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Campgrounds near "day-hike-able" glaciers in BC?
We are heading back to BC and Alberta this Fall -- and I discovered that I have a thing about glaciers. We are not equipped to hike ON glaciers -- too risky. But last year, we really enjoyed hiking near glaciers in the Rockies, close enough to hear them groan and to watch chunks calving off and to feel the icy wind sweeping over them.
I have tried to search specifically for glacier-related day hikes, but it is very hard to narrow down the search results. We are not backpackers, which limits us a little bit, but we are usually able to cover about 10 miles (16 km) a day, with about 3000 feet (1000 m) of elevation gain.
So that is my rather specific question -- what would you recommend? We are thinking about the Kootenays, the Selkirks, the Bugaboos, and the Cariboos, but we are open to anything.
As always, thanks so much for sharing your expertise!
(PS -- if I don't respond to your comments during the next week, that is because we are camping in the Sierra without internet access!)
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profdant139
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05/11/13 08:16pm |
RVing in Canada and Alaska
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RE: Need Answer Immediately: Gas Fridge Operation
What brand is it? If you turned it on and turned it to gas, some models have no light showing at all unless it is NOT working, in which case the check light comes on. Also, make sure you have power to the fridge -- is your battery connected?
One way to check if the gas is working (and you don't want to wait for the fridge to cool down) is to remove the outside access panel and very carefully touch the burner area at the bottom of the compartment. You should feel heat.
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profdant139
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05/10/13 02:54pm |
Truck Campers
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RE: Lessons we've learned over the years
Larry, it gets worse -- that same sunny Olympic Peninsula afternoon, we were on a bike ride and passed through a residential area on our way to a bike trail. It was a Tuesday. Everyone in the neighborhood -- I mean EVERYONE -- was out mowing the lawn. Old people, young people, power mowers, riding mowers, you name it -- all out mowing at the very same time, around 3 in the afternoon.
It looked like a Lawn Cult: the Tuesday Afternoon Mowing Ritual.
I finally got the courage to ask someone to explain the lawn frenzy. He looked at me like I was crazy and said, "Are you kidding?? This is the first time the grass has dried out in two weeks. It's now or never!"
How was I supposed to know? I'm from California -- we got 5 inches of rain this whole YEAR.
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profdant139
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05/08/13 10:26pm |
Travel Trailers
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RE: Trip to Banff, Lake Louise, Jasper: advice?
Just my two cents on Canadian campground fees -- they are high and they are worth it. The campgrounds are very well maintained and well run, and they are located in amazing places.
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profdant139
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05/08/13 03:58pm |
RVing in Canada and Alaska
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RE: Trip to Banff, Lake Louise, Jasper: advice?
I think we saw folks with rigs of maybe 24 feet at Wilcox -- but it was very darn tight. The roads in the campground are laid out in a series of hairpin turns as it ascends the side of the hill. We camped there in our 14 footer, but even that took some careful jockeying.
You might be better off at the Icefields itself -- we saw many big rigs in the lot there. It is not pretty -- just a parking lot -- but the views are amazing. The views at Wilcox are not panoramic and are mostly obscured by trees, as you can see:
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yTiBvuhK4XE/UIIzdzSh53I/AAAAAAAAD10/2hkvraxsUUw/s320/IMGP9051.JPG height=500 width=300
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profdant139
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05/08/13 10:25am |
RVing in Canada and Alaska
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RE: CA 139 from Susanville CA to Klamath Falls Or
I did this recently with my trailer -- not a big deal, but not a straight shot, either. Empty country, which is just what I like.
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profdant139
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05/08/13 09:30am |
Roads and Routes
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RE: World's best pizza and cheesecake in Manhattan?
John's Pizza on Bleeker in Greenwich Village. Woody Allen's favorite joint. That place changed my life -- after going there, I swore I would learn to make wood fired pizza at home, and I did, and I gained 20 pounds. Thin crust, buffalo mozzarella, fresh basil.
Very tough to find parking for the RV, though. ;)
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profdant139
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05/08/13 09:27am |
Roads and Routes
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RE: A month in the great northwest. What would you do?
Wow -- September in the Cascades. This is wild mountain blueberry season, with Mt. Shuksan in the background:
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ISqg8oCnhwk/UIi7D47PudI/AAAAAAAAECo/ZpljCtrE05g/s320/IMGP9478.JPG height=400 width=600
Unbelievably delicious berries. But be careful not to eat too many at one sitting. Don't ask me how I know this.
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profdant139
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05/07/13 07:49pm |
RV Parks, National Parks, State Campgrounds & More
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RE: A month in the great northwest. What would you do?
Yosemite in the summer can be a zoo (and hot). I prefer Sequoia -- higher, cooler, quieter.
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profdant139
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05/07/13 09:35am |
RV Parks, National Parks, State Campgrounds & More
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RE: Kill the Suds
We use Dr. Bronners soap instead of dish soap. It is more expensive (you get it at organic-type markets or Trader Joes) but it does not make suds. A few drops will wash the dishes. We also use it for showering, diluted.
