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Old 04-29-2008, 09:38 PM   #11
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Third Exploration Day (Day 4)


Ahhhh...

Top Secret Test Facility: Refers to the location of my personal garage/shop (the place I go to do all of my wrenching). It is a touch on the large side and is semi hidden in the forest... thus, the nick name.

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Old 04-29-2008, 09:42 PM   #12
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After a long day of driving the day before and knowing we had a long day of driving ahead of us the next day... we limited the distance from our home base in Canmore to an easy hours drive in any given direction.

One of the places we spent a little time on was the Bow Valley Parkway (Hwy 1A).


It was mid-afternoon and we were not really expecting to see any animals... we were more or less just out for a leisurely drive. As we rounded one bend in the road we encountered a very large grey wolf crossing not 40 feet out in front of our van. We were only rolling along at about 15mph, so there was no chance of impact... it was just a neat surprise. The wolf stopped, gave us a brief stare and then headed off into the woods. I can only imagine what he was thinking.... dude, you are driving jacked up RV, with a hissing turbo diesel motor, and your headlights are on. You couldn't sneak up on Sleeping Beauty with that thing.


We also spent a little time driving around the Minnewanka Loop looking for other automobile oblivious herbavors. We found em.


Here is a frozen Lake Minnewanka



I tried to take a hand-held panorama, but I guess one shoe was taller than the other.



Next, the animals...


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Old 04-29-2008, 10:38 PM   #13
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Fantastic pictures! I sometimes feel like a secret agent man, maybe the hand shake will get me in? If you’re ever in So Cal, shoot me a PM to do a trail or two. Nice garage.....envy pure envy! And I'm not sure which, large shop or shop in the woods.....good on ya!

CJ

Thanks for the reply.....& pics
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Old 04-29-2008, 11:29 PM   #14
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You will see plenty of these...




And quite a few of these...




Probably some of these...





Being Canada, there will be many of these...




And a number of these...




You may be watched by one of these...




Or, maybe one of these...





And if you look way up on the rock ledge, that white spec might be...




one of these...






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Old 04-30-2008, 08:43 AM   #15
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Our route:


Day 1 (travel from Washington to Canmore, 650 miles)




Day 2 (Smith Dorian Spray Trail, 140 miles)




Day 3 (Canmore to Jasper and back along the Icefields Parkway, 400 miles)




Day 4 (Bow Valley Parkway & Minnewanka Loop, 70 miles)




Day 5 (Canmore back home to Washington, 650 miles)




Will post my fuel consumption once I get through all of my reciepts.

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Old 04-30-2008, 09:23 AM   #16
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Diesel Fuel Consumption:



Our best milage was had when driving along the Icefields Parkway. We were only running at 45mph @ 1500rpm most of the day. The total elevation gain along this route was roughly 2500 feet (each direction). As expected with this rig, milage goes way down with speed. 56mph @ 2000rpm (approx) dropped me a full 1mpg... and it gets much worse running 65mph or higher (down into the high 10's).



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Old 04-30-2008, 02:11 PM   #17
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Thanks you've got me hooked. I might shoot for that before Alaska. So you think about 500 bucks in fuel?

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Old 04-30-2008, 06:46 PM   #18
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Hmmmm....
I have a touch over $650.00 worth of fuel reciepts from this trip. I started out full (which I did not count) and I ended full (which I did count). The Canadians will be dinging my credit card with GST tax deductions for months on each of my fuel purchases (and everything else for that matter) if history is a guide - so the cost can only go up.

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Old 05-01-2008, 04:23 PM   #19
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twolost, great recap and stunning photos as always. Like the route, have been up through Bonner's Ferry into Windemere and Banff years ago in the Westfalia but never made it back to fully explore and get into Jasper. This trip or some derivative of it is also high on my list.

p.s. At the rate we're going here in the NW territories, that snow may be up there all summer.
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Old 05-03-2008, 11:22 AM   #20
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As always, I love the pictures and the trip report Twolost. Thanks for sharing them. Banff, Jasper and Glaceir are all areas that are very high on my list (always have been). I just need to find the time to make it there.

Just curious, what kind of camera/lens are you using? Some of those pictures are incredible and we are in the market for a new digital camera.
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