About my trips

I hope to give you some insight on the countries of Canada and the USA. It´s important to get as much information about the places and sights you want to visit before you go. I have been to North America on three separate occasions.  In my first trip in 1995 we flew to Vancouver, BC and we spent the entire time in British Columbia and Alberta, Canada.  On this trip we first explored Vancouver and then went to Vancouver Island where we visited Victoria and the southern part of Vancouver Island.  Later we went into the interior of BC where we used Kamloops as a base for a number of trips.  From Kamloops we mainly explored to the north in Cariboo country and the Bonaparte Plateau.  Also we went on a longer trip to Wells Gray Provincial Park known for its waterfalls and further up the Yellowhead Highway to Mount Robson Provincial Park on the BC side of the Great Divide and on into Jasper National Park in Alberta.  We visited some of the sights around Jasper such as Maligne Canyon and Miette Hotsprings and we went part way down the Banff-Jasper Icefields Parkway to Athabasca Falls and Sunwapita Falls.

On my second trip to Canada again we landed in Vancouver but this time we went through more of the southern part of BC in the North Okanagan and through the Kootenays.  I enjoyed visiting a number of hotsprings around Nakusp both developed and undeveloped ones.  After spending a few days there we hiked into Valhalla Provincial Park.  It was very rugged but most enjoyable.  It was one of the highlights of my second trip.  After Valhalla we drove down to Creston and crossed the border into Idaho, U.S.A. and drove east to Kalispell, Montana where we visited Big Forks on. Flathead Lake.  We then drove the Going-to-the-Sun parkway in Glacier National Park where we stopped at various places that interested us for short hikes.  After we crossed the Great Divide and exited the east entrance of the park we headed north to Calgary, Alberta.  We also spent some time at a farm near Drumheller, Alberta and then came back into the Rockies through Banff where we spent some time visiting such places as Lake Louise, Morraine Lake, Peyto Lake, and Marble Canyon and Yoho National Park on the BC side.  We returned to Kamloops via the Trans Canada Highway.

On my third trip we spent our time entirely in the U.S.A. My friend Torgny and I went from Sweden to Phoenix, Arizona on one of our trips where we met up with a Canadian friend by the name of Grant. We rented a Jeep Grand Cherokee to get to the places we wanted to see. It cost us 12.000 Swedish Crownes (about $1.200) for three weeks. We occasionally drove up to eight hours per day, all in all we put on about 6.000 kilometers. Our rental agreement allowed us to put on unlimited mileage.  We tried to spend as much time as possible outdoors so most of our driving was done in short but intense spurts. We visited five states on our journey in America: Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Utah and Nevada. We went to twelve National Parks and various State Parks, in some of them we camped and hiked.  Just to give you an idea of the route we took I have listed the attractions we went to in the order that we visited them.  Some of these places are state parks but for the purposes of the list I have not distinguished whether it is a national park or otherwise.  From Phoenix here is where we went:  Saguaro West Park, Colossal Cave, Kartchener Caverns, Tombstone all in Arizona.  Then we went to El Paso and east to Hueco Tanks, Guadalupe Mountains all in Texas, Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico and then back into Texas to the Davis Mountains and Big Bend Park. Afterwards, we went north to Rosewell, NM and Bottomless Lakes State Park.  From there we headed west to the White Sands of New Mexico and then north to Canyon de Chelly and Monument Valley in Arizona.  Continuing north we went to Goosenecks State Park in Utah and on up to Natural Bridges, Capitol Reef, Bryce Canyon and Zion.  We then visited the north rim of the Grand Canyon and on our way back to Pah Tempe Hot springs we stopped at Pipe Organ National Monument.  We finished up by staying in Las Vegas, Nevada for a couple of days before returning to Phoenix at the end of our three-week journey.

It was exciting to camp outside at night. You could hear howling Coyotes in some places, other places were dead silent.  There were many animals we saw, bears, pronghorn antelope, javelina, deer and creeping things like tarantulas and rattlesnakes. In the case of the bear, we saw a cub but did not see the parent bear.  It did not seem to care about us. In Big Bend National Park, Texas where we saw the bear, we also saw a spider. A big one! It was a Tarantula (Birdspider). I have this spider on videotape.

It was pretty hot in Big Bend Park so it is very important to drink a lot of water.  On one day at the mouth of Boquillas Canyon it got up to 111 degrees F, which is over 40 degrees C and this, was in September!

Travel airfare cost 7.000 Swedish Crowns (about $686) with United Airlines. I had 10.000 Swedish Kroner (about $1.000) in pocket money that I took. It helped to be with friends in order to defray the costs by sharing expenses such as gas and campsite fees, etc. Most of the time we stayed at designated camping facilities but on a few occasions we camped at places that were remote enough that they were free. Typically, campsite fees would range in price from 80-150 Swedish Crowns (about $15). Many of them had good service with showers etc. But others offered very little for what they were asking.  We found the Lonely Planet guidebook to be helpful in knowing what was available. It is wise to bring a little extra money for any unexpected contingencies. Food is generally reasonably priced and for around 100-200 Swedish Crowns ($10-20) you can get a tasty steak at a decent restaurant. Gas is cheap compared to Sweden.  In the U.S.A. it cost about $1.60/ U.S. gallon and in Canada it was about 65 cents per litre.  Of course gas prices can fluctuate so it is would be wise to check before you go if you are trying to do some pre-trip calculations.  In our case, gas prices were such that it did not figure into our trip as a major expense. Since 2000 the Swedish Kroner has lost a little strength against both the U.S. and Canadian dollar so you should take this into consideration.  However, this could change so you would have to calculate your spending money according to the exchange rate at the time of your trip.

I am one of Jehovah's Witnesses, which open possibilities to meet friends from all corners of the globe. I met my friend from Canada at an International Convention of Jehovah's Witnesses in Kenya in 1994. Our friendship started from then. At first, we initially wrote a few times to one another and then he invited us to come to Canada. We went to several Canadian parks in British Columbia and Alberta. There are some photos from Canada on my web site as well. I was there in 1995 and 1998. Both visits were wonderful trips, again we were able to cover a lot of territory because we rented a vehicle.  One of the highlights of my second trip was hiking in Valhalla Provincial Park in the Kootenays.  It is a wilderness park with no amenities so you must be prepared.  On the second trip we dipped down into Montana to visit Glacier National Park, which was also enjoyable. I hope my photos will give you the needed motivation to visit the American West or Canada.  If you plan it well I'm sure that you to will have an unforgettable experience. All the best with your trip!

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