Vanlife Camping in Snowy Cold Canada (Driving to Alaska)

hi everyone my name is Trent and I live and travel out of my van all across North America and as of May of 2024 I have officially been living like this for 5 years now I don't own a house I don't rent a house I don't rent an apartment everything that I own fits in the back of my van and I truly live on the road but before I set out on this crazy adventure in early 2019 I was going through a really tough time in my life just feeling like my life lacked a lot of purpose and meaning and I just felt clueless on where to go next next with my life I found myself often asking for answers and wondering what's next for me well one morning I woke up with this overwhelming sense and urge to just get up and go to leave everything that I have behind step out of my comfort zone and just go explore the world while I still can it truly felt like this nudge from God So I listened and over the course of the next few months with the help of my brother and a little bit from my dad we converted an old beat up Van that I bought on Craigslist into a camper van and I hit the road with no real plan or Direction in mind I just drove because I just felt like there was something out there for me to discover and I was determined to figure out what that was I was scared I was lonely I had no idea what to expect but for some reason it felt right it felt like things were falling into place exactly how they were supposed to as if something was guiding me to all these places showing me these different things for a very specific reason and through these years of traveling through all of the lower 48 of the United States and even down into Baja Mexico a little bit I have learned so much about myself and the world around me it's open my mind and my heart and I feel like I've grown and changed so much as a person since then it's been such a magical experience that here I am still living that very same Adventure that I set out on 5 years [Music] [Applause] [Music] ago however living like this didn't solve all of my problem problems like any lifestyle this lifestyle comes with its own pros and cons and I have my ups and downs all the time but after losing my father this past summer it shattered my world and I felt myself falling into that very same dark head space that I experienced just years ago my dad is the entire reason why I picked up a camera in the first place he's the entire reason why my love for the outdoors and traveling and and experiencing the world [Music] exists and losing him was something I could have never prepared myself for both mentally and emotionally and that shock in my life got me considering leaving this lifestyle behind so I could spend more time with my family or even try and start a family of my own because I feel like that's a part of my life that I have really missed out on these past 5 years because I am hundreds of miles from loved ones all the time and since the loss of my dad I found myself asking for answers all the time wondering what's next for me has my purpose in this phase of my life been fulfilled am I ready for what's next for me all question questions that I have been asking every single day but I kept going moving forward waiting for answers trusting the process until one day I was camping in a forest in New Mexico with some friends and I woke up one morning with this very familiar feeling it was this overwhelming sense and urge to just get up and go as if something was waiting for me but this time it was in a certain direction Something was telling me it's time for me to go on one more big adventure it's time for me to drive to Alaska [Music] which is an adventure I have been wanting to go on for so long but it just hasn't felt right yet it's a really really far drive down long desolate roads through a foreign country and overall it just sounded like a really intimidating thing for me to commit to and do by myself but for whatever reason that morning it felt right more than ever so I said my goodbyes to my friends and I hit the road starting from basically the border of Mexico I traversed through New Mexico Utah Idaho and now here I am in the beautiful state of Montana just 3 hours from the border of Canada and over these next couple of months I will be documenting and sharing my travels and Adventures down the Alaskan Highway which is this long Barren Highway that connects the lower 48 of the United States to Alaska through Canada and I will be spending a couple months in Alaska adventuring around and this is going to be such a long and interesting Drive full of ups and downs beautiful views and incredible experiences that you're not going to want to miss out on so make sure you're subscribed and today officially marks the first day of this incredible Adventure that we're about to go on together but because we're still a couple miles away from the Canadian border we've got to hit the road because today I've got a lot of miles to cover so without further Ado let's do this they like dancing they like [Music] dancing here you go great thank you so much we did it we're in Canada oh shoot ah [Music] well this is home for the night I drove for several hours today and ended up at this beautiful truck stop here right outside of bamp national park in Alberta Canada and this might be the most beautiful truck stop I have ever been to in my entire life these mountains back here