Recreational Vehicle

February 1, 2018February 6, 2018

FREE Camping: Wapta Falls Recreation Site-Field, British Columbia

If you haven’t noticed yet, we don’t like paying for camping. We especially don’t like paying for camping when we are traveling through beautiful Western Canada and every dollar means we can stay on the road a little longer and see more of this beautiful country. Many thanks to the British Columbia Recreation Department for having so many awesome, free campsites and trails for public use. This one was located just down the road from Wapta Falls and offered amazing views of the falls and the mountains beyond.

How to Get There- (GPS: 51.109397, -116.500873)

Once you visit Jasper National Park, travel back down the Icefields Parkway and turn West on HWY 1 toward Field turn onto Beaverfoot Rd. Stay on Beaverfoot Rd for nearly 8 miles of rough logging road and turn left at the sign for Wapta Falls Recreation Site. The dirt road to the campsites is rutted and could be difficult to navigate in wet weather. We managed fine through a few puddles in a 19 ft. Class C RV. Getting out was a little tricky, but with some careful driving we made it out with no problem.

We pulled in at night and didn’t really understand how good of a FREE camping spot we had stumbled upon. Rachael started working on a delicious meal of red beans and rice and I took a walk outside to see what I could see, and hear. The sound of Wapta Falls 2000 feet below was LOUD! And if the stars could make noise they would have drown out the falls. This was by far the best night for night photography on our trip, but it didn’t last long. By the time Rachael got done with dinner, most of the stars had hidden themselves behind cloud cover.

We rested easy knowing that the parking brake was on and that we would awake to the sound of a mountain waterfall and what was sure to be a beautiful view. We slept in the next morning and awoke to great conditions and undoubtedly one of the best views of the trip. Chancellor Peak and Mt. Vaux dominate the horizon and Wapta Falls, massive in its own right, is dwarfed by the peaks above. It is crazy to think that only a day before we were hiking to the abandoned campground and the hoodoos at the base of Chancellor Peak and now we were viewing the same peak from a great distance.

You could say that there were facilities here. There were a couple of fire pit areas and a couple of picnic tables that seemed to be pretty well maintained. There was also a pit toilet between the campsites that seemed to be in okay shape. We would definitely poop here again.

Activities in the Area–

Wapta Falls Hike-The most obvious activity in the immediate area is to hike to Wapta Falls. The falls are beautiful and huge. There are two options to hike to the falls from this campsite. One is to drive Beaverfoot Rd back to HWY 1 and turn West until you see the sign for Wapta Falls on your right. The second option (we suggest this one) is to hike down and bushwhack your way from the campsite to the falls. It is a lot of elevation to climb back up, but we think the views will more than make up for it.
Golden, BC- This quiet little town was one of our favorites from the trip mostly because of the quaint size and the amenities that abounded for such a small town. Our favorite stop in Golden was Bacchus Books. This bookstore doubles as a cafe and coffee shop. The selection of books was impressive considering the whole place couldn’t have been 2000 square feet on both floors. We enjoyed the baked goods and reading in a coffee shop that wasn’t packed full of people.

It really was a shame that we had to leave this campsite so soon, but we had more to see in Yoho and time was starting to run out on our Canadian adventure. We hope that you enjoyed our review of this campsite and hope that you continue to follow our adventures on YouTube, Instagram and Facebook as @okienomads.

December 5, 2017

Our Bus Has a House Door!

Some of our most dedicated readers might remember that right after we purchased our bus in Fall 2016, we traveled 1500 total miles with Rachael’s family to go skiing at Monarch Mountain, near Salida, CO. The drive was incredibly helpful in figuring out how the bus drove on the interstate (i70 is fun), what kind of gas mileage we could expect, and any potential issues that might arise. The most annoyingly obvious problem that our fun little bus had was a drafty front door. The bifold doors had seen better days and let in all sorts of noise, cold air, and probably critters. My wife and I wanted a house door for the appearance, security, and heat/cool retention, so a house door was going to happen.

Skoolie Tip # 002: Always check your tires! By check, I don’t mean kick a couple of times and look at the tread. I mean jack the vehicle up and look at the rotation of the wheel and tire. We had a flat spot on our two front tires (likely from sitting) that were causing a very obvious shake in the steering at 62.3 MPH that was discovered on our first long trip in the skoolie. We replaced our front tires in Wichita, KS and the rest of the trip was smooth.

