Our two hour drive to Banff turned into a 6 hour drive! Here’s what happened. We saw a BEAR! Our first black bear, up close and personal from the safety our car. But more about that later.

The road to Banff goes through the Kootenay national park, so we had to buy a day pass. The man told us all the campgrounds between Banff and Jasper were still closed for the season, so that’s kinda thrown a spanner in the works. And someone else told us the Alaska highway is closed due to wildfires. We’ll just have to wait and see.

We drove through the Kootenay national park and it was stunning. Jagged mountains and turquoise rivers reminded me of mount cook but on a much larger scale.

And then we saw the bear. A car was stopped with its hazard lights on, a tell tale sign something is worth seeing. And there it was. A giant black bear just casually walking past, conveniently next to a pull in.

I got some good footage and we continued on. There were some hikes to do along the way and we chose the marble canyon walk which was incredible. Steep canyon walls with a waterfall and stream flowing through it.

Back on the road we saw a giant big horned sheep with huge horns.

We finally made it to Banff. we were worried the campground would be full, but thankfully we got a nice spot overlooking a mountain. There are elk casually strolling by, elk poo all over our campsite. There is also a cougar in the park we have to watch out for.

The town of Banff itself was very busy when we drove through and probably going to be too touristy for our liking.

After settling into our campsite, we caught the free shuttle bus into Banff town. We went to the visitor centre to get some info.

Banff is a picturesque little town surrounded by mountains. We were expecting it to be horribly touristy, and for sure, everyone here is a tourist but it had a cool vibe. And as we are off season, it wasn’t too busy.

A queue was formed outside a shop called Beaver tails. I asked a couple of girls what they were and she said it was a Canadian thing. They looked delicious and we thought we’d see if the queue looked smaller after our walk.

As luck would have it, there was another beaver tails shop at the other end of town with no queue, but same chain. So we ordered one.

It’s basically a bread dough deep fried, then topped with your choice of topping. We opted for brownie, which was chocolate spread, crumbled chocolate cookie, and white chocolate chunks. I’m not gonna lie, it’s one of the most delicious things I’ve ever eaten. It’s a pity I had to share it with Mike!

A bit more of a wander through town before catching the bus back. We’d been warned about a cougar in the camp and they come out at dusk. As we walked back to our camp at dusk i kept my eyes peeled. But there were only stacks of elk. And I mean loads of them!

What a great day. And did I mention we saw a bear?

I heard rustling in the van again last night, but this time at the back of the van, possibly inside the cupboards. I wish Rodger would stop collecting pets. He’s almost as bad as me and my chicken addiction.

All our food is in a plastic container so the mouse shouldn’t be getting into that. But as a result I had a terrible sleep and a late start to the day. Today we’re going to Canada! We’re only 2 hours from the border. We’d heard from other YouTubers that you have to dump all your fruit and veg, meat, dairy products etc. There wasn’t much info on the internet, just that you had to declare it. So we ate as much as we could before crossing over. The only signs we saw were that we’d have to declare cannabis.

The security guard asked us about our van, did we buy it, where we were going, and that was it. I asked if we had to declare anything. He asked if we had firearms. We said no, and he sent us through. easy as, not sure why others make it seem so difficult.

Coming back might be a different story. As soon as we got to Canada, everything looked different. It looked like Canada. The mountains were closer. The trees were pinier (if that’s a word).

Not long into Canada we saw a little takeaway diner. I’ve always wanted to try poutine so we ordered some. It was delicious! It’s chips, smothered in gravy and cheese curd. We gobbled it all up. Yum yum. We’ll have that again!

We drove until about 5.30pm and pulled into a campsite with a stream and mountain backdrop. It was lovely. We’re still about 2hours from Banff and we’ll head there tomorrow, hopefully prepared for the onslaught of tourists!

I heard rustling in the van again last night, but this time at the back of the van, possibly inside the cupboards. I wish Rodger would stop collecting pets. He’s almost as bad as me and my chicken addiction.

All our food is in a plastic container so the mouse shouldn’t be getting into that. But as a result I had a terrible sleep and a late start to the day.

Today we’re going to Canada! We’re only 2 hours from the border. We’d heard from other YouTubers that you have to dump all your fruit and veg, meat, dairy products etc.

