Day 7: Grande Prairie to Jasper, AB – 248 Miles


First off, I want the thank Carl and his wife for their amazing hospitality. You guys rock. I’m not sure where I’ll be in 1-2 years from now, but wherever it is, you’re welcome to come crash my place anytime. Thanks for everything!

 

The next morning I said goodbye to Carl and was on the road by 0900. I stopped at a DIY car wash place on the way out of Grande Prairie to give the moto a good wash.

AK2FL_05Aug13_0001
Leaving Carls house
AK2FL_05Aug13_0002
The cleanest she’s been in a while

For some reason I decided to skip getting gas as I was riding South, figuring my 3/4 tank of gas was enough to get me the 190km (120miles) to Grande Cache.. and if it wasn’t enough then surely there’d be gas available along the way, right? Nope! Literally 3km from Grande Cache, I ran out of gas. shiitttt 😡 My moto was still indicating I had 5 miles of fuel range left too

AK2FL_05Aug13_0003
5 Miles? NOPE!

I luckily coasted down a hill to a park entrance and was able to have a local who was running into town get gas for me in my rotopax . I don’t normally leave gas filled in my rotopax unless I know I’ll need it like when going up to Prudhoe bay, AK.

Once I had another gallon of gas in my bike, I rode the 3km into town, filled my tank and grabbed chow at a pizza place.

Jasper was one of the places I had been wanting to ride to for a while now. It’s supposed to be a quaint (touristy) place at the start of the Icefields Pkwy. Really scenic in this area.

AK2FL_05Aug13_0005 AK2FL_05Aug13_0006

 

There was a ton of traffic leaving the Jasper area and heading the opposite way from me.. probably all the Canadians heading home after their long holiday weekend of camping. I had added a waypoint to my GPS for a campground that was recommended on ADVrider, so I went straight there to secure a campsite for the night before they all filled up. It’s a good thing I didn’t waste anytime in Jasper and checked in at Whistlers Campground early because there was a 20 minute line just to get into the place and I’m fairly sure they ran out of campsites about an hour after I got there.AK2FL_05Aug13_0008

Overall a nice campground but again I found it to be expensive camping here in Canada. This basic site cost me $28/night. In Alaska, something like this in a BLM campground would cost $6/night. oh well

Leave a Reply