Like many of our projects, it starts with me, Rachael, and/or her father finding something of interest in a thrift store, dumpster, or Habitat for Humanity Restore and bringing it home. On this occasion, Rachael and her father found a solid wood door on one of their adventures and brought it home to be used on the skoolie. The door was significantly narrower than the bus opening, so some building was required.

I created a frame out of 2×4’s and mounted them into the steel frame of the bus with self-tapping screws. The screws hold very tight, but if necessary I will reinforce the frame with bolts through the exterior of the bus. Next, I chiseled out slots for the hinges on the door and the frame and installed the hinges. As with most of our bus build pictures, I remember to take pictures of the easy stuff and not the hard stuff.

I hole sawed out the holes for the door lock and handle and installed those promptly after. Everything fit as expected and the lock secures the door as desired.

There was a certain rush in getting the door hung as we were about to leave for a two-week trip to the Canadian Rockies and didn’t want to leave the bus unsecured in our absence. If you want to read more about our trip to Alberta and BC, check out a couple of links below:

BANFF, AB: OKIENOMAD’S TRIP THROUGH CANADA’S OLDEST NATIONAL PARK

THE ICEFIELDS PARKWAY: PROMENADE DE GLACIERS

All done! Well not quite. We still need to trim out the inside of the door frame to stop the door from closing too far, insulate the small imperfections and gaps, and trim out the the interior and exterior of the door. I will update this post when we get that completed, but until then our bus is secure and looks 100x better than the old bifold doors.

If you have any questions about the door addition or comments, let us know! We love hearing from people that are following our adventures and progress.

Thank you so very much for taking the time out of your day to read about our adventures and view our photos. If you haven’t yet, please take a couple more minutes to follow us on Instagram and subscribe to our channel on YouTube. Take a look around our website and if you see anything you like or have any suggestions, please let us know by commenting or e-mailing us at okienomads@gmail.com.

November 29, 2017November 29, 2017

The Icefields Parkway: Promenade de Glaciers

Before you read about one of the best and most iconic roads in North America, go read about our journey through Alberta in Bow Valley Parkway and Lake Louise and Banff, AB: Okienomad’s Trip Through Canada’s Oldest National Park.

Now onto this road. The Icefields Parkway is a 167 mile road that links Lake Louise to Jasper. The road winds and curves along pristine alpine rivers, over massive mountain passes and passed some of the coolest attractions in Canada.

We left out of our epic hillside parking spot and made the turn West and onto the Icefields Parkway.

Just after starting up one of the mountain passes, we were greeted by a herd of bighorn sheep crossing the road. These creatures did not remotely care that we were on the road. We let them pass and continued on up the hill.

We shortly stumbled upon the Columbia Icefield and proceeded to hike as close as we could before the crevices started. I was really taken aback by the glacier and how much it has retreated into the mountains since discovery. The date markers showing the toe of the glacier over time really convey the effects of global warming. I enjoyed the hike because of the beauty but was also humbled by the reality of what damage we have done to our planet.

On our way up the Icefields Parkway, we somehow missed the turn off for Tangle Falls. We realized it shortly after we missed the sign, but decided to come back to it on our way back South. We were not disappointed. This waterfall looked like something on a tropical island. I can’t imagine what it looks like in the summer season. We met a man here, he was actually stopping to use the facilities, and he was on his way from Alaska to Idaho, solo, in a 2nd generation Nissan Xterra. I was a little jealous of the epic distance of his trip and also very nervous for him driving through the wilds of North America through the night on his own.

We continued down the parkway toward Athabasca Falls, aptly named for the river that feeds the falls. The falls were incredible and what we missed seeing over the horizon due to the fog, we made up for in snow-covered trees bordering the river.

Racheal and I attempted to follow a trail around to the lower falls, but ended up on an old rail track and followed it a little ways into the forest. We returned to take in one more look at the falls and head toward Jasper.

