Day 17: And on the (1)7th Day, He Rested

Today I woke up leisurely as I was in no rush to go anywhere. Today is a “rest” day. I have no destination except to relax at this incredible BnB and plan out the next leg of my journey.

What a relaxing feeling. 😌

Usually, there is a lot of pressure in the morning to pack up, make sure I didn't forget anything, check my sandwich supply, get ice, fill up on gas, etc. So it was lovely to just get up, make a cup of coffee, eat a huge breakfast (2 PB&Js and 2 large jalapeno sourdough toasts with butter) and just think. Think about my adventures thus far, my friends, and most of all my wife, Ronit, who I miss terribly (even though we talk 10 times a day). But there is good news in that department, you’ll see!

Change of Plans

The original hidden trails expedition plan had been to drive all the way up to Alaska, via Vancouver to visit my nieces and family - Ayala, Aner, Noy and Yannai. From there I would have taken a ferry with the car to Anchorage and then drive back down to the USA. But after some additional research, I decided that was a no-go!

The journey requires 4 full days of no internet, no phone, and living like a nomad. Not to mention as I was trying to work it out I realized just how complicated of a journey it is to do via car. So after playing with some ideas and consulting with my boss (Ronit, my wife), the plan changed and I decided to do a loop up to the Yukon and (here is where it gets exciting) on the way back south pick up my better half.

The 2 of us will then cover the USA's hidden trails through Montana, Wyoming, Utah, New Mexico and maybe even Colorado and West Texas. I’m definitely a happy camper now (figure of speech - I’m still not a camper)

So after 9 hours of planning ( a full work day!), the next 7 days were coming together. Only 1 problem. You’d think since I’m going into the middle of nowhere, there would be plenty of vacancies at the hotels. Well, you’d be wrong (just like I was). Despite the fact that most towns in this area of Canada are under 1,000 in population size, I had the hardest time finding hotels that were not fully occupied. I had to fight tooth and nail to find accommodations for the next 7 days.

Too bad I’m not a camper and just able to pitch up a tent wherever, whenever. Seems campsites are in high supply, but since I’m spoiled and can’t stomach the idea of a single mosquito in the tent, or god forbid a spider or tick, it seems I will be going the "luxury" route. After a couple of hours of research, my persistence paid off, and I was booked into hotels for my next week of travel.

Chopper Break

Well, I couldn't just leave you all hanging with only information about my plans for the next few days for today’s blog. We needed a bit of adventure! So I give you the ultimate, the adventurous chopper private tour of the parks! It wasn’t cheap, mind you, but if we divide the total cost by all 800 of you readers coming on the ride with me, then the price per person is quite reasonable when you think about it. 😂

I asked Nicole, the incredible hotel manager, to book me a 30-minute Banff and Jasper Parks tour from the sky. Since I’m paying for the full ride already and the chopper holds up to 4 people, I offered Nicole and 2 other ladies staying in the cabin across from me if they'd like to join me. They were overjoyed! Nicole confessed she’d never been on a chopper and would love to give it a go.

The other two ladies, Dani and Shirly, were equally ecstatic. A bit of background about these two. Dani used to be a Hinton local. Dani is a bear hunter. She hunts bears. But not in the way you think! She doesn’t shoot them, at least not with a gun. Dani hunts for bears in order to photograph them in their natural habitats, but she’s not the photographer. Shirly is. 📷

Shirly is from the UK and is good friends with Dani, who she met in a group for wildlife photography. This is already her 9th visit to the area. Shirly seems to love to travel, and since she is a photographer, she has been out looking for bears with Dani while she's been in town. Yesterday they spent 18 hours driving around in search of these majestic creatures and managed to capture a few photos.

I really connected with the ladies, and when telling them about yesterday's beautiful hidden trail that required me to drive over a river bed, through 10-foot wide one-way paths, I discovered that Dani had also been there! She told me her motto about driving on these dirt roads is “If you can get in, you can get out”.

At 1:00 PM we left the BnB together. It took a whole 4.5 minutes to get to the Yellowhead Helicopters. First, we had to go over basic flight training and sign a waiver (aka sign our lives away). We were greeted at the flight center by Lily, a beautiful, well-natured Weimaraner.

We then met our pilot, Matt, a 30-year-old guy who has been living in Jasper for the past 11 years. He has been running these tours for 3 years now, so we felt very safe with such a pro. The owner Jason was also extremely friendly and after we signed our lives over to him we were ready for our tour in the sky.

The chopper ride was such a blast. It was all 3 girls’ first time in a helicopter and it was a memorable experience.

Remember, what happens in the chopper, stays in the chopper. (Sorry, readers, it's an inside joke for the participants of the flight only - in 50 years we will divulge what happened, maybe…).

Hinton City

After a wondrous experience in the chopper, I drove into town looking first and foremost for a car wash. Despite the fact that it's a town of basically 2 roads, I got lost… You can see my very thorough route below.

After a few loop de loops, I found the only car wash in town! Steele looked better, though you might still say he’s a bit dirty. I guess it's all relative, compared to how he was before he is definitely more on the cleaner side now. Next, I ran to the store to pick up some more bread, mayo, cheese, and red peppers to make a ton of sandwiches because who knows what awaits me in the next 6 days of wilderness.

Back at the hotel, I put together 15 sandwiches, that's 30 slices of bread! I know my math, folks.

Flash Fires

There I was, writing today’s blog, when I suddenly got an alert on my phone. It was the same sound as the amber alerts so at first I hardly paid attention, but when I looked I saw it was a fire alert! Remember a couple of days ago the school bus driver I met who had driven a group of lucky kids from Edson to the park? Unfortunately, I spoke too soon.

They certainly are not so lucky today. The alert was warning of the fires getting dangerously close to Edson. Seems the entire city has been evacuated to Calgary!

As the night wore on I continued to work on the blog and enjoy the sunset from my favorite BnB. I then got another alert that the fire was moving, and fast! I hope it doesn't affect tomorrow’s journey…

Wish me luck tomorrow. See you then!

-Shlomo