are just insane but I decided to stop here and sleep in this parking lot tonight because there are a few things that I need to take care of before I start camping on public lands here in Canada in the United States we have something called BLM land which is basically public land that we all have access to we can go camp on for up to 14 days at a time I believe before we have to move to the next spot and Canada has something similar called crownland however Alberta is a little different and you can't just camp on it for free you actually have to purchase a pass and I believe it's $20 for 3 days and $30 for a year so I need to purchase that and tomorrow I want to go into bamp National Park which is super beautiful I'm really excited about it but I also need to purchase a park pass for that before we go exploring in there but because I've been driving for several hours today and my adrenaline was way up here and now I'm finally crashing I figured sleeping at a truck stop might be a good idea because then I can get some rest wake up early in the morning hit the park and then try and find a really beautiful spot to stay at for a couple of days but to be honest I mean I'd be happy staying here for a week because these views are just [Music] insane give it to me oh you're so strong you're so strong oh good girl [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] sh [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] I love you [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] watch out all right guys it's getting late and I'm exhausted from all that Dy driving today so we're going to go to bed and we'll see you guys in the morning good morning everyone last night I slept really well here in this truck stop parking lot I don't know what it is maybe it's just that I'm used to it maybe it's the generators that are going all night the the low hum just kind of puts me into this deep Slumber I don't know but I feel well rested for the today ready for what's on the agenda and what's on the agenda you might be asking I have no idea because as I was doing some research last night on B National Park I quickly realized that I'm actually here pretty early in the season still and by that I mean a lot of the trails and a lot of the places that I want to go to are still closed because of the ice and snow that are on the mountains out here uh as you can tell it's actually still pretty cold here even though it's late may but that's not going to prevent me from having any fun fun I'm still going to hit the national park and we're going to figure it out as we go I uh bought a national park pass for a whole year and that gives me access to pretty much all the national parks here so I'm going to have some fun regardless but first I think I'm going to hit this Tim Hortons here that's a part of this truck stop for some quick coffee and maybe a little baked good if they have anything and then from there we'll head into B and figure it out as we go [Music] you still have one more hi could I do a small vanilla cream C brew and a chocolate croissant chocolate croissant that's it that's it all right oh that was quick thank you oh that's good by the way if you guys don't know what Tim Horton is it's basically Canada's Dunkin Donuts but significantly better it's really good all right so our first little Excursion here in bamp National Park is to visit Lake Louise which is this beautiful Lake surrounded by snowcap mountains and I'm really excited about it and that's mainly because Millie's allowed to come one of my things about Canada is the fact that they allow dogs in their national parks which is something that the states does not allow there's only like a few like three or four national parks in the states that allow dogs and that's prevented me from seeing a good portion of the national parks in the states which is unfortunate all right so here we are at beautiful Lake Louise here in bamp National Park Super pristine and we've got it all to ourselves just kidding there's like a gajillion people here but of course that's to be expected from a beautiful place that you can just basically drive up to uh the parking lot is just right over there and normally this lake is a very pretty blue color and it's cryst still clear and of course it is very frozen over right now because it's still early in the season but this place is beautiful with the mountains off in the distance there in the summertime you can actually rent Kayaks and kayak onto the lake which is really cool I was hoping to do it but of course the lake is still frozen over so that's not possible excuse me would you take a picture of me for me sure good job sit sit okay see how we do awesome thanks man I appreciate it all right so I decided to hike up this mountain right next to Lake Louise that leads up to this other lake called Lake Agnes which is another beautiful Lake that sits at top some mountains up here and because this Trail is a little snowy and icy I'm predicting that there'll be a little less people there because who wants to hike on this you know but I don't know we'll see oh wow oh my gosh that is beautiful woo oh this is great [Applause] all right we made it to beautiful Lake Agnes which of course is frozen over but it's surrounded by these beautiful mountains and accompanied by this really cool tea house and of course because it's snowy and icy up here uh it's not open right now but