This road is iconic and epic due to the sweeping views and the beautiful natural features that litter the landscape. If you are traveling the Icefields Parkway, I encourage you to take two days to see this road, especially during the summer season. If you feel like turning off and getting a picture, do it. We stopped for a lot of pictures of the road and I still wish we had stopped for more. There are so many beautiful scenes to see, TAKE YOUR TIME!

We made our way to Sunwapta Falls, a Class VI waterfall with a drop of 60ft. I would have loved to see someone ride a kayak through this set of falls as it is impressive in size and volume. I encourage you to visit this (and any other iconic sights) early in the morning. If you can be the first one there as the sun comes up, you will miss the hoards of tourists that bus in during the day. It became difficult to even setup a shot at Sunwapta due to the masses of people during the week in mid-October. Nevertheless, it was beautiful and well worth the stop.

We met the nicest woman from Ontario while we were hiking around the falls. She was visiting her son in Alberta and decided to stop at some sights along the way. Meeting people on the road is one of our favorite elements of long-term travel. We are contemplating making a business card so we can stay in touch with people that we meet on the road.

We pulled into the Jasper area close to dark, so we got the RV parked and paid for in the Wapiti Campground. Similar to Tunnel Mountain II in Banff, Wapiti is a massive campground. Be warned, during the winter months, there is not water fill or dump station at Wapiti, it is strictly an electric-only site. We were not alone at Wapiti, but the shore power and warm, clean showers were worth the $25USD that we paid to park in a parking lot with other RV’s. We will tell the story of our time in Jasper in another post, stay tuned.

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November 16, 2017November 21, 2017

Bow Valley Parkway and Lake Louise

If you haven’t read the last installment of our blog, you should. See it HERE!

After a short, beautiful drive up the Bow Valley Parkway, you should arrive at Johnston Canyon. Johnston Canyon was a favorite stop for both of us. The trail is easy and well-marked and meanders along some truly beautiful cascades. The falls themselves make for an excellent place to stop and take in the view.

A more strenuous hike leads up the mountain-side to the “ink pots”. These pools were less than interesting, but the vast expanse of the top of the forest made the hike worth it. If you visit in the fall, be sure and take some warm clothes, it was brisk up top.

We camped in the Johnston Canyon RV parking lot across the street from the trailhead. It was free and no one hassled us either night that we camped there. To see more about where and how we boondocked in our rented RV, check out our blog post here! www.okienomads.com/rvrental .

Lake Louise-
This is what we woke up to the next morning…

Continue travelling down the Bow Valley Parkway as far as you can and it will terminate at Lake Louise Village. Due to bad weather and visiting in October, we had to leave the parkway at Castle Junction and continue North on HWY-1. If the weather and road closures permit, take your time on this road. There are beautiful things to see all along it. Don’t get in such a hurry that you miss it.

Lake Louise is an interesting little village, but there was not much in the actual village that interested us. We got some advice for a “private” hike from a ranger at the information center in Lake Louise that we were glad we got.

The gentleman explained that he liked to be alone, and this is the hike he likes to be alone. We followed his directions to Moraine Lake Rd and parked at the road closed sign to continue on foot. Due to visiting in mid-October, Moraine Lake Rd was closed, but we parked at the highway and continued onto Lake Annette on foot.

We bundled up and stepped out into a fairly substantial snowfall and brought along our YakTrax in case things got sketchy. We hiked the road for a few KM’s and found the trailhead to Lake Annette, as described by our new friend at the visitor center. The trail was moderate and fantastic as it was covered in about 6 inches of fresh powder. We were the only humans that had been on it since the most recent storm.

We hiked a total of around 11 KM’s up to ice-covered Lake Annette and the unnamed glacier hanging on Mt. Temple. We made much better time back down the trail as we followed our original steps out of the woods. Although this is prime bear country, we saw none. We saw absolutely no wildlife on this hike, which was strange. This however was a great snow hike and an awesome experience to get into the backcountry.

We then made our way to iconic Lake Louise and the Fairmont Chateau that rests on the lakeshore. Although the hotel is beautiful and in a prime location for hiking and skiing in the winter, it is not really our style and definitely not in our price range.

The lake, however, is beautiful. The mountains in Alberta seem to burst out of the lakes and erupt into the clouds. So is the case for Lake Louise. The emerald blue water is like nothing I have ever seen. We walked around the lake and took in the sights, conversed with some very nice tourists, took obligatory shots of the boathouse and made our way back to the RV for lunch.

