McBride to Dickey Lake through the Ice Field Parkway

It was a cold start this morning. Frost covered my tent and the surrounding area in McBride. To warm up I quickly packed then located some coffee at a local café.
The drive in to Alberta and back out again took me through four parks: Mt. Robson Provincial Park and Jasper, Banff and Kootenay National Parks.
The roads through Jasper were packed with weekend travelers making the trip through the ice fields very slow. I didn’t realize it was the weekend until later in the afternoon. There was a point diving just after passing into Banff that I had the urge to stop, unpack my snowboard and hike up a mountain. So very tempting but I didn’t.
I was a little concerned about going over the pass at Castle Junction into Kootenay. I thought there might be bad weather or bad driving conditions. But after I reached the junction and saw how the road looked I felt a lot better. The road through Kootenay was gorgeous with all the burnt forest areas. I know, how morbid but it was really pretty.
I was looking forward to the end of the road where I thought I would stay at Radium Hot Springs. My map that I received coming into the park showed a nice campground within walking distance of the hot springs. But when I got there it was all a heavily developed tourist trap. So I kept going.
And going and going. I wanted to spend the night somewhere between Radium and the Canadian Border but it was still early enough to keep driving. I’ve now reached the lower 48! I reached the border a little after nightfall and knew there was a campground just on the other side. When I got there I was disappointed to find out it was going to be $25 bucks for the night. I decided to keep going.
I was really tired at this point and had been keeping my eyes peeled for deer on the road for the past 2 hours. I finally stopped at a little campground north of Dickey Lake and pitched my tent in the darkness.