Days 26-27: Watson Lake, YT to Hinton, AB

The next day we were both a little worse for wear, and got as far as Fort Nelson. Along the way we ran into a pretty sizable chunk of construction delays, plus a brief delay for some Stone Sheep, which basically slightly smaller versions of Big Horn Sheep, with thinner horns.

This is what it looks like when you try to take a picture of a running baby sheep from a moving car

We also made a quick stop at Muncho Lake, which is much more beautiful than its silly name would have you think (the name actually translates to big water in the Kaska language). The lake is actually supposed to be a nice jade color, though the overcast weather didn't help much. The color is attributed to the copper oxide that leaches in from the bedrock below the lake (see below).

There's not a whole lot to say about Fort Nelson. The people at the gas station were very nice, the lady at the Shannon Motel (below) was also very nice, and after a night sleeping in the car, a bed was also very nice. We spent some time nailing down the next couple of days, including making a couple of actual reservations. Up until now, we've basically been camping, walking into motels and hoping for the best, or booking an Airbnb a few hours before we arrive (something all of our hosts have found slightly entertaining, it seems).

Still trying to stick with our deadline, we put in even more hours today. We didn't set out quite as early as we'd hoped, but we kept doing the "just another hour" routine until we got ourselves all the way to Hinton, located just outside Jasper National Park. Usually we'd try to avoid the same route, but given the alternatives and how beautiful the Icefields Parkway is, we thought going through the parks might be a nice treat on our way down to Idaho. Plus, the added bonus of another night in Canmore.

As we got further east on the drive, there was a noticeable haze on the landscape. Even as it got much darker, there was a thick veil of smoke on the landscape around us. It plays tricks on your eyes at night, concealing a mountain altogether until you only see the top of it, then the outline, and then you realize that there's a mountain right there and you didn't see it for quite some time. Hinton itself seems to be two big lines of hotels, motels, and big box stores, with some nice strip malls in between. But we did find a nice motel room for the night (thankfully they had a lot of options). We settled in at the Tara Vista Inn, made some dinner, and got ready for our drive through Jasper the next day.