A lot of the popular trails either had roads closed to the trailheads or were socked in with snow, so we missed some of the more iconic hikes at Lake Louise such as the Plain of Six Glaciers or Moraine Lake. We will save those for another trip.

North of Lake Louise, the Bow Valley Parkway turns into HWY 93, the Icefields Parkway. One could spend a few days travelling the Icefields Parkway by itself, and we will leave that to a later post. Thank you for taking time out of your day to read about our adventures. If you enjoyed the stories or the photos, let us know by leaving a comment or sending us an e-mail at okienomads@gmail.com. You can see all of our images on Instagram and videos of our bus build on YouTube. Subscriptions, shares, and follows are always appreciated, they help keep this dream alive.

November 1, 2017November 22, 2017

Canadian Road Trip: Getting to Canada

The easiest and least complicated aspect of our recent trip planning was arranging to get into Canada from the US.

Did you know: American Citizens can visit Canada for up to 180 days before other arrangements such as Visas have to be arranged? Crazy! All of this natural beauty and all of these super friendly people and the government doesn’t care if you spend 6 months across the border. AWESOME!

The backbone of our whole trip was finding an affordable international flight that left near our wedding and arrived when we needed to be back. We used Expedia.com for our flights and found a cheap flight out of XNA in Northwest Arkansas and a return flight to Tulsa International.

Okienomads Travel Tip #1: Always check-in to your flight before you get to the airport. If the plane is empty, you will probably get to sit by your travel companion. If it is full (like our return flight from Calgary) you will get stuck between two strangers.

Once we arrived in Calgary, we made our way to our first Air BnB for our layover for Canadian Thanksgiving. MJ was a fantastic host and we could not have asked for a better place to relax and recharge before hitting the road. The apartment is furnished well and the hot-tub was a great addition. The location was great for walking all over Downtown Calgary. I would highly recommend this for anyone looking for an alternative to a hotel room.

On our return trip through Calgary, we stayed here. Justin was also a great host and was even there to let us in when there was a malfunction with the buzzer at the front door. The building is a historic brick building in the heart of Downtown Calgary. The layout was a little unique, but it worked great for two road-weary travelers.

Calgary has plenty to offer in the way of food and shopping, there was however, limited nightlife. We are not big into nightlife or bars, but we did notice that it was a little dead after about 10PM. We found no shortage of food options and even found some that accommodated with gluten free options. Below are a few of our favorites:

Yellow Door Bistro/119 12 Avenue SW- This cafe was a bit overpriced, but the Sunday brunch was very good. The service was excellent and the waiter even helped us plan out our day of walking around the city. I probably wouldn’t eat hear again, simply due to the price tag, but if someone else is paying, its great!
Pho Hoai Vietnamese Noodle House/132 3 Ave SE- Want to eat at the best Thai food that is open on Thanksgiving? This is it. The food was excellent, cheap, and authentic. The owner explained that her special sauce is hand made from scratch daily. The location is a little tricky as it is in a strip mall in Chinatown, but it was tasty.
Sweet Tooth Rolled Ice Cream/206 Center St SE- Talk about a hidden gem! This ice cream parlor rolls their ice cream right in front of you and delivers a delicious final product. The ice cream artisans were extremely friendly and super nice. I would highly recommend this place during your stop in Calgary.
Michael’s Pizza/139 10 Ave SW- The google reviews speak for themselves, Michaels was excellent pizza! They make their pizza with farm-fresh ingredients and deliver anywhere downtown. They also have a gluten free crust that was pretty good.

Calgary has a lot to do, especially if you are short on time in the city. We really enjoyed spending quality time walking the trails around the Bow River and exploring the different neighborhoods in and around Calgary. If we had a little more time, we would have taken a trip out to the Calgary Olympic Park. Our schedule did not support this however, so it will have to wait until next time. We got a hold of our RV and our next stop was Banff National Park. To learn more about our experience with Cruise Canada and a rental RV in general, click here!

