October 2025

Wrapping up in Canada 

The first of the month brought a surprising guest to us. We were parked overlooking Salmon Glacier and it quickly got dark outside. Josh had made us steaks for dinner and we were watching some TV. We thought we heard car doors slamming. Mind you, we were in a very remote area and it would've been easy to see headlights outside. However, we didn't see anything. Josh even opened the driver door to try and see what the noise was. He turned on our exterior lights and there immediately below the passenger window was a black bear! It was not alarmed at our raised voices or lights and it slowly ambled away. The next morning I took Lucky out and noticed bear prints on the passenger side door. Thankfully we keep a clean camp and the bear didn't get into anything, but the smell of steak was probably pretty enticing! 

We stayed one more night in Alaska and then departed the town of Hyder and the state. We overnighted outside of Kitwanga, BC at an abandoned mill. It was both very cool and creepy. The graffiti was interesting and it had lots of space, but it felt a bit eerie nonetheless. Thankfully our night there passed without any incidents, or bears. 

For a week we explored Jasper National Park. It was sad to see the burn scars from last year's fire, but it was heartening to witness how resilient nature and the townspeople are. The community is doing well and was welcoming to tourists. It was easy to park in the RV lot just outside of the main downtown area and walk to shops and restaurants. We didn't get to do too many hikes as we were working during the weekdays. However, we did make it out to Miette Hot Springs and that was nice to soak in warm water while surrounded by mountains. We popped into Ursidae Lair one night for some nice cocktails. I appreciated the business model as it's a bakery by day (The Bear’s Paw) and transforms into a speakeasy-styled bar at night. 

The temperatures were dropping and on our way to Banff.  We spent a night at the Icefields RV Parking area where temperatures got as low as 9 degrees Fahrenheit. It was neat to be so close to a glacier and see how quickly the area got blanketed in snow.  Our week in Banff was nice but as we worked during the week we didn't get to experience a ton. We did make it back to Emerald Lake (an area we explored last year) and again expressed our desire to return to the lake and stay in the lodge next time. 

After Banff, on the way to Kelowna, we stayed a night at Revelstoke. Revelstoke is another area we really enjoy. We want to return and spend several days or a week there. The town has a great sense of community and activities. We had great cocktails at Monashee Spirits Craft Distillery and liked walking around town and checking out the shops.

We spent a week at Canyon Farms RV Park in Kelowna, BC. After work we would try a winery or brewery. Two breweries we made it to were Barn Owl Brewery and Red Bird Brewing. Both were good and appeared to be community staples. The brewery at Barn Owl (like its name implies) is set up inside a barn while Red Bird has a large indoor and outdoor complex near downtown Kelowna. One of the wineries that we visited and loved was Crown & Thieves, whose motto is "made by scoundrels, sipped by royalty." The tasting room is unique and a lot of fun. Downstairs is a speakeasy where they host live music and other events. 

We wrapped up the month by exploring a little bit of Penticton, BC, meeting up with family in Moses Lake, WA, and returning to Hailey's parents' place in Marysville, WA. We have a list of van upgrades and maintenance before we head south to Baja for the rest of winter. Our plan is to spend the holidays in the PNW and catch up with family and friends while getting all the van work completed.