| We stayed in the Whistler
Provincial Park at the foot of Mount Whistler and at the end of the
Icefields Parkway, just outside Jasper. It was bitterly cold - winter quilt
weather. |  |
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Travelling through Jasper we passed this old 'Mountain' class loco on
display at the train station. This CN Class Uia 4-8-2 was built in 1923 and
was used on fast passenger trains between Montreal and Toronto. |
| We are now on the
Yellowhead Highway heading east towards Edmonton. As we leave the Rockies we
are in a valley with mountains on both sides but this soon gives way to flat
plains. |  |
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The first fifty miles are very scenic but after Hinton it gets really
boring. |
| The main CN railway link
across the country crosses the Rockies at Yellowhead pass just to the west
of Jasper. This train kept pace with us for a while, the driver waving and
tooting at us. |  |
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But mostly this 300 mile stretch of dual carriageway was long and empty and
often dead straight. There is basically nothing on the road or for a hundred
miles on either side. Then it started raining. |
| It rained most of the
day, and all the following day, pausing only to snow during the evening and
night. The locals said it was the coldest it has been, this late in the
year, since 1948. The campsite was like a lake! |  |
 |
Although motorhomes are common they aren't as common as fifth wheels. There
is no European equivalent. This is a Peterbilt tractor unit and the trailer
has a triple axle and three slideouts. Combined weight in excess of 10 tons
and costing a cool quarter million dollars. It still took him an hour to
park it - at midnight! |
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