After a day of driving through Canada’s Jasper National Park, we’ve made camp at the edge of Alberta’s windy prairie. We’re in the little town of Hinton where we will spend an extra day so we can restock, do laundry and a little maintenance. Tomorrow we will continue our trek north to Dawson Creek (no, I don’t think it’s the TV show one).
Yesterday’s journey was a cold one. A weather front moving through was supposed to clear but didn’t. So we were blessed with low clouds, rain and even a bit of snow. We left Lake Louise in near freezing temperatures which never rose much until we came down from the mountains.
Highway 93 traverses the park and is called The Icefield Parkway, and for good reason. On a clear day the drive must be breath-taking judging from the limited visibility of the low clouds we experienced. The road along glacial valleys connected by a couple of 6,500 ft passes. Each side of the road is lined with 9-12 thousand foot mountains which we only saw their massive feet lined up one after another.
At the first pass, Bow Summit, we stopped for the roadside exhibition and walked up the trail to the overlook. I’ve already used the term ‘breathtaking’ in this post, but there isn’t another word for this hike. Starting from the 6500 ft elevation at the parking lot, the trail went straight up another 500 feet. Halfway through we were both panting and considered blowing off the hike, but we were encouraged on by returning hikers. Finally at the summit platform, several dozen people jockeyed for space at the rail to snap a shot of Peyto Lake below, followed by a selfie and then a video. Giving up all attempts at being polite, I had to fight for my turn at the rail. You would have thought it was Macy’s the day after Christmas. Even that spot wasn’t good enough for some, because there were people over the rail stacked at the cliff face taking pictures.
After recovering from the madhouse, we continued the drive until we reached the second pass and the Columbia Icefield Center where we stopped for lunch. Again, I think half the world had left home to congregate in that building. There were three lunch choices. The empty buffet room that was reserved for incoming tour buses, the cafeteria with a line out the door and down the stairs, or the snack bar, which we chose for a bowl of chicken noodle soup (industrial Progreso) and a cold sandwich.
The Icefield Center has the usual shops, food, displays, and information booths, but here, for $80 (CDN), you can buy a bus ticket for a trip onto the Athabasca Glacier. The buses are special all wheel drive with six axles and people were lining up by the hundreds to give away their money. It was like people wanted a chance to touch a glacier before they all disappeared.
By the time we finished lunch, we were tired of the crowds and decided to just make a bee line for our destination. But we first had to stop to fill the tank on Baby; Sally’s motor-home, so we made a stop in the town of Jasper. As it turns out, Jasper is on a major railroad route and we had to wait for a train at the crossing. Canadian trains are very long and before the first on passed, a second came along going the other way. It was twenty minutes before the crossing guards let us through.
Finally, we were coming down off the mountain when we saw our first heard of bighorn sheep crossing the road. There were two small females accompanied by as many lambs. That was followed shortly by Fred spotting our first roadside moose, but not telling everyone because his Walkie-Talkie died. Then Fred (who is the wagon master of the trip) suddenly pulled to the road side and we all spotted two black bears at the edge of the trees. After being warned by my friend Jeff, I didn’t want to run over to get close-ups, but I was so excited that I forgot to get out my long zoom lens.
In all, it was a long day for a relative short distance. Our normal travel days don’t have as many stops, but we didn’t want to miss the chance of enjoying Jasper National Park. At the end of the day, we gathered in our trailer and enjoyed a meal of brats and grilled onions with some grilled cantaloupe tossed in. But, that’s another post.
jw