Fun house spotted while passing through Golden
Leaving Monarch, we drove the rest of the highway through Yoho National Park. This whole area is very beautiful. At the end of the park is the town of Golden. Here we stopped at a grocery store and got a few things to keep us going until Vancouver. A nice former Alto owner approached me in the parking lot and started chatting about missing his Alto. He sold his a year ago and bought a van. That seems to be a common practice, especially once the physical demands of trailering become too much.
Numerous Snow Tunnels along Highway 1
Once you leave Golden, Highway 1 continues through deep valleys, surrounded always by snowy peaks. It climbs and falls, passing through Glacier National Park along the way. It is a meandering highway that follows the valleys cut by waterways. There are waterfalls and river crossings the whole way. One thing I will say is that passing lanes are sometimes few and far between. This presents a problem for anyone behind me who is in a terrible hurry. I am not willing to tow faster than my comfort zone, and lacking frequent pull outs, there will be times someone is frustrated. Sorry, not sorry. I should get a bumper sticker that says: “I tow slow. Calm down.”
Really nice campground in a lovely provincial park
Our next stop was one of three jumps to get us from Yoho to Vancouver. I know nothing about the routes or regions, so I made educated guesses based on location and online reviews. Martha Creek is off Highway 1 by about 10 miles once you get to the city of Revelstoke. I knew nothing about Mt. Revelstoke, but apparently it is a national park and I did not allot much time to it. We noted this area as a potential revisit and this provincial park would be the place I’d stay again.
Revelstoke Lake
The road to the park runs alongside Revelstoke River and climbs significantly up when you reach the dam. Then the river becomes a huge lake and the campground is about a third of the way up. It is a very nice park, with sites so level we didn’t even need to unhitch. Some sites have lake views, and all are pretty private and spaced nicely apart. There is a little trail you can take around the park, or you can hang out on a sandy beach. There are day use areas where you can launch a boat or have a picnic. The only downside is the lack of cell service, which can sometimes be an upside when you want to check out. Richard found a trail that goes up to the top of Sale Mountain and he went up that for about an hour the next morning. It’s something like a five thousand foot climb, so doing the whole thing, while I’d never put it past him, would be a large commitment.
Future crazy hike for Richard
We didn’t spend much time in this area, but it seems there would be plenty to do. As a stopping point from here to there, this is a nice park. It’s a little out of the way, but looked nicer than any options along Highway 1.
Total miles from Monarch: 140.3, 17.3 mpg, 3 hours 38 min. Site 15 no hookups. No cell whatsoever. Closest is by the Revelstoke Dam. $5 dump. Nicely paved and nice bathrooms, trash, recycling. Level sites on packed gravel. Well set up and run campground.
