Sesivany's blog

I sent last message before leaving Wells Gray PP. Now, we are in Hinton, Alberta and we have spent three nice days in Jasper NP.
When we were going to Jasper we stopped at Mt.Robson PP. It was still in British Columbia. Mt.Robson is really a monumental mountain, a giant massif of granite rising from the ground. But we were unlucky because we saw just a half of the mountain, a rest was hidden in the mist. When we arrived to the town of Jasper the weather wasn't so good. It was sometimes raining. We went to IC for some information about trails. We asked about some two-day trail but a woman wasn't really friendly, she told us to go to another table and when we had been waiting there and nobody had come she came to us and gave us a really good advice. She pointed one trail and it was everything. Such a big difference considering Banff. Once we were done in IC we went to the Whistlers Campground which is a huge campground 2km from the town of Jasper. And as usually in national parks it wasn't equipped enough. There were almost 800 sites but just 6 six showers, no internet and toilets 100m from our site. All campground in national parks are operated by national park organisations and all are not good. Every private campground we have visited was far better than them.
Next day, we decided to hike up to Whistlers Mountain. The beginning of the trail was close to our camp. There was also an airtram which takes you 1km under the peak but it's for pensioners and weak people (and by the way it was expensive). I had to hike it up. An information desk recommended 3-5 hours but we did it in 2 hours and 15 minutes. When we reached the end of the airtram the temperature went down very quickly. Suddenly, I couldn't have bended my fingers. On the house where the airtram ended, there was posted the temperature at noon. And it was just 2C! I had just shorts, termoshirt and summer jacket. But we continued to the peak. When we got there it was windy and cold but a view was incredible, propably the best view we have seen since the beginning of your journey. The snow was there, too. A new snow. The winter came sooner than we had expected. We planned one two-day trail with sleeping at elevation 2300m but we had to cancel it because it snowed there! And we are not equipped enough for this conditions.
Wednesday was a lazy day. We just walked around the town of Jasper and I was checking the football match between Slavia Prague and Ajax on my cell phone. Then we just made a small trip to a close lake but we were too lazy to do someting. When we were going back to the campground we stopped at Liquer store to buy some beers because Slavia defeated Ajax and got to Champions league. After we had arrived to the camp we made a small barbecue with sausages and beers. There were several Czech beers in the liquer store, even Lobkowitz or Litovel (for non-Czechs: small breweries in the Czech republic). This barbecue was the best meal since we arrived to Canada and propably since we arrived to the USA this year.
When we arrived to Jasper temperatures during nights were about zero then they went up. Last night was really "hot", about 8C. But I have had some problems with back because the sleeping in the tent is not really comfortable and we have slept in the tent almost for three weeks. That's why I have bad sleeping now.
Today, we decided to make a small hike in Maligne lake area. It sounded interesting because Maligne Lake is the second biggest glacier lake in the world. Trail was 8km long with almost 500m elevation gain. But we were disappointed a bit because we couldn't have seen the lake during the trail. Instead of it, we met a lot of German tourists. They are everywhere Anyway, today was really nice day with a great weather. We were sad a bit when we had to leave Jasper because it's propably the most beautiful park we have ever visited in Canada and North America. We have to head to Edmonton. That's why we left Jasper and now we are in KOA campground in Hinton, 280km from Edmonton.
And by the way: when we were on Whistlers Mountain we met Czech who's lived in Canada for 38 years so we were given some interesting information by him.

Yesterday was quite boring because we were moving from Glacier NP to Vancouver. It was almost 600km on Hwy 1. We made first stop in Revelstoke to have a breakfast at McDonald's (never more). Yesterday, we met first toll highway in Canada and we paid 10 bugs When we were riding in British Columbia I was surprised that the landscape was so dry. It reminded me rather Arizona than typical canadian nature. We made small shopping break 100km before Vancouver and I met first BK since our arrival to Canada (finally!). Unfortunately, Canadian BK is far more expensive than American one. No Whopper Junior for one dollar and my favourite Whopper meal is expensive as well. We also visited Wal-mart and I must say that American Wal-Mart (at least that one in Honesdale) is far better. I couldn't have omitted Liquer Store and I must mension a price. Alcohol is really expensive and it's a thing I don't like in Canada the most. When we arrived to Vancouver we went directly to our hostel which was recommended us by one Irish guy we met in Calgary. It has one big advantage, it's cheap. One night in dorm is about 15 dollars. Ok, it's old building and sometimes a little bit dirty but on the other hand, it's in very nice part of the city and near the centre. When we were checked-in we left the car in a public parking lot near hostel (parking is quite cheap in Vancouver, just 12$ for 24 hours) and went to make a small walk in the city. I must say Vancouver is really nice city and I'm not surprised that it's said to be one of the best places to live in the world. Before coming to Vancouver, Montréal was a clear choise as the best Canadian city but now I don't know. Vancouver is really beautiful and lies by the sea! Anyway North America cities are quite boring. They have a few attractions but nothing more and then you can just walk around and enjoy atmosphere. European cities such a Paris, Rome or Prague are far more interesting. Just buildings are themselves interesting and you can be in a city for couple days and there is still what to do. This never happens in the North America (maybe in New York, it's an exception). But back to Vancouver. Today, we decided to walk in the centre a lot and to visit Stanley Park (something like Central Park in NYC). There was a really nice weather so we could have enjoyed even beaches. And of course we had a lunch at BK. Such a great experience. McDonald's sucks! In the evening, we went to propably the best view of Vancouver - Grouse Grid on Grouse Mountain. We thought we would get there by car but we were wrong. We could get there by gondola or by walk. Because the gondola was about 30$ we chose walking. We thought it would be just an easy walk. That's why I took just sandales and we bought just two-hour parking ticket. But we were wrong again. It was 3km very, very steep trail, like 3kms of stairs. The elevation change was 852m! We were in hurry and we did it in one hour (average time is 90 minutes and the world record is 27 minutes!). We couldn't have gotten back by walk because the trail is closed since 7pm so we had to buy a gondola ticket. Whe we got back to our car Jana packed all her things because she was leaving us. Her US visa ends tomorrow and that's why she has to get to the USA now. We took her to Vancouver Intl. Airport and now she is going to NYC (via Edmonton and Chicago). We are just two sice now. Tomorrow, we spend some time in Vancouver and then we get out of the city to some campgroud. Then we will propably go to Wells Gray PP.

We are back from wildness! We were hiking in the mountains for couple days. That's why I didn't update my blog, but now we are in Campus Hot Springs (in BC) with wireless internet. But slowly, I can't jump over few last days:

Day 4:
This day, we made a hike to Egypt Lake. Before hiking, we visited Information centre again to get informed about accommodation for next day. By the way, we found out that we had to have Parks Canada Passport and we had been two days in Banff NP without it. So we bought it. Then we went by car to the Sunshine Ski Centre where we left the car. We met first Czechs there finally. They visit Banff every year because their daugther lives here and they were from Zlin (my borntown). We chose tougher but more beautiful trail via Sunshine Village which is a ski centre more than 2,000 metres above sea level. Then we continued up to the hills and I think we reached at least 2,400. After 20km hiking, we finally arrived to our campground (without water, but with very nice food storage). We slept near Egypt Lake at 2,000 metres above sea level. And it was really hard night (not for me but Martin and Jana almost got frozen).

Day 5:
We got up and packed all our things and hiked back to our car. Now we chose shorter trail but it wasn't so nice and a bear was seen there few days ago. When we got to the car we loaded all things and hurried to the town of Banff where we visited IC again and "golden arches". I was so hungry that I ate Big Mac meal big size and Wildberry Sundae. Then we bought some food in a grocery and hurried to the campground because it was Friday and almost every hostel, lodge or campground was full. We found vacant sites at Protection Mountain Campground. There was finally water but just cold. It didn't prevent us from washing ourselves (see pic). The night was cold than we had expected. I had my Cat's meow but Jana and Martin really suffered.

Day 6:
This day, we went to Lake Luise, propably the most famous, and as we saw later, the most crowded lake in the Rockies. Because we were tired a little bit after yesterday's hiking we chose just short trail - from Lake Louise to the Six Glaciers and back. But views were incredible. When we arrived to Lake Louise in the morning there weren't so many people. But when we came back there from the hike it was incredibly crowded by Asian and German tourists (Japanese pensioners and German tourist are propably all over the world). When we left Lake Louise we were heading to Moraine Lake. I was also crowded but not as much as Lake Luise. When we got there the weather was getting worse. However, Moraine Lake was awesome. It has beautiful blue color. That's why we recalled it "Silver Power Lake". Dishwashers from Camp Towanda will know We decided to sleep at the same campground as last night, it was just 17km from the village of Lake Luise where I bought two big canes of Molson for the night. When we arrived to the campground it was raining so we stayed in the car and checked pics in the laptop. After less than one hour Martin found out we were out of energy and we could've started an engine. We decided to find somebody who had cabels to charge a car battery. But sooner than we started our neighbours came to us and asked us whether we needed the help. Of course we needed. Then we went to make a small race to charge our battery and we deciced to buy them something. We stopped at Liquer store, in which I had bought two Molsons before, and bought twelve bottles of Pislner-Urquell. When we gave them beers they told us to join them. We found out they already had a cooler full of beers. Awesome! We made a fire, talked and drank. We were suprised how much one of them (Rob, I think) knew about Czech beers. They were young Canadians, ex-schoolmates and they were on the journey through Canada. Two of them were moving from Toronto to Calgary. It was one of the best nights in Canada and North America as well. In the morning when we were leaving, we took a pic of us and them and exchanged e-mails.

Day 7:
The weather got worse and we decided to cancel our detour to Peyto Lake and to go straight to Yoho NP. We arrived there and chose for one campground. It was a mistake of the day because the weather was really bad and getting even worse. When we were accommodated we continued to Takakkaw Falls which are one of the highest in Canada (245m). We walked in the valley to Yoho Glacier. I didn't reach it because the weather was still getting worse and it was late. When we were going back it started raing really heavily and we found out a dark side of the canadian weather. Then we got on the car we made a small race to Emerald Lake just to warm up. The raining is not so bad but temperatures are about 12 degrees and they go down to 0 in the night and this is really bad. That's why Jana and Martin slept last night in the car. I risked to sleep in the tent but I didn't really trust these low-cost tents like ours. The tent survived raining and my Cat's meow pretended me from cold and I slept quite well.

Finally today: We had a shower finally but it wasn't as hot as we had imagined after so cold night. We packed the tent and we were trying to close a boot door. It's starting to be a serious problem because now we are closing it for several minutes. I try to find a problem but just one idea made it slight better. When we did it we continued to Glacier NP. We stopped in Golden to visit "Golden Archies" (we haven't met Burger King yet and that's why Canada has one big minus in my countries rating). We made a stop in Rogers Pass which is the place with one of the most active avalanches in the world. In the afternoon, we arrived to Campus Hot Spring. It's quite equipped campground. There is wireless internet and hot springs pool so that we can warm up our bones
I also added pictures from day 4-6. Check my photoalbum. Pictures from days 7-9 will propably be added tomorrow.

We got up about 6am. First surprise came when I called a rental company at 8am. Although I requested a pick up from Edmonton International Airport in my on-line reservation and they said nothing against it, now they told me they didn't provide a pick up from EIA. So we had to take a bus to Edmonton and then they picked us up. We got a car without problems. The price was quite good but car's little bit older. But as we said it has four wheels and one steering wheel and it can go so it's ok. Jana should'have arrived to EIA about 1pm. We had some time to take a look around and buy some food. I must say there is something about Edmonton. It's propably a backcountry a little bit but it smells of north. If there is huge room in the USA, in Alberta there is twice more room. On the road to EIA, we stopped at McDonald's. I hadn't eaten almost for one day and double BigMac disappear inside me in one sec. After McD, we visited one food store and we found out Canada was more expensive than the USA (old golden Walmart). Jana's flight had a delay and she was unlucky (immigration office) like me so we had to wait for her until 3pm. Then there wasn't any roadblock to go to Calgary. The country between Edmonton and Calgary is really flat, full of farms. We didn't expect really much from Calgary but it was even far worse than we had expected. I have never seen so big concentration of junkies, homelesses and bums. If you go in streets you don't really feel safe. That's why we made just small walking in city centre. People are weird and there is really nothing to see. Calgary tower is ugly and nothing compared to CN Tower in Toronto. Calgary Fort is funny because it is just a few wooden walls. That's why we decided to make just small walk around, take some pictures and get out of Calgary. Tomorrow we go on to Banff NP.

V pondělí definitivně opouštím kemp a končí tím má pracovní část mého pobytu v USA, mířím do Kanady. Jelikož po mně chce hodně lidí z hodně států zasílat informace o tom, jak se mi v Kanadě povede, rozhodl jsem se psát deník na mém blogu v angličtině (ano, měním moji krásnou češtinu za moji hroznou angličtinu Omlouvám se všem rodilým mluvčím a lidem s lepší angličtinou než já). Toto je tedy na delší dobu poslední dvojjazyčný post.

On Monday, I'm definitely leaving the camp and a working part of my staying in the USA ends on that day, I'm heading to Canada. Because many people from many countries has wanted me to send them an information how I'm in Canada I decided to write a diary on my blog in English (yes, I changed my beautiful Czech for my terrible English I apologize to native speakers and those who has better English than me). Thus this is the last bilingual post for a longer time.