16 switchbacks to arrive at the parking lot at the top of the mountain. This sounded interesting and to top it off, it wasn’t our usual kind of stop. We decided to go for it as our park pass was still in effect until 4 pm that day.
Once parked, we took a shuttle to the very top of the mountain. We could have walked to the top but wanted to maximize our time and as luck had it, the shuttle arrived just minutes after we parked.
At the top we entered the short trail called Past Footsteps. This area has been used for a long time by First Nations people and the path provided stories about how these plants were used in their culture.
Doesn’t this look like the Truffula Tree??? 
The views were amazing! 
In a field of flowers 
Supper Break
For supper we found a beautiful little park in Chase, BC. I really wish we had the time to go swimming, as all the locals were out enjoying the beautiful weather. Unfortunately we had to press on.
Camp Time
During the evening drive we were continually checking our maps to find a viable pace to stop for the evening. There is very little along the road we chose to drive, meaning no national parks, very little provincial parks, and a few select private campgrounds. We opted to stop in a small place called Merritt at a private campground called Moon Shadows RV Campground. They had a few tenting spots and we were hopeful that something was still available.
As we drove up the road we were stopped by a couple of security guards. It was a strange interaction as they were asking all these weird questions about a festival, tickets, etc. Eventually we all figured out that we were not here for any festival and only wanted to get access to the private campground just ahead. WOW. This should have been a red flag for us. Little did we know that on this weekend it was the biggest music festival in this area, and they were already starting their set up. Let’s just say our evening was filled with the sounds of party go-ers. Oh well. The campground was actually really lovely, and I would return again (just not on the long weekend festival LOL).
All set up 
Child being entertained 
We all eventually fell asleep as it was a long day of travel. We would be getting to Vancouver the next day and we were all looking forward to exploring the area. Keep checking in as we are about half way through this adventure series!