Trip #5. Manning Park - Lightning Lake Aug 8-10, 2022
Neither Angela nor I had been camping or hiking in Manning Park. Our only experience there was a school staff function a million years ago and we were working in the lodge almost the entire time. The only time we really went outside was at night to look at the night skies through a telescope one of the teachers brought up (which was lovely to do but you can't hike at night!) What we realized is that we should have gone there even on day trips as it is less than 2 hours from where we live and there are plenty of trails to walk. The washroom blocks at Lightning Lakes are very nice. We had actually missed the one for our loop. We were coming back from a lake walk and thought the block for the lower loop was for us too. When we started walking back to Redford on what we though was the pathway (it had gravel and "was" clearly a pathway) about 20 metres in there was a log across the path, hmmm. Then more logs, and branches. Angela said, "Well, I'm not taking a shower tonight if this is the path!!" We got back to Redford and I asked, "Hmm, what's this asphalt pathway for?" which was right next to our campsite... Our washroom block was about 40 metres away (LOL!)
This trip we got to try out some of the refinements that were recently completed in Redford. The seat back/rails in the window openings made sitting much more comfortable. Finding and accessing things in the closet was a piece of cake with the extra shelf, drawer/bins, and Ikea shoe organizer. The bedding system was also easy to use although I do have to admit on the first night I didn't realize I had put my blanket in top/bottom reversed and was wondering why I had to little blanket to drape over me. But I couldn't switch it in the middle of the night because Angela had already fallen asleep! So while I was laying there not sleeping I was pondering "How the heck did I mess up installing the snaps?! I'm sure I had more blanket when I tested it out." Then the thought came to me that I had swapped the top and bottom sheets. The next morning I switched it and tested it - yup, I was right, it was backwards. To prevent that from happening again I took a Sharpie and wrote on the blankets next to the snaps indicating which blanket was for Angela's side, which was for me, and which end was for the head or feet. Now getting the beds ready really is easy. The next night I had a great sleep!
This trip we got to try out some of the refinements that were recently completed in Redford. The seat back/rails in the window openings made sitting much more comfortable. Finding and accessing things in the closet was a piece of cake with the extra shelf, drawer/bins, and Ikea shoe organizer. The bedding system was also easy to use although I do have to admit on the first night I didn't realize I had put my blanket in top/bottom reversed and was wondering why I had to little blanket to drape over me. But I couldn't switch it in the middle of the night because Angela had already fallen asleep! So while I was laying there not sleeping I was pondering "How the heck did I mess up installing the snaps?! I'm sure I had more blanket when I tested it out." Then the thought came to me that I had swapped the top and bottom sheets. The next morning I switched it and tested it - yup, I was right, it was backwards. To prevent that from happening again I took a Sharpie and wrote on the blankets next to the snaps indicating which blanket was for Angela's side, which was for me, and which end was for the head or feet. Now getting the beds ready really is easy. The next night I had a great sleep!
Trip #4. Kootenay National Park, Banff (twice...), Lake Louise, and Kelowna. June 19-29, 2022
This was a trip that originated from my mom "wanting to go camping" after I shared that I was building a van. Her sentiment was real but I think once she realized what the reality of what camping looked like, that wasn't what she really wanted. What she was really craving was going out for a bit of traveling again (unfortunately, various health issues and then COVID-19 really put a damper on things over the last few years for her.) Hotels - great! Sleeping in a sleeping bag and waking up in a the cold in a cramped camper... not so much in her mind. In the end we ended up blending trip concepts. We took Redford to Kootenay and Banff national parks for 6 days before joining most of my family (3 out of 4 siblings and their spouses were able to make it with mom) for a night in Lake Louise and two nights in Banff. After that we made a LONG overdue visit to some friends who live in Kelowna, BC for two nights.
Driving in Redford was no problem. The van handles well, has good acceleration, braking, etc. The one thing I am missing is that I didn't realize that it didn't come with adaptive cruise control. Redford does have all of the other safety features and I guess I made the mistake of thinking that adaptive cruise control would come as part of one package or another, but in the end, no... Also, I'm not the best long distance driver as the road tends to lull me to sleep so I have to take breaks every two or three hours to pull over and walk about or take a nap. Mileage-wise we averaged about 18.82L/100km or 12.5 mpg.