Next Article: BANFF, AB: OKIENOMAD’S TRIP THROUGH CANADA’S OLDEST NATIONAL PARK

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October 27, 2017November 22, 2017

Travel on the Cheap: FAQ and Review of Renting an RV to tour the Canadian Rockies

When we started brainstorming options for our Honeymoon, Rachael and I were both unaware of how much adventure we could cram into two weeks by renting an RV and road-tripping through the Canadian Rockies.

Why Cruise America (Canada)?

We researched a few other RV rental companies (Canada Dream mostly) and they were more expensive and not nearly as flexible with dates and costs. We got a seasonal deal with Cruise Canada (same company as Cruise America) and it cost us almost half as much with CC as it would have with Canada Dream.

Why an RV?

Cost. One alternative is to camp, but campsites are around $12-20/night not to mention the cost of renting camping equipment that could withstand the cold of October in Alberta which ranged anywhere from $20-100/night which isn’t any cheaper than the RV. The RV cost us just under $1000 CAD after renting pots and pans for the 8 nights. Hotels in Banff and Jasper averaged around $150/night not to mention the cost of a rental car or shuttle to drive us to cool places. In the RV it was one cost for the whole trip and we only had to worry about one reservation.

Convenience. Everything was in the RV! Just like when we travel in the bus, all of the things that we needed were tucked away in the RV, ready for any hike or adventure that arose. We could go from sleeping to hiking in a couple of minutes and the RV was secure and safe anywhere that we visited in Alberta and British Columbia. All we had to pack was a sleeping bag and we were set!

How terrible was living in an RV for over a week?

You are asking a couple who want to live full-time in a school bus, but past that, the RV was great! Everything worked and was clean when we picked up the unit. We used the propane stove and heater throughout the whole time we were in the rig and it worked flawlessly. The refrigerator ran off of electric and propane and we only refilled the propane tank once to the effect of about $25CAD.

The RV only had 100k miles on it and appeared to be basically new. It drove fine for as large of a vehicle as it was and we only had to put air in 1 tire on one occasion. We literally just drove it, slept in it, and took it back.

How brutal was dealing with Cruise Canada (America)?

I too have read some of the reviews online about Cruise Canada and I was initially very skeptic. I had planned to walk around the whole rig with a GoPro filming all of the little problems and blemishes, similar to the experience of renting a cheap apartment in a college town. However, our experience with CC was very good. Customer service was right on and we spent a total of about 20 minutes at their location, total. The check-in was fast and painless. Below are a couple of tips to help your process go smoothly:

Don’t plan on starting your rental on a weekend. We started and ended our rental on a weekday and we hardly saw anyone else at the location.
Have all of your paperwork in order. Make sure that you watch the safety video that they send to you ahead of time. And provide all of the needed licenses and agreements when you get to the counter.
Be familiar with the general operation of a Recreation Vehicle before you rent someone else’s $60,000+ rig. Understand how propane, electric, and water systems work. It’s simple.

Do you have to stay in Campgrounds?

Yes and no. To use the 110V appliances like the AC unit and the microwave, you must be connected to shore power in a campground or driveway. The rest of the appliances/lights/etc are 2-way, meaning they can run on the “house” battery for a short period of time. We only paid for camping 2 nights out of the 9 that we stayed in the RV.

Look for highway turnoffs, abandoned parking lots, and free RV parking signs and eat your heart out. One of our favorite nights of the trip was in a “Free RV Parking” area at the Crossing Gas Station/Motel/Pub.

Where did you poop?

This is a super common question that we often get with the bus life and the answer is the same, public restrooms and the woods are everywhere, especially in Canada. We did not use the RV washroom for #2 once. We utilized the always present forest or public restrooms when were near a city or town. Just think of how many trailhead, coffee shop, visitor center bathrooms that you see every day of a trip. Now just plan your day a little bit ahead of time and you too will not let the poo control your adventures.

Bonus tip: Always bring TP. An extra roll of toilet paper can save the day. We bought a small 4 pack when we landed and donated what was left to our AirBnB host in Calgary before we flew out…A small price to pay for comfortable BM’s.

If you have ever rented an RV and had a hack or suggestion that could help us the next time we rent, please drop a comment or e-mail us at okienomads@gmail.com. As always, keep up to date with our adventures on Instagram and YouTube @okienomads.