The day had come to pack up and say good by to our family members as we started the second half of our journey. As I took down the tent I was fortunate enough to see a beautiful Yellow Canadian caterpillar that will one day turn into an Elm Sawfly.
Before we headed to the next campground we decided to spend an hour or two in the near by town of Kaslo, situated on the shores of Mirror Lake, to do some shopping and see some sights. There were quite few gift shops with some really great hand made items for sale. One shop in particular that we liked was called "Your Arts Desire". There were some bakeries and even a little internet cafe. At one end of town was an old paddle wheel boat called the Moyie that you could go and explore.
Beside the boat was a little building that made me chuckle. It was a white shed like structure that was labeled "Post Office".
Soon though we were on our way again and watching the mountain scenery fly by. At one point we passed a really interesting looking building that had round roofs. My brother was driving and I had just woken up from a nap in the car so I didn't find out what town this building was in and only managed to click a quick picture of it, but it was so much bigger than the picture shows. I am really still curious as to what this building was for. Maybe it was just someone's house.
As the light of day started showing signs of fading into evening we came to our campground for the night. Oh, B.C. how I love you!! This campground was my most favourite campground of the whole trip! It was so amazingly nice! The campground I am talking about is Loop Branch camp ground in Glacier Provincial Park.
From the moment you drive in the majesty of the tallest trees you have ever seen combined with the beauty of the mountains just hits you and holds you. This...this strikes an awe in you that says "My God is an awesome God".
The further in you go the more you felt so wonderfully small. To add a bit of mystery to the wonder of it, you pass by some huge, huge stone pillars that seem to stand there for no reason but to make you wonder why they are there.
Even further still and you are all of a sudden met with an unexpected sight of some gorgeous log cabin like structures. All the buildings are purely for camper use including a cute little cabin structure that has both a back door and a front door on it. Each of the beams supporting the roof on this building have got to be about 4 or 5 feet in diameter.
Inside the building are about 6 picnic tables and a wood stove so that you can keep warm on cold fall (or perhaps winter) nights. I have never seen any provincial campground like this!
We got out of the car to stretch our legs and to look around to choose a couple of sites to set up our tents on.
 In one of the sites we chose there was a huge stump from a tree that was a couple hundred years old. We later counted the rings on it and it was at least 232 years old, probably more (the top of the stump was old and weathered making it difficult to count the rings in some places). |  |
Everything seemed so huge here. The trees, the mountains, the logs the cabin was made from, the stump, even the picnic tables! The thickness of the boards that the tables were made of had to have been about 4 or 5 inches thick. In Ontario all the other provincial parks and other campgrounds I have ever been to the tables were only ever made of 2 x 4's. It was like we had entered a world made for a giant.
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We chose sites 11 and 12 which were close to the bathrooms. There is no park office nor are there any staff to be seen, but in this place it just seemed to make sense. You paid using an envelope and self pay drop off box and then clipped the stub to the post. It felt comfortable and everything was so spotless and well maintained that it was hard to believe that there was no full time staff here. All the campers were quiet and respectful and kept to themselves mostly, but were not unfriendly to talk to. One of the campers that I spoke to told me that this was the most beautiful campground in all of Glacier National Park, and I believe him.
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There were no outhouses for bathrooms here. Instead there was a huge structure that was made of logs and ran on solar power. The architecture matched the surrounding buildings and it looked like it belonged there. It had sinks inside for washing hands but it also had an additional sink outside for washing dishes and things as well.
Even the stalls inside were done in wood. And the bathroom was absolutely spotless and had flush toilets.
The ceiling had rows of LED lights that gave off enough light but was not too over powering. The only downfall with the lights being solar powered is that on overcast days like that one there is not quite enough energy to keep the lights running. Eventually the women's side was in darkness while the men's side still had some light.
On the wall outside of the bathroom there are maps posted as well as some information on geocaching. I can imagine this would be a pretty popular place to do some geocaching. I have never done geocaching myself but I have an uncle that does and the idea interests me but I have just never gotten around to trying it. A place like this would be a great place to start. (Want to know more about it, you can find out more here: http://www.geocaching.com/guide/)
The sites themselves were large and nestled in among the trees. When you looked up the trees just seemed to go on forever.
All this beauty and peace and quiet for the low, low price of $21.50 per day. (Yeah, Ontario... your prices suck. Ontario charges about twice that amount and pales in comparison to this park. It's sad really). On top of the camping fee, if you want to have a fire you must pay an additional amount of $8.80 for a fire permit.
And to top it all off, there is none of this buying bags of wood at the camp office or local store. They have this convenient little wood shed full of free wood! Well, not exactly free because you are paying for a fire permit which you don't pay for in the other provinces, but I think this is a much better way to do it. Pay for the permit and then take as much or as little as you need.
In behind the wood storage area were some storage bins, presumably to store things like food items so that they don't attract bears to your site. You don't have to pay to use them and they are quite large (like everything else in the park). There were a few signs posted around the camp warning about potential bears in the area. We never saw any though. I figure that there must be other campgrounds in B.C. with storage containers like this in them considering how many bear stories you hear about in B.C. and Alberta. But I have nothing to compare it to so I don't know for sure. All I know is, I have never seen these in any of the other camps I have gone to so far but it's a great idea.
I could hear the nearby rushing of water so once the tents were up I took the dog and went exploring a little more. There was no beach or anything but if you took a very short trail in behind the washrooms there was some rapids running close by. The water was the colour of clay and you couldn't see the bottom very clearly but it was nice to listen to and to see just the same. To my surprise as I got to the water's edge I came across something unexpected. Someone (or perhaps multiple people) had built a number of small inukshuks out of the river stones. It was so peaceful and made you stop to think of all the people who may have came here before us.
I decided to explore more down by the stone pillar that I saw when we first drove in. Where at first I thought there was only one pillar it turns out that there were many more and they lined up like wide spread dominoes right through the trees. I was kind of curious as to who built them and what they were for.
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It didn't take long to find out because as I neared the entrance of a trail there was a huge sign posted that told what they were. They were the ruins of an old train trestle that used run through Roger's Pass. The sign showed a drawing of what the train on the trestles would have looked like as well as the path the train would have taken (which was a loop shape as the train came to this point and then looped back around in the direction in which it came from. Mystery solved!
All evening we relaxed and enjoyed the view. I can never get enough of that mountain view. I kept looking up hoping to catch a glimpse of a mountain goat. But we never saw one the whole trip. Later in the evening we went into the cabin and played cards until we were to tired to do so any more.
This place was so relaxing that even my dog approved and felt right at home, napping between two rocks.
The next morning as we packed up the tents I noticed that even though it hadn't rained the whole time we were there, under the tent was quite wet, but not the ground around the tent. It only goes to show why you need to have a good roll mat under you at night to keep a barrier between you and the ground. Moisture collects even when you don't realize it.
I was sad to have to leave Loop Brook so soon. This campground has been the best campground I have ever gone to yet and by far is my favourite. I love this place and I love B.C. and I will have to come back one day and spend more time here. I really want to do the hiking trail here and just get away from it all here in this little piece of heaven. It was hard to see the mountains getting farther away as we headed out of B.C. but I was very much looking forward to our next major destination, since we didn't stop on our way through the first time. Next stop.... Alberta!
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