Day
28, September 9 — The worst day
Locations: Meeting of the Waters; David Thompson Highway
Miles driven: 124
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I set the alarm for
6:20. There was a light rain, so I decided to snooze. It rained all morning.
At 9:45, a park warden pulled in the lot to check things out and ended
up knocking on my window while I was still asleep. Dude, what are you
doing?! I’m not sure if he was wanting to know if I was inside or
on the trail somewhere. Being that it was raining, he may have figured
no sane person would want to be out hiking around. My windows were fogged
up a bit, so that along with the tint, I knew he couldn't see in, so I
didn't answer. I had no reason to answer anyway, plus I looked crummy!
He probably would’ve shot me mistaking me for a beast (note that
it has been 14 days since I last showered) had I opened the door! I waited
for him to leave, then got up at 10:00. I headed down the road to the
Meeting of the Waters Picnic Area to hang out. I already had a severe
case of cabin fever.
The rain stopped at about noon and I took a nap. At 2:50, it remained overcast and had been breezy and rather chilly. I had been doing a whole lot of nothing and wasn’t motivated to go anywhere to look for photo ops. I was lying in bed thinking about my schedule from here on out and figured I had 11 more days in Canada. There was so much left I wanted to shoot and I could really use a few good days.
There was still no change in the weather at 5:30. About 45 minutes ago, I was thinking how someone mentioned to me before I left that the Kootenay Plains area along Highway 11 is often in a rain shadow, and that if it's raining in Banff or Jasper, often times the weather is a different story over there. I got to thinking how that was true for me when I went over there six days ago when it was clear skies over there, but a big gray front hung over this area. I really didn't think the weather was going to be different over there today, but figured I'd go check it out for kicks. Plus, I had only driven the three miles today to this point, and I couldn't just leave it at six for the day!
There was a light drizzle when I left the parking lot and it turned to a steady rain by the time I reached Athabasca Falls. Around the Athabasca Glacier area, it had turned to snow. I arrived at Saskatchewan Crossing at 6:53 and was out to the Kootenay Plains area at 7:09, but the same weather was still present. No rain shadow today. Just one big rain pocket! I began to search for a campsite. I finally found a side road on the north side of the highway with a few dispersed campsites a mile or two past the David Thompson Resort and immediately west of the Cline River sign. I went back to the resort after finding this spot and put only 5.5 gallons in as this place was expensive—1.29/liter ($4.65/gallon)! Sheesh!
I got back to the campsite and made a couple of sandwiches and turned in for the night at 8:53. It was cold and rainy. My thermometer read 53.5 degrees in the 4Runner, but was a undoubtedly in the 30s outside. I would hope for better weather tomorrow. This has been the worst day of the trip and extremely boring to say the least!
10:42 AM —
This is what I was watching
all day—The Whirlpool River in the rain
from the Meeting of the Waters Picnic Area
6:11 PM —
Southbound on the Icefields
Parkway near Beauty Creek
6:12 PM —
Southbound
on the Icefields Parkway near Beauty Creek
6:22 AM —
Southbound
on the Icefields Parkway near
the Athabasca Glacier