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profdant139
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05/07/13 09:30am |
Travel Trailers
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RE: Lessons we've learned over the years
All of these posts are bringing up painful memories. Someone mentioned the awning arms. When we got our first trailer, we had a heck of a time putting up the awning. So after several semi-disasters, we tried it at home slowly, several times, till we figured it out. Then we printed out a step by step instruction sheet. Then we laminated that sheet and kept it handy. Eventually we did not need the sheet.
Then we got a new trailer with a different awning mechanism and had to start from scratch. But this time, we knew what we did not know, and we knew that we had to figure it out carefully.
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profdant139
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05/07/13 09:28am |
Travel Trailers
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RE: Nissan Frontier & Fun Finder 189FBR
I towed a small Fun Finder for seven years with a Pathfinder on some of the most difficult roads in North America. No problem. Yes, the transmission cooler did fail, but Nissan said that this was a manufacturing defect and was covered by a recall. Otherwise, it was steady as a rock.
Having said that, I now have a Tacoma -- my mechanic said that they were even more reliable than Nissan. We will see -- so far, so good.
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profdant139
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05/07/13 09:19am |
Travel Trailers
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RE: mattole campground northern ca
Well, technically Mattole is dry camping, not boondocking. And there is dry camping on the coast for big rigs. Kirk Creek in Big Sur, for example. And Prairie Creek up in the Redwoods. And lots of great stuff in Oregon and Washington.
I wish there were true boondocking near the ocean, but I have not found any. Maybe in Baja? Someday, when the situation calms down, I will go back there.
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profdant139
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05/07/13 09:16am |
Public Lands, Boondocking and Dry Camping
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RE: A month in the great northwest. What would you do?
I agree that you are trying to do too much in a month -- there is always next year!
But if you make it all the way out to Washington, don't miss Mt. Rainier:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dtW7wd3cENA/TIRBomewPEI/AAAAAAAACOg/o6-rH8w_eHc/s400/18+frs+paradise+glacier.jpg height=400 width=600
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profdant139
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05/06/13 11:32am |
RV Parks, National Parks, State Campgrounds & More
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RE: Lessons we've learned over the years
Speaking of awnings, on our first trip to the rainy Pacific Northwest from bone-dry Southern California, we pulled into an RV park on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington. I looked around at the other RVs and smugly mentioned to my wife, “Look at these idiots – they don’t even know how to set up their awnings. All of the awnings are crooked, rather than set up nice and level like ours.” (I am ashamed to say that this is a direct quote -- she did not let me forget it. You know where this story is going . . . . )
That night, it rained pretty hard. The next morning, our awning was sagging badly, holding many heavy gallons of rainwater. The local “idiots” and their crooked awnings were perfectly dry because the awnings (of course) permitted the rain water to drain off.
We were just lucky that our awning didn’t break with the weight of the water. And in addition to learning a little humility, I learned something else from the “idiots” – make sure that the lower corner of the tilted awning is as far away from the front door as possible, so as not to flood the area in front of the door.
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profdant139
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05/06/13 11:12am |
Travel Trailers
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RE: mattole campground northern ca
By the way, this is what the area near the campground looks like -- this is taken from the bluff above the campground -- the campground itself is hidden by the cliff. The river mouth is just to the north of the campground:
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zg9rU7ksWPU/Tjx7BCtIyEI/AAAAAAAAC7w/q59D2ciSIOc/s400/IMGP7029.JPG height=400 width=600
And notice that the plants in the foreground are blurry because the wind was blowing at around 30 knots!
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profdant139
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05/06/13 09:45am |
Public Lands, Boondocking and Dry Camping
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RE: mattole campground northern ca
Beautiful campground -- on the beach in the middle of nowhere. Very twisty road. I would NOT take a big trailer on that road. I took my little trailer, and half the time I would come around a hairpin turn and find myself looking at the backside of my trailer. Thank goodness, no traffic. Talk to the local sheriff before you try that road with a big rig.
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profdant139
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05/06/13 09:00am |
Public Lands, Boondocking and Dry Camping
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RE: Santa Cruz, California in the late Fall
We really liked Smithwoods in Felton -- full hookups, lots of shade, right next to Henry Cowell Redwoods, easy access to Hiway 17 and Santa Cruz, quiet. The only downside was weak wifi, and they may have fixed that by now. We have been there several times.
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profdant139
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05/05/13 09:23am |
RV Parks, National Parks, State Campgrounds & More
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RE: Lessons we've learned over the years
Allen, good tips -- especially the one about checking the screw-in drain fittings. On my first trailer, the shower drain would loosen every several months -- not easy to tighten it, since it was way under the shower pan. I eventually had to design a strap wrench to do the job, kind of like the wrench you'd use to undo an oil filter.
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profdant139
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05/05/13 09:16am |
Travel Trailers
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RE: Trip to Banff, Lake Louise, Jasper: advice?
Rolin, the hikes in the Canadian Rockies are at much lower altitudes than similar mountains in the US -- you may find that it is easier than you'd think!
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profdant139
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05/04/13 02:31pm |
RVing in Canada and Alaska
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