There wasn’t much info on the internet, just that you had to declare it. So we ate as much as we could before crossing over. The only signs we saw were that we’d have to declare cannabis.

The security guard asked us about our van, did we buy it, where we were going, and that was it.

I asked if we had to declare anything. He asked if we had firearms. We said no, and he sent us through. easy as, not sure why others make it seem so difficult. Coming back might be a different story.

As soon as we got to Canada, everything looked different. It looked like Canada. The mountains were closer. The trees were pinier (if that’s a word).

Not long into Canada we saw a little takeaway diner. I’ve always wanted to try poutine so we ordered some. It was delicious! It’s chips, smothered in gravy and cheese curd. We gobbled it all up. Yum yum. We’ll have that again!

We drove until about 5.30pm and pulled into a campsite with a stream and mountain backdrop. It was lovely. We’re still about 2hours from Banff and we’ll head there tomorrow, hopefully prepared for the onslaught of tourists!

We left lake Como and it was a miserable day. We stopped in the town of Missoula and got our laundry done. it hailed and snowed for a bit. It is so cold here, and will probably be colder in Canada.

We stopped at a Walmart and got some boat shoes, some croc type shoes for Mike, and some chocolate.

We were going to camp at the state park on the edge of Flathead lake, but the sites were a bit crappy and no power to keep us warm. So we backtracked a short distance to a roadside rv place which had power, water, sewer and a SHOWER! First proper shower in weeks! Thankfully it hasn’t been too hot.

Tomorrow I think we go to Canada.

A bear had been in our campground the night before and knocked over a big dumpster. There were paw prints all over it! Thankfully the dumpsters are bear proof and it couldn’t get in. Hopefully it won’t come back because if it does they will relocate it, and in some instances they kill them.

We decided to stay another night in the Bitterroot national forest as it’s really nice and it’s cheap and we have power.

We went for a walk alongside Lake Como which was a stunning lake with the snow capped mountains as a backdrop. It’s named after lake Como in Italy. The cold wind had stopped and it was a beautiful day. A group of guys were training for cliff rescues but they were still setting up.

We drove into the old west town of Darby looking for a late breakfast but I didn’t fancy any of the cafes. So we bought some eggs and fresh rolls and went back to camp and did our own.

Other than that, it was a quiet day editing and cleaning our van.

On our evening walk, Mike thought he saw a bear, but it was just a man dressed in black, fishing.

It had been such a warm evening that it was still hot when we went to bed so we left all the windows open. It was freezing when we woke the next morning. We were parked under some trees which stopped the sun getting through to our van.

It was another beautiful day of driving through gorges, alongside the Salmon river. I don’t know why but I have a sudden urge to go fishing.

The hills surrounding us on either side reminded me of the king country but on steroids. They were massive.

We stopped in the quaint little town of Salmon. There were some outdoor stores here and I really wanted to go fishing. But Mike wasn’t keen.

We picked up a few supplies, and continued on over a big mountain up to about 7000 feet. At the top was a sign.

Welcome to Montana! As usual I was too slow to take a photo.

We found a nice little camping spot in the national forest which had power. It was freezing so we got our fan heater out, and then it snowed!

After the snow, we tried to go for a walk, but a vicious wind was blowing straight off the snow capped mountains. We both had fleeces and puffer jackets on but the cold wind managed to send its icy fingers into any gap it could find. Imagine being nice and warm and someone chucking ice cubes down your top. it was like that but all over your face and hands too. And it whipped straight through my long trousers. Mike’s bare legs didn’t stand a chance.

We scurried back to the van and turned the heater on.

Mike cooked up a chicken stew for dinner.

There was a bear in the campground last night. He knocked over a large bin!

We left our lava camp and mostly had a driving day. We stopped at the experimental breeder reactor museum but it was closed.

We found an outdoor store in the middle of nowhere and they had bear spray! Finally! Now we just gotta learn house to use it!

We are just driving north now, up highway 93 to Canada. We found a lovely spot to camp right beside the Salmon river in the sawtooth mountains.

We had our first attempt at campfire cooking but it failed miserably. We had potatoes in foil and these worked out ok, but when we put the bacon on, the wind picked up and blew ash all over it. We gave up and took it inside to cook.

