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Day 28Today I was up and around by 6 A.M., and Diane had coffee brewing and breakfast underway when I stumbled up to the main house. Diane is a superb cook, and has been with Lynn as the camp cook for several years. Since the lodge is so far from town, there is no electricity, unless they fire up the generator, which they rarely do, except when clients are there. Most cooking and heating is done on a wood stove. It is though you had stepped back in time a century, and it just suits me perfectly. I think I was just born at the wrong time. I fit more into that mold than the one I live in today.
After breakfast it was off to the horses. It wasn't a tough day, just lunge them in a circle for some time to give them a little forced exercise, to increase their fitness level in preparation for the early summer guests and the pack in fishing trips into the Cabinet Mountain Wilderness. The terrain in that part of Montana is pretty tough, mostly straight up and straight down. The trails are mostly a series of steep switchbacks until you get up on top of the mountain ridges, then it becomes a little easier going, and the scenery is just breathtaking. The area is probably one of the country's best-kept secrets. It abounds with deer, elk, bears, moose and many other varieties of small animals and upland game birds.
By noon we had the horses tended to, so I made q quick trip over to Bonners Ferry Idaho to the reservation tobacco shop and stocked up on cigarettes for the summer. I bought what I needed and mailed them to myself in Wasilla Alaska at Mo Bailey's house. Alaska has just gone completely nuts on taxes on cigarettes; with the new taxes it is now above 60 bucks a carton. All they are doing is forcing people to find other ways to get around the costs. Instead of making more revenue, they're simply creating a black market, instead of the desired effect they were looking for.
I returned to the ranch by 6 P.M., and just in time for dinner. I can't remember what the main course was, but I had donated some strawberries I had to the cause, and Diane cooked up this strawberry soufflé that would just knock your socks off, when I come back this fall, I will be sure and bring more strawberries.
After dinner we all went out on the porch and had a beer or two while Lynne was telling stories of the last years hunting trips, and making small talk.
Not far from the house is the barn, and a block of salt. It seems every day about dusk every deer in the neighborhood drops by to have a lick on the block, and today was no different. Several different groups showed up, so I went and got the camera. During hunting season deer season doesn't last to long around there, all accomplished from the front porch.
 Diane Lunging a horse
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 Hummingbird on porch
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 Deer at salt block
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Day 29 69,222
Today was a tough one. I had to get going on my trip north, but it is really hard to leave Libby, it is one of my favorite places in the world, and I rarely get to visit long with my friends and enjoy to surroundings there.
After breakfast, and after helping with the horses again by noon I was on my way towards Eureka and the Canadian border. I again wondered what kind of reception I would receive at the border, god I hate crossing into Canada. They always make life miserable and it raises the stress level to unbelievable levels for me, but this crossing was a piece of cake. The border guard didn't like the paperwork I had for my guns, so we redid it, I paid the 25 bucks for the permit to haul them and I was on my way. I think God was on my side today.
I made it to Canal Flats B.C. by 10 P.M., and stopped at my favorite little bar there, had a couple of beers and crashed in the parking lot for the night after visiting with the owner of the bar who I had met on previous trips. By midnight, it was lights out and pleasant dreams.
Day 30 Today would lead me once again through Banff and Jasper Provincial Parks. They are both such beautiful places, and they are just loaded with majestic panoramas and abound with wildlife. I spent the entire day wandering through the parks, and finally camped for the night at Snarling River Campground, just east of Jasper on the road to Grand Cash Alberta.
I'm not posting to many scenery pictures, as I didn't take to many this time as it all pretty much looks just like it did last year when I came through. You can review more of them on last years travel guide if you wish http://25thaviation.org/travelguides and see the 2006 Travel Guide.
 Black Bear Sow
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 Cub in a tree
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 Another Black Bear
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 Another Black Bear
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 Dall Sheep Rams
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 Banff lake
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 Jasper Dall Ram
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 Jasper Dall Ram
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 Waterfall
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 Waterfall
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 Waterfall
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Day 31 69,912 70,125I was on my way by 9 A.M. and enroute to Prince George to take the Cassiar Highway to Watson Lake, but after getting to Smithers, I was informed the tank farm and shipping center at Prince Rupert had flooded, and there was no gas at Katawanga, the beginning of the Cassiar Highway. I had no report on gas availability up the Cassiar so I had great concern on getting stranded. Since the Cassiar is 426 miles long, I opted to about face and go back to Prince George and up to Dawson Creek and the Alaska Highway. The day proved uneventful and I arrived at Dawson Creek at 9 P.M., did a little shopping at Wal-Mart, and spent the night there.
Day 32 70,521Today led me up the highway through Ft Nelson, what is absolutely the most expensive place on the planet. Since I had been there before I had filled up all my cans earlier in the trip just so I could miss this place as a fuel stop. I did stop long enough to fill the tank from the cans, and check my mail then it was on up the road towards Whitehorse. I knew I wouldn't make Whitehorse, but I also knew after I passed Summit Lake, wildlife would be everywhere, and there were several really good camping spots along the way.
As I crested the pass Summit Lake was in view. It is like a little Jewell nestled among the sheer granite peaks that surround it. The campground was full so I continued on toward Muncho Lake. It was quite late, nearly midnight, but the light was perfect for pictures. As Ii rounded a corner, there they were. Sheep and Mountain Goats were all over the place. I spent the remaining light taking pictures and finally camped in a little clearing used by outfitters during hunting season, the pole corrals to contain the horses were still in place from years past.
 Summit Lake
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 Mountain Goat
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 Mountain Sheep
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 Mountain Goat
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 Mountain Goat
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