Banff National Park

Rampart Creek Campground, Banff National Park, Alberta, CA – Wednesday, July 6, 2011

We debated over whether or not to include Calgary in our travel plans.  Several folks have said it’s a “must see” destination.  After all, the Calgary Stampede starts this week and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are coming to town. Given Frank’s crowd phobia, combined with the 100’s of thousands of people said to be in town for the events, seemed like a good reason to give it a pass. We were able to see Calgary as we drove by and it seemed to go on and on as far as you could see.

On to Banff NP.  Arrived around 4 pm and began our drive through the park. We made several stops at viewpoints along the way. Incredible scenery. The overpasses on the road are for the animals to cross over. They actually keep track of the numbers.

We decided to hike to the Peyto (pee-toe) Lake overlook.  It was a steep climb to the viewpoint, but it had great views of the lake, glaciers and the melt field feeding into the lake.

We pressed on wanting to make some more miles before we shut it down for the evening.  Our proposed destination was Rampart Creek.  What we didn’t know was that there was Rampart Creek Hostel and Campground and there was a Rampart Creek Campground.  Sounds pretty similar to me.  Well, Unfortunately the Hostel/Campground came first and Frank turned into it only to find the road barricaded and no turnaround.  So off comes the Element again so Frank can maneuver Big Guy out of this tight spot. It sounds like we do this a lot, but this is only the second time in about 14,000 miles.  Less than half a mile down the road is the second Rampart Creek turn off.  This one was the right one.

We squeezed into a spot, brought out the chairs and relaxed with a good bottle of wine and 3 citronella candles.  Yes, there were mosquitoes.  All in all, another great day. 

BG Miles Today	284	BG Total Miles	3750
Eat Out total $	290.41	BG Total Fuel $	1909.11
Entertainment total $	104.1	Total Camping $	541.88
E Miles Today	3	E Total Miles	1515
E Total Fuel $	303.59	Day # of Trip	36