This is a reanimation of the Vicaribus blog as lived by Miro Kazakoff and Ehren Foss in 2004 and 2005. The photos may be spotty.

Rocky Mountain High

Posted by ehren

Last night in the public lot in Jasper three German guys in a converted 65' Firetruck parked next to us for an hour or two. They didn't convert the vehicle, but whoever did created a 7 ton offroad monstrosity, canary yellow. The original owner drove it all the way N/S in Africa, then shipped it from South Africa to Houston, and started on a tour of North America. On Vancouver Island he died of heart failure, so his girlfriend sold it to the three Germans, who are on a 2 week trip through BC and Alberta. They said it's not so great for offroading since 1st gear doesn't work so well.

Last night also we finished our 550 mile drive from Vancouver with three large pizzas, poutine, and onion rings at the cheapest possible restaurant in Jasper (a city which is not very economical). After that we all grabbed our 15 minutes of internet at a local bakery for $2, and drove to Whistler's Campground 3km south of town. All the electrical sites were gone, but it didn't really matter, as we sat around in a zombielike state for about an hour before bagging it and falling asleep. Might've had something to do with the campfire until 4am the night before, you tell me. One of the Germans (Manfred?) came over with a couple Molson's to see if we were up for hanging out but nobody could muster the energy.

In the morning I woke up first (this almost never happens) and climbed the sick 5.12c traverse route from the desk area across the kitchen, overtop the inflatamattress, to the cockpit. Since I'm the first to free-climb the route, I'll have to think of a good name.

The campsite has 781 sites but only one shower building (???) located on the other side of the park, so I walked over. The showers made you press a button in order to get water, with no temperature control, which was a huge pain in the ass. I figured out how to lean up against it so I could scrub more effectively. On the way back I happened across two female Elk. We were warned by the ranger that they are extremely aggressive (it's calving season) so I kept my distance for a while, and eventually started to get around them through the woods on the opposite side of the road. About 30 feet later a third elk stood up right in front of me, so I decided to let them clear out at their own pace.

We then drove over to the shower building (the Scots were cagey about dealing with the Killer Zombie Elk). Everyone else showered, I started breakfast (I didn't screw up oatmeal!), then when Miro came back he took over cooking and I talked to the ranger about other campgrounds, likely times they fill up, things to see around the park, etc. Meanwhile, a herd of elk wandered past the shower building. Taking yesterday's lesson to heart, we then dumped both tanks and drove back into town.

The group split up (some heading for laundry, some for phones, some for vittles). I bought 40 minutes of internet ($0.10/min roughly), then had an elk burger at a local pub and was still starving 15 minutes later. I joke about being so hungry I could pass out, but I really did feel dizzy today. Too busy to graze at my usual rate. After that I moved to the lobby of a hotel where I tried to set up a call with SPECTRE, but he's out mountain biking in thunderstorms in Nyack NY. Try again at 5. Still hungry, I proceeded back to the bus and ate a can of soup and a bunch of bread.

The clouds lifted somewhat today, and at various times the sun exposed epic views of the surrounding Canadian rockies. 60% chance of rain forecast through Tuesday, which they allege will be sunny, then 60% rain resumes. Michelle and Allison, battling strange bus company rules, might stay on for a few days, and Charley and Adam definitely will.

I also wisely moved my whole Parliament collection from the external drive to my laptop today. My funk tank was almost empty.