It is Thanksgiving and we are in the Rockies!

That’s the Canadian Thanksgiving and we are in the Canadian Rockies

In Case You Were Wondering: Thanksgiving (French: Action de grâce), or Thanksgiving Day (Jour de l’action de grâce) is also an annual Canadian holiday, occurring on the second Monday in October, which celebrates the harvest and other blessings of the past year.

Thanksgiving has been officially celebrated as an annual holiday in Canada since November 6, 1879, when Parliament declared a national day of thanksgiving.

 From Prince George we proceeded south east into Mt Robson Provincial Park at the northern end of the Rockies. Miles and miles of ancient forests, long straightaways and very light traffic made for easy traveling.

We took a short side trip into the historic railroad town of Dunster where we visited the Dunster general store and its historic railway station, both a step back in time.

While visiting the Mt Robson visitor center we got a hot tip about a great restaurant at the Tete Juane RV park on the banks of the Fraser River.

Upon arrival we found an ideallic setting where the dogs could run free and at full speed along the river banks and across the vibrant green lawns.

We ate dinner in the historic Hudson Bay trading post which has been completely restored and is now a fantastic restaurant with a killer view.

Bill the chief spoke with a heavy French Canadian accent that made for especially entertaining stories about life on the river during the turn of the century.  We had a wonderful meal while watching the Fraser flow past the window in the evening light.

In 1974 we had hiked to the beautiful Kinney Lake at the base of Mt. Robson. We felt it would be fitting to hike it again but this time with the pups.

The trail follows the Robson River all the way to the lake with several falls and silt green rapids along the way.

Our video below captures some the pristine forests and its pure waters.

Walking through dense Western Hemlock and Cedar forests made for some very enjoyable hiking and spectacular photography. 

We had forgotten how beautiful Kinney Lake was and needless to say the dogs were in Heaven.

Unfortunately the weather had been overcast and the summit of Mt. Robson was hidden but regardless the view across the lake was spectacular.

Our next destination was Jasper National Park just a short hop up the road to about 4000 ft. The only campground open was Whistler where we ran into our good friends Beth and Elwood. They pulled up behind us at the front gate, what a surprise!  The campground has 787 sites!

Since it was a 3 day holiday weekend the town, the trails and trail heads were all packed with holiday celebrators. It was very busy.

Beth and Elwood are ultimately headed to Utah to ride their fat tired Mt. bikes across the desert in Canyon Lands National Park for 5 days.

We spent 3 fun evenings sitting around the campfire tasting wine and catching up. During the day they rode the local trails training for the desert and we hiked the local trails enjoying the wonderful alpine scenery.

Denise hiked the five lakes trail (more info on the red chairs later) and I walked into the high country to visit my old flame Edith Cavell.

Jasper is an interesting town with a long history of fur trading, tourism and amazing railroads. We enjoyed its outdoorsy feel and beautiful location.

Next we drive the ice fields Parkway towards Lake Louise and Banff.

The adventure continues…..

Keep you posted!