Chippewa Falls to Banff

Spontaneity is what we thrive for but it is not easy to do when you have to book campgrounds at certain places for certain dates. Denali, Banff, 4th of July, and a few other events have to be planned in advance and therefore set deadlines for us. 

We booked Denali and now we are on to booking some of the earlier parts of the trip. My calendar is filled with "book this campsite" on this date and "book that tour" on that date. Everything is starting to overlap and I use Google products to keep me organized. I am using My Google Maps, Google Calendar, Google Docs for itineraries, Google Sheets for budget, GMail for bookings and confirmations, and Google Chat to keep Mike in the loop. 

Also using several websites to research places to boondock safely: iOverlander, Campendium, FreeCampsites, and other online resources to help plan the route.

So Leg 3 is from Chippewa Falls, WI to Banff National Park in Alberta Canada. Taking about 3 days to get to Banff and then spending several days in the area for oodles of adventures.

 

We still have more to flush out but this is the gist so far! These are the highlights.

Denbigh Experimental Forest, North Portal Moosejaw, Bugsy’s Irish Pub, Wander the Murals

Dinosaur Provincial Park, Webb National Wildlife Area, Banff National Park - Gondola Ride, Lake 

Glacier National Park

Denali is BOOKED!

Research is a huge part of this Western Adventure. As we have been reading blogs, watching vlogs, communicating with people who have completed this trip in the past we were emphatically told to book ahead for certain National Parks. Denali was one of those. 

As we continued to research we learned more about the Pretty Rocks Landslide. "The Pretty Rocks landslide has been active since at least the 1960s, and probably since well before the Denali Park Road was built through this area in 1930. Before 2014, the landslide only caused small cracks in the road surface and required moderate maintenance every 2–3 years. However, in 2014, road maintenance crews noticed a substantial speed up. By 2016 the movement had increased further, a slump had developed in the road, and a monitoring program was begun. The rate of road movement within the landslide evolved from inches per year prior to 2014, to inches per month in 2017, inches per week in 2018, inches per day in 2019, and up to 0.65 inches per hour in 2021."  (NPS.gov)

 Image from (NPS.gov)

You cannot access Denali Park Road after Mile 43 and it is expected to remain closed through the summer of 2026. That means several campgrounds and roads are inaccessible and you have to travel via tour buses to see most of the park. There are different bus options and some are tours and some are shuttles. The Denali Transit Buses provide a “hop on/hop off” system for those looking to experience Denali National Park and Preserve on their own timeline. We plan to do both.

Most places only open for on-line booking 6 months ahead of time. So we thought booking in December of 2023 for a Sept of 2024 trip would be too early and the site would not let us book. We were wrong we logged in yesterday, Dec 4, 2023 and found that 1 campground was completely booked and the other 2 opened campgrounds were almost full. So we reverse planned our trip to figure out when we would be in Denali. Turns out the campgrounds closing day is Sept 15. We want to be in Fairbanks as late as we can to increase the Aurora Borealis Experience. Also have to be out of British Colombia by October 1 as they have a safety rule "Winter tires or chains are required on most routes in British Columbia from October 1 to April 30."  (GOV.BC.CA)

Sept 10-15 it is! We are booked at Savage River Campground for 5 nights and 2 tours, Natural History Tour and Tundra Wilderness Tour. I love the name Savage River and have high hopes for adventure and animal encounters.  The excitement is building!!! 

America the Beautiful

We received our America the Beautiful pass today. We ordered it online 10 days ago and we are excited it is here! You can go to the US National Parks Service website to get yours. There are several to choose from. I thought it was amazing that a 4th grader gets a free pass, nice tie into the 4th grade state curriculum. Promotes learning in the field opposed to always behind a school desk/table.

Now are trip planning can become more in-depth as we enter our pass number to get discounts. Yippee

$80 + $5 for processing fee gets us discounts to entrance fees at lands managed by the National Park Service and US Fish & Wildlife Service and standard amenity fees (day use fees) at lands managed by the US Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Reclamation, and US Army Corps of Engineers. A pass covers the pass holder and all occupants in a personal vehicle at sites that charge per vehicle or, the pass holder and up to three additional adults at sites that charge per person.  Also expires the last day of the month a year from purchase.

Let the Planning Begin

Mike and I talk A LOT about adventures we want to have in life. When we first got married we created a bucket list of places we wanted to see. Teaching internationally allowed us to knock out several of the countries and landmarks we wanted to see and oh so many more than what was on our list. The pyramids of Giza, Cairo, Egypt, the wonders of Petra, Jordan, the Great Wall of China, the Taroko Eternal Spring Shrine, Taraoko Gorge, Taiwan, the Pantanal in Brazil, Macchu Pichu, Peru, the Amazon in Ecuador, ... 

 

 

   

  

I should stop as that is not what this post is about.

It is about heading West for a new adventure. I have always been jealous of Mike's family trip in the late '80s to the National Parks in the US, a 6 week summer adventure. We have since visited some of the places together but not many. This trip he gets to introduce me to many more.

The planning started months ago, 10 months or so ago when we sold the house. I decided we were going on a road trip and we were to buy an RV. Well we did buy one, LIBB, and lived out of it from April - October. No exciting trips but several beautiful campgrounds and learned what worked and did not work for us in LIBB. 

We had to buy a few things to make life easier: a voltage reader, 20V Cordless Drill and Impact Driver and socket set, a 1 and 1/16 socket with extender, battery charger, wheel stabilizers, levelers, chocks, portable tire inflator, awning mop, and twin size bed sheets.

We have updated/changed a few things: a new 230ah Lithium battery, swapped the side opening cabinet doors to bottom up, replaced glass on stove top with cutting board.

Added a few things: added 6 inch memory foam toppers to the twin beds, spices racks, wired shelves in fridge, added tension rods to the fridge, added adjustable tension rod shelf to bathroom cabinet, mounted paper towel holder, bug guards on outside vents, over door towel hangers, a collapsible trash holder, and a suspended tissue box by the bed.

As well as more updates planned. Adding another solar panel to the roof, a Victron Solar Panel Controller 100/30 MPPT and a Victron shunt.

Also updated our TV (tow vehicle) from the amazing, loved 2003 Toyota 4 Runner to a 2022 Ford 150. Unfortunately the 4 Runner was no longer road worthy, it was a sad goodbye.

So 10months ago I created a My Google Map and added all the US and Canadian National and Provincial Parks. Blue tags are US parks, reddish/orange are Canadian, green checks we have been to already and black is already a stop on our trip.

Then I added where my  family and friends live. Purple is Canadian friends, orange is American and pink is family.

Then creating the overlap of the two maps

Wow! A lot of places and people to visit.

Leg 1 of our trip starts before we will be towing LIBB. VA to Canada and back. We are going up to see the Solar Eclipse in Canada, April 8th, with some dear friends. Along the way we will stop in CT, ME and PEI to visit family and another set of dear friends. The black dots without the blue line, we have done this route a gazillion times so we don't need to map it.

 

After a few days of looking into places and locations of friends we have Leg 2 planned. The black dots with blue lines, many years since we did this route so "Map It !" we say!

The adventure begins on May 14 when we head to Douthat Whispering Pines, VA! Followed by Twin Knobs, KY, Mammoth Caves, KY, Brown County State Park, IN, Round Lake, IL, Osh Gosh, WI, and Chippewa Falls, WI. We have boondocked for 10 days in VA in the spring but have not done so yet RV roadtripping. We are going to give it a go in Part III.

Why this route? FRIENDS! We miss our friends from all over the world and we want to include them in our epic adventure. Plus they live in places we have never been to. Win! Win!

On to planning Leg 3.