Revelstoke to Illecillewaet Campground in Glacier National Park

Wednesday - July 10 - Two National Parks

Another beautiful morning! This the view from in front of our campsite.

Unfortunately, Doug's front tire went flat overnight. The earlier patch didn't hold so he isn't blaming the bike or the road for this one. As a result, we got a little later start than planned.

No wind this morning so the river was glass.

This is the view the other direction on the bridge.

Goodbye, Revelstoke

The Illecillewaet River (pronounced Ill sill a what - it only took 5 Canadians to help us get it right.)

The highway travels along the southern edge of Mount Revelstoke National Park.

Ken is a teacher from Winnipeg. His wife just dropped him off in Victoria and will meet him back home before school starts. He is a lot faster than we are so we didn't see him again the rest of the day.

Still climbing.

Our very "scenic" lunch spot. The best part was that it was at the top of the steepest grade of the day. 

We are pretty sure that we won't have any issues with avalanches today.

Outside an avalance shed.

Inside an avalance shed. We went through 3 of them in short order.

An avalanche shed for the train. This line is the Canadian Pacific Railway.

Entering the Rogers Pass National Historic Area.

The first real rain shower. A couple of earlier showers were so light that there was 6 inches between drops....not this one!

Back in the sunshine! Remember the optical illusion? We are still climbing.

We reached Illecillewaet Campground around 4 pm and there were still plenty of spots to choose from. Soon after that we heard the first thunder.

We got the tent set up and had dinner between rain squalls.We also saw Leo and Marcus again in between 2 downpours. We were hiding out in the tent and didn't know that Doug's handlebar bag had blown open and was filling with water until they stopped by. Fortunately, his camera wasn't in it at the time. However, his wallet was floating!

Boy are we glad we brought some warm clothes and have good rain jackets!

This little creek ran right beside our site and we could hear the Illecillewaet River too.

Looks like a cold, wet night. While waiting to wash our dishes at the central building, we met Ken and Sara from Washington. Later they invited us over to their site and fed us with great conversation, snacks and dark chocolate. Thank you!!!!!