The trip. Redstreak campground in Kootenay National Park was very nice. We had electrical hookups but no fire pits in G campground. The shower and washroom facilities were great. It was a nice walk to nearby Radium (lots of stairs to climb on the return!) Plenty of trails and places to visit and we also enjoyed the town and visitor centre. We didn't go in the hot springs here (they are in finished concrete pools) but we did see many people enjoying them. Big horn sheep crossed our paths many times. There was even a large of group of mature males that came right through the campground on our first night. The next day we saw a group of females and young up in the hills where we were hiking just above the hot springs pool. In town the visitor centre staff were very knowledgeable and helpful. All of the walks we went on were lovely. The Old Coach trail in Radium had great views of the valley and hoodoos. Nearby Paint Pots had nice colour and great reflection pools. Marble Canyon was spectacular with its deep and steep rock sides with a nice set of rapids at the top. Several Parks Canada and Alberta Parks staff we preparing to practice their repelling skills into the canyon the day we were there. The Paint Pots and Marble Canyon walks were quite short and we did both of them en route from Radium to Banff. All of the sites also had well maintained pit toilet facilities as well.
If you want to see Moraine Lake, the parking lot fills up VERY early (apparently by 6 or 7 am!) We tried going on the first day at about 11:00am only to drive all the way up to the turn to get to the lake only to see it blocked off by Parks Canada staff. We were directed the rest of the way up (right to just before the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise) and then had to drive through a parking lot (which was also full!) and drive all the way back down again. With no success the first day, luckily Angela and I were able to book an excursion with my family for the next day. The weather was beautiful and the lake spectacular. If you go the walk to the end of the lake is very pretty but the best view point of the lake is from the top of the "rock pile" which is a short walk but has lots of "largish" steps to get to the top (but it was worth it!) Lake Louise was gorgeous and the walk to the end of the lake was very flat and had lots of view points.
Banff was fun - super busy on the weekend! During the week it wasn't so bad. Plenty of shops and galleries to pop in and out of, good restaurants, and a nice pedestrian area blocked off for the entire length of the main strip. There's also nice art installations and sidewalk mounted street markers everywhere. We camped at the Tunnel Mountain campground. If you're using a GPS app, be sure to know the name of the specific campground (there are many of them in Banff) because when I looked at the reservation email I received, it gave the name "Village 1" which was indicated didn't work for Apple or Google Maps. What I needed to enter was "Tunnel Mountain", which Village 1 is located inside. Luckily one of our friends remembered that it was Tunnel Mountain we were looking for as she saw or read it somewhere else (but it wasn't indicated in the email at all.) When we put that into the maps app it directed us to the proper location.
After the first 6 days van camping, we spent the next three nights staying in hotels with my family. We had a great time enjoying Lake Louise and the Banff area. Wonderful walks, meals, drinks, and family time. We highly recommend Lupo restaurant in Banff; really nice atmosphere, good food and service, and good value too. To wind up our trip we got in the van again and headed towards the lower mainland. On our way we visited with some friends in Kelowna on their farm. What an incredible view! We also stopped by their bakery in Kelowna (near the airport), Two Donkeys Bakery (check out their website), they have many delicious treats and fantastic bread. Stop by!
Driving in Redford was no problem. The van handles well, has good acceleration, braking, etc. The one thing I am missing is that I didn't realize that it didn't come with adaptive cruise control. Redford does have all of the other safety features and I guess I made the mistake of thinking that adaptive cruise control would come as part of one package or another, but in the end, no... Also, I'm not the best long distance driver as the road tends to lull me to sleep so I have to take breaks every two or three hours to pull over and walk about or take a nap. Mileage-wise we averaged about 18.82L/100km or 12.5 mpg.
The trip. Redstreak campground in Kootenay National Park was very nice. We had electrical hookups but no fire pits in G campground. The shower and washroom facilities were great. It was a nice walk to nearby Radium (lots of stairs to climb on the return!) Plenty of trails and places to visit and we also enjoyed the town and visitor centre. We didn't go in the hot springs here (they are in finished concrete pools) but we did see many people enjoying them. Big horn sheep crossed our paths many times. There was even a large of group of mature males that came right through the campground on our first night. The next day we saw a group of females and young up in the hills where we were hiking just above the hot springs pool. In town the visitor centre staff were very knowledgeable and helpful. All of the walks we went on were lovely. The Old Coach trail in Radium had great views of the valley and hoodoos. Nearby Paint Pots had nice colour and great reflection pools. Marble Canyon was spectacular with its deep and steep rock sides with a nice set of rapids at the top. Several Parks Canada and Alberta Parks staff we preparing to practice their repelling skills into the canyon the day we were there. The Paint Pots and Marble Canyon walks were quite short and we did both of them en route from Radium to Banff. All of the sites also had well maintained pit toilet facilities as well.
If you want to see Moraine Lake, the parking lot fills up VERY early (apparently by 6 or 7 am!) We tried going on the first day at about 11:00am only to drive all the way up to the turn to get to the lake only to see it blocked off by Parks Canada staff. We were directed the rest of the way up (right to just before the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise) and then had to drive through a parking lot (which was also full!) and drive all the way back down again. With no success the first day, luckily Angela and I were able to book an excursion with my family for the next day. The weather was beautiful and the lake spectacular. If you go the walk to the end of the lake is very pretty but the best view point of the lake is from the top of the "rock pile" which is a short walk but has lots of "largish" steps to get to the top (but it was worth it!) Lake Louise was gorgeous and the walk to the end of the lake was very flat and had lots of view points.
