Tag Archive: Jasper National Park


7/31/2012 JASPER NATIONAL PARK TO BANFF NATIONAL PARK

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August 1, 2012

Boondock–
Sunday evening we drove to Lake Louise Village in Baniff National Park and went into the Visitor Center. There we were informed that all campsites were taken but they do have an overflow camping area three miles from the Visitor Center. Overflow camping is free and is nothing to write home about but we parked way in the back and it was quiet which is what we wanted since we almost always camp late in the day and are out early in the morning.

Gas Prices–
Bought gas in the town of Jasper before we started sightseeing yesterday. Gas was $4.53/gal. regular.

Athabasca Falls and Sunwapta Falls–
Spent a good part of the day Sunday at the Athabasca Falls. It was raining with thunder and lightening but we couