End of the Cassiar, Yellowhead, Icefields

 

9/13/25:  We left the campground by about 9:20 to continue the Cassiar.  About two miles out of our site we ran into a sow grizz and her cub.  We put our flashers on and came to a stop.  They crossed the road directly in front of the truck and meandered down the driver side.  The sow had her mouth open and her ears were pinned back.  She didn’t seem overly Peed off, but her look said we are close enough.  I got some great pictures.  

It started to rain about 1/2 hour into the trip and continued for most of the day.  Our first stop was in Gitanyow for fuel, hopefully a breakfast sandwich and coffee.  We only got fuel and coffee.  This place is known for one of the highest concentrations of totem poles in Western BC.  It is worth the stop to check them out.  The detail put into those cedars to describe one’s clan is impressive.  

We then rolled through towns like Kitwanga (end of the Cassiar, which is totally worth the drive.  It is slower paced and there is zero phone service), Smithers (where we stopped for lunch), Houston, Fraser Lake and Prince George.  On this stretch we saw another black bear and a decent mule deer buck.  In Prince George we picked up two jugs of Def and took on fuel.  

Here’s a little rant…I think Def is a giant emissions scam.  (It makes Diesel truck burn cleaner…maybe.). I wonder how much it actually offsets things when you now have plants that produce the def (which is like clear urine), the plastic jug it ends up in with fill tube and most of those jugs come in a cardboard box.  After the manufacturing process, it all winds up on the side of the road or in a landfill.  Def systems also reduce diesel trucks fuel mileage.  Seems like a giant boondoggle.  

Rant over.  We pressed on to Pruden Lake Provincial Park and rolled in as it was getting dark.  It was a long day on the road, 10 hours with our stops.  We have to say bravo to BC Provincial Parks, they do it well.  Clean spacious sites, reasonable pricing and spaced out really nice.  We were just talking that we could spend about 2 months in BC, bouncing from park to park.  We watched a movie and had some snacks for dinner.  Back into Alberta tomorrow.  

9/14/25:  We were up early and out of our site by 8:10.  The dump station was the first stop and we were able to drain the tanks, however, the fresh water connection had been removed.  I was able to get an extra 3 gallons in a jug and we went with that.  

The drive east was a mix of sun, rain and smoke from fires.  It was actually a lot clearer than our trip through last October.  Last year the mountains were in the mist and fog.  Mt Robson, the highest point in the Canadian Rockies was mostly out and I stopped to get a few pics.  We pressed on into Jasper and boy was it in full on tourist mode.  Too busy for us!  We had to drive a maze to take on fuel.  I don’t mean to sound incredulous as I’m glad they are on the comeback from the devastating fires of 24’, it was just very packed.  And packed with a lot of people who cross the road on foot without looking.  

After fuel we hit the Icefields Parkway for the 3rd time in a year.  The scenery was knockout gorgeous again, but every turnout was packed and there were at minimum 24 tour buses at the Colombia Icefield.  The other parking lots were also full.  Traffic near Lake Louise to Banff/Canmore was pretty thick also.  It was Sunday afternoon/evening.  We stopped for fuel in Canmore and ate a quick snack at Canmore Brewery.  The cider was good, Katy liked the beers from her flight and the snacks were okay.  

We pressed on to the Chinook Campground in Cayley AB for the night.  The drive around Calgary wasn’t horrible.  We got settled in at dark, fed the kids and watched a few YouTube shows.  Two 10+ hour days in a row and we were beat.