Jasper Surprise
August 11, 2001
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| East View of Bow River |
Obtaining an RV site with water, electricity, and sewage in the beautiful Whistler Campground, Jasper Nat. Park, Alberta can be difficult. The general procedure is to take a site with no hookups (electricity, water or sewage) the first day and then stand in line very early the next day in hopes of obtaining one of the coveted sites. This has been the general procedure for years and is fairly well known by many RVers. Having stood in this line before, I knew the procedure. But, the girl at the entrance booth assured me that it was not necessary to be in line early – 10 AM would be OK. I was skeptical because often the line starts to form as early as 6 AM. So, I compromised and showed up at 9 AM. Already there were about 15 people in line. Most seemed in good humor. These folks were strangers to each other, but as is usual among most RVers, they converse easily as if they were old friends.
Most of the banter concerned the gentle kidding that was being received by one young fellow in line who was hoping to obtain a particular site next to a friend. The odds of this are fairly remote, considering that you stand in line until everybody in front of you has obtained a site, then you wait for an RV that had been staying in one of these favored sites to leave the park. You have the option of taking that particular site or waiting for the site of the next RV to leave. After standing in line for a couple of hours, the site sought by this fellow went to the person in line ahead of him. Not wanting any other site, the disappointed fellow left the line and everyone moved up a notch.
At this point, there were only about five folks ahead of me. The check-out hour of 11 AM was rapidly approaching, so the folks at the head of the line generally took any site they could get, even if it had only partial hookups. The casual conversations continued and I overheard one fellow ask a lady where she was from. “College Station, TX,” she replied. I looked at her carefully and asked her if we knew each other. “You look vaguely familiar,” she said. “Are you from College Station too?”
In a line such as this in Jasper, Alberta, one might expect to find one or two people from the United States mixed in with folks from Alberta, British Columbia and other provinces of Canada. But to find two folks from College Station, Texas would be highly unusual.
We introduced ourselves and a connection was made. I had once purchased a computer from their store. When she mentioned that her husband was named Bert Frenz, I recognized him as the President of the College Station Chapter of the Audubon Society of America and an authority on birds of Central Texas. Since we were in Jasper partly to find new birds, Bert would be a very handy companion. Shari Frenz supplied their phone number and we agreed to eat out.
Over pizza in a Jasper Restaurant, the Frenzes explained that they have been RVing for several years since they sold their computer business. They now lead RV birding tours into Mexico, Alaska and other places with Adventure Caravans (1-800-872-7897). We were provided a brochure explaining where all they travel and prices of the trips.
I explained that we were searching for our 500th bird of North America to add to our life list. So while Shari went shopping, Bert, Pat and I went birding at the Edith Cavell Lake and glacier area. Our target was a Gray-Crowned Rosy Finch. In summer, it finds insects to feed its young on patches of snow, so I thought we might best find it high up the trail where some snow remained. However, it nests in rocky areas and that is where Bert saw it first -- hunting for food in a glacial moraine. When standing still among the rocks, it blended well with the background and was almost invisible. But it was much easier to see when it moved. We all saw two of them very well and confirmed that they were indeed Rosy Finches. Bert said that it was an excellent bird for our 500th.
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| Elk Cow at Our Campsite |
Oh yes, I did finally obtain the coveted RV site. With only minutes before 11 AM, I made it to the front of the line and probably took the last available site for the day. I got lucky! But it was more lucky to run into the Frenzes, who share our interests in nature and birding. But then, maybe it was to be expected. We are very lucky folks!
1 comment:
Interesting
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