September 2024

Banff, Glacier, and the Trek to the Midwest 

The start of September took us to Merritt, B.C. where we stayed with The Hat Doctor.  The hosts were very kind and showed us how they make authentic cowboy hats.  As we made our way to Banff we stopped in the towns of Revelstoke and Golden.  We really enjoyed Revelstoke.  It has an avid outdoor community that is heavily involved in mountain biking, skiing, and hiking.  

We had always heard that Banff was beautiful, but we were still awed at the scenery.  Although Banff gets all the attention, there are three other adjacent national parks - Jasper, Yoho, and Kootenay.  During our week-long stay in Banff we spent a short amount of time in Jasper (we limited our access to the Columbia Icefield Skywalk as we heard the town of Jasper was still recovering from the wildfire), and did some short excursions to Yoho.  In Yoho we were captivated by Emerald Lake and enjoyed seeing Takkakaw Falls. 

One of the best things about Banff and the surrounding national forests is that most of the trails are dog friendly.  Lucky loved hiking with us every day.  Here are the hikes we did:

• Peyto Lake to Bow Lake Overlook

• Bow Glacier Falls

• Lake Agnes (and the tea house)

• Johnston Canyon - Lower and Upper Falls (we didn't make it to the Ink Pots since we went after work and we would've been hiking back in the dark) 

After Banff we did a layover in Calgary to restock on some shelf stable items and do laundry.  None of the WalMarts in Calgary allow overnight parking, but Cabelas does! The following day we crossed into Montana through U.S. Customs and Border Protection - Piegan Port of Entry.  There was no line and the agent didn't hold us up with lots of questions.  It's the fastest we've ever gotten through customs, but it's also the smallest border agency we've ever experienced. 

We entered Glacier National Park via the St Mary entrance.  The St Mary Campground was first come first serve, and by the time we arrived we were told it was full.  The ranger at the toll booth gave us a list of campgrounds outside of the park to call.  Hailey was able to reserve a spot at the third place she called.  The following nights were spent inside the park at Avalanche Campground and Apgar Campground.  Although Hailey tried to do as much research and planning as possible in advance, somehow she missed that vehicles over 21 feet are prohibited from driving the Going-to-the-Sun Road.  The Sprinter is 22 feet bumper to bumper, and with the exterior storage box and spare tire, it's 24' feet overall.  We had to turn around at Rising Sun Campground, go out of the park and down and around to enter through the west entrance to get to Avalanche and Apgar Campgrounds.  Hailey tried to get reservations on the red buses that provide tours of Going-to-the-Sun Road but they were fully booked for the time we were in Glacier.  One reservation that was made in advance was the Lake McDonald boat tour.  While on the boat we saw a black bear eating berries near the shore. 

The next leg of our journey was in North and South Dakota.  One weekend was spent driving about 10 hours over two days; the first drive being about 4 hours from West Glacier to Great Falls, MT.  From Great Falls, MT we headed to Medora, ND.  In ND we stayed the night at Grassland Boondocking, which was a beautiful area.  It was a large and quiet space where dozens of campers could easily find a spot and not feel crowded.  While in ND we drove through Theodore Roosevelt National Park where we enjoyed seeing the prairie dog towns, wild horses, and bison. 

The drive around SD took us to Mt Rushmore, Crazy Horse Memorial, and Badlands.  We were impressed by the time, effort, and dedication that is going into the Crazy Horse Memorial.  It was in the 90s while we were in Badlands so we didn't do any hiking.  From South Dakota we did a long push through Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan on our way to Ontario.  We stopped at the Indiana Dunes National Park where we walked the beach.  It was neat to see Chicago across the way, and we didn't realize Indiana had beaches.  We ended the month at Niagara Falls in Ontario.  We were able to park close to Lake Ontario as our Harvest Host had property there.