Banff was fun - super busy on the weekend! During the week it wasn't so bad. Plenty of shops and galleries to pop in and out of, good restaurants, and a nice pedestrian area blocked off for the entire length of the main strip. There's also nice art installations and sidewalk mounted street markers everywhere. We camped at the Tunnel Mountain campground. If you're using a GPS app, be sure to know the name of the specific campground (there are many of them in Banff) because when I looked at the reservation email I received, it gave the name "Village 1" which was indicated didn't work for Apple or Google Maps. What I needed to enter was "Tunnel Mountain", which Village 1 is located inside. Luckily one of our friends remembered that it was Tunnel Mountain we were looking for as she saw or read it somewhere else (but it wasn't indicated in the email at all.) When we put that into the maps app it directed us to the proper location.
After the first 6 days van camping, we spent the next three nights staying in hotels with my family. We had a great time enjoying Lake Louise and the Banff area. Wonderful walks, meals, drinks, and family time. We highly recommend Lupo restaurant in Banff; really nice atmosphere, good food and service, and good value too. To wind up our trip we got in the van again and headed towards the lower mainland. On our way we visited with some friends in Kelowna on their farm. What an incredible view! We also stopped by their bakery in Kelowna (near the airport), Two Donkeys Bakery (check out their website), they have many delicious treats and fantastic bread. Stop by!
Trip #3. Galiano Island, Montague Harbour Provincial Park. April 1-4, 2022
After our test overnight stays at Porteau Cove and Derby Reach, we decided that trying to sleep in a cold van was not an enjoyable experience. Knowing that we would probably be traveling on either edge of winter or at altitude, dealing with the cold was something we had to address. So we bit the bullet and had an Espar S2D2 diesel heater installed. It has a 10L tank and it's all inside the van under the kitchen sink cabinet. After some reworking of the space we didn't lose any storage at all and we have a heater that kept us toasty warm - we're very happy! We were very pleased with the way the van and the build performed the whole weekend.
Montague Harbour is beautiful. A great bonus is that it's only a 55 minute ferry ride from Tsawassen (just outside of Vancouver, BC.) The camp ground is very well maintained and has plenty of nice clean pit toilets. Tent campers get nice sites with raised wood platforms and RVers have nicely separated gravel sites (some are doubles.) We traveled with our friends who had their LTV Rear Lounge (a spacious and beautiful RV.) The first day was cloudy - nice for a trail walk around the local trail in the park and then a camp fire. Saturday was a lovely, sunny day and a walk up "Mount" Galiano provided outstanding views. Sunday just poured rain all day but we got in a nice visit to a retired teacher we know and spent a couple of hours chatting. in Redford.
Montague Harbour is beautiful. A great bonus is that it's only a 55 minute ferry ride from Tsawassen (just outside of Vancouver, BC.) The camp ground is very well maintained and has plenty of nice clean pit toilets. Tent campers get nice sites with raised wood platforms and RVers have nicely separated gravel sites (some are doubles.) We traveled with our friends who had their LTV Rear Lounge (a spacious and beautiful RV.) The first day was cloudy - nice for a trail walk around the local trail in the park and then a camp fire. Saturday was a lovely, sunny day and a walk up "Mount" Galiano provided outstanding views. Sunday just poured rain all day but we got in a nice visit to a retired teacher we know and spent a couple of hours chatting. in Redford.
Trip # 2. Derby Reach, Fort Langley, BC. March 10, 2022
Derby Reach is a local municipality run camp site that is only 10 minutes from home. Our other friends Donna and Terry (big time RVers) we're doing a month long trip around southern parts of BC and were staying for a few nights so we got a site next to theirs for one night. It was a cold night as temperatures dipped to –3°C. There are no plug-ins at this camp ground and we really wanted to challenge our heating system to see how it functioned in the cold. We learned that it was definitely too cold to be comfortable and still have enough battery left for running everything over a few days. Three 206AH lithium batteries aren't enough so we're looking into having a diesel heater installed.
Trip #1. Our first overnight journey! Porteau Cove, BC. March 2, 2022
It was only a short trip - one night to be exact. But we got a chance to get somewhere and overnight in Redford along with Barley our new puppy. She adapted quite well but will definitely need more experiences to become accustomed to being in unfamiliar territory. Overall the van was great. The drive was just over an hour and Redford was terrific in traffic and along the Sea to Sky highway. Everything worked well, but we did have a 30 amp plug in at the campsite so we're still not sure about the battery capacity. The only major things still to tryout are the shower and emptying of the black and grey tanks at a dump station.