in the summertime you can hike up here grab some tea grab some food and it tastes so good and the crazy thing about this tea house is the fact that there's no roads to get up here so everything that they serve here the tea the food all has to be hiked in from the same trail that we hiked up in today which is crazy okay drink up that was a great hike a lot more snowy than I expected but uh it's beautiful now it's time for some snacks and I just got some leftover beef sticks that I bought on the road here and some granola [Music] come [Music] here man I am just so thankful to be able to experience beautiful places like this views like this just make you feel so many [Music] things it's hard for my brain to process how massive these mountains are and how small and Tiny I am really just starts to put things into perspective for you [Music] all right Millie you ready to go all right let's do it how are you baby she's like hello can I get a a large classic poutin wow thank you after that hike I realized how hungry I was all I ate today was a chocolate croissant some beef sticks and granola so I am ready to Feast so I headed back into the town of bamp and I figured you know since this my first real day here in Canada I would eat a classic Canadian dish which is poutine and if you don't know what poutine is basically it's just fries cheese curds and gravy that's it but it is so good I had poutin for the first time last year and I fell in love and I've been dreaming about it ever since this is magical thanks mik appreciate it thank you [Music] so something I love about this town is the fact they close off the main street uh only buses can come through here but it's primarily used for pedestrians but there's so many cool shops and great food along this street here but man that poutine was freaking delicious however my sweet tooth is just screaming right [Music] now it hello awesome thank you this my friends is called a beaver tail it's a Canadian pastry basically it's fried dough with some Nutella on it and powdered sugar and it is so good oh my [Music] God oh my gosh again super simple but so delicious I certainly didn't need this but I wanted [Music] [Music] Ito I am stuffed but boy was that delicious I definitely didn't eat very healthy today but I definitely ate really good that's for sure but unfortunately it is getting dark here soon and I still need to find a place to sleep for the night and I've got a place in mind however it's about an hour drive away from here so I'm going to go ahead and hit the road and try and get there before dark [Music] well this is home sweet home for the night folks right on this beautiful Blue River that is ice cold oh my gosh but this is a really neat spot I found it on eye Overlander there's several other RVs and vans parked along this River here but I'm probably going to call this place home for a couple days while I just relax because this spot is awesome [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] oh man I just feel so alive today and I just hope it's translating through the screen over to you guys this is just a beautiful beautiful country and we are only at the base of it all I still have at least a 50-hour drive up to Alaska and from alas Alka Alaska is a huge State there's just so much to explore there I just can't wait for all the new experiences and the new people and the new things that I'm going to see I'm just excited and high on life right now but with that being said folks I think I'm going to end today's video right here I think this is a great conclusion to our first day on this adventure and hopefully you guys had just as much fun as I did but the great thing is if you didn't have fun in this video you're bound to have fun in the next one because there's going to be a lot more where this came from because we've got a big adventure ahead of us so make sure you guys are subscribed have that notification Bell turned on so you get notified whenever I post next so you don't miss out on this epic journey and if you want to get access to additional videos that you won't find here on YouTube consider supporting me and Millie on patreon where you'll get access to 30 plus extra videos that you haven't seen yet plus future videos that we're going to release and you'll get your name and the credits of all my videos just like these lovely folks right here and of course by doing so you'll be supporting me and Millie's Adventures through Canada to Alaska and wherever else we decide to go which of course will be greatly appreciated but this officially concludes episode one of our great Alaskan Adventure thank you guys for following along it's been a pleasure having you but until next time Millie and I are going to get some rest and we will see you all in the next video

Channel: Trent The Traveler

Views: 334,381

Keywords: vanlife, vanlife travel, van life, ttthefineprinttt, living in a van, vanlife tips, van living, Vanlife gamer, Vanlife gaming, camping in a van, van camping, gaming in a van, gaming van, van life videos, van life camping, vanlife camping, camping in the woods, TrentTheTraveler, Camping, stealth camping, travel videos, camping videos, luxury camping, canada vanlife, driving to alaska, alaska highway, canada van life, canada camping, banff national park, camping in canada

Id: CR-XKCEK1k8

Length: 32min 37sec (1957 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 02 2024