I finally got to bed at 1.30am and heard no more rustling. I would have loved to stay another night in that freedom camp, but the thought of Russell coming back terrified me.

About ten minutes up the road was a natural hot spring. It was just on the side of the highway and a short walk down to it. There were only one other couple in there. I think they were Mexican as they didn’t speak any English.

The water was crystal clear and the perfect temperature. It was nice to have a warm bath as it’s a week or so since we showered. That’s part of the fun of van life!

After our soak we felt very refreshed and continued 30 minutes up the road to craters of the moon, which is a huge lava field.

We did some beautiful hikes, and climbed up a volcano with stunning views from the top. then we decided to camp at the craters of the moon national park camp for only $4 a night. It was pretty cool camping in a lava field!

We met a lady we’d met a couple of days ago. She’s touring on her own with her dog, Blossom. She invited us over to sit around her gas fireplace, which was like a real fire without the smell!

It was a nice evening chatting. She is from LA and works from home, and travels 3 months every year.

No critter noises tonight, so that was a bonus.

We woke up to a beautiful sunny day, but little did we know the drama that awaited.

We’d wanted to get an early start as there was a hike I wanted to do. But when we went to leave, Mike realised he had left the isolator switch off the previous day and we now had a flat battery!

Mike grabbed our neighbour at the campground before they could leave for the day. Thankfully he had some jumper leads and got us going.

Then we went to Walmart to find our own jumper leads, but ended up buying a jump starter battery pack so we don’t need to rely on anyone else. It also has an air pump in it.

Our first stop was Box canyon springs walk. We’d tried to buy bear spray but couldn’t find it. I think it’s the sort of thing you need to buy online.

The walk started along the rim of the canyon with stunning views down to the river. Then it was a steep rocky climb down into the canyon on an unmaintained trail.

We walked for about an hour to a waterfall. We’d been told there was a beautiful clear spring further on, so we continued for about 30 mins. Up ahead I saw a lot of bugs flying in the air. Not thinking too much about it, we continued.

Suddenly all these bees (or wasps) started flying at us. I quickly turned around and started heading back. Thankfully they left us alone and we made it back unstung.

Climbing back up out of the canyon looked intimidating, as we haven’t done much exercise since we’ve been here. But thankfully it was not hard, and no shortness of breath. We are at much lower altitude of about 4000 feet.

We did a little more sightseeing around the area then started driving towards craters of the moon.

Around 5pm we found an amazing free camping spot with table, chairs, shelter, fire pit and bbq, as well as a toilet. I can’t believe the quality of some of the free camps we’ve had.

That night, however, things took a turn for the worse. As we were settling down in bed, I hear that familiar rustle, rustle. ‘You better set the mouse trap,’ I said to Mike.

He set it up on the dash, which is where we caught the mouse last time. The rustling got louder, accompanied by thumping foot steps. This was no tiny little mouse. Something big was making itself at home in the engine.

What could it be? A few things crossed my mind. Skunk, squirrel, chipmunk. That cute little ground hog I saw the other day, appeared in my thoughts, but now with an evil grin on plastered on its face. I shuddered at the thought.

I kicked Mike out of bed to investigate. Armed with our phone torches, we lifted the bonnet, but no sign of anything. We got back in the car and rustle rustle, thump thump. It sounded like it was under the dash.

I rang brother Paul for advice. He suggested spraying something smelly underneath. I grabbed some fly spray and tick spray and sprayed under the bonnet. It didn’t work.

By this time it was midnight and Mike was looking tired, so I sent him to bed. My job, however, was to make sure the critter did not enter the van.

I sat in the front seat. Every time it moved I thumped on the dash and told it to get out. This went on for about an hour when the rustling stopped. Has it gone out to get more supplies? Gone hunting? I wasn’t sure but I lay back down in bed.

I must have fallen asleep as I heard no more rustling. But that doesn’t mean it’s gone. We’ll investigate further in the morning.

It was a drizzly day today so we stayed put at our camp and had a maintenance day.

We took Rodger to Walmart for an oil change. While we waited I uploaded two videos using Walmart’s free wifi.

Then we found a laundromat and did laundry while a storm rolled over.

And that was our Monday.

Mike cooked us a chicken curry and rice for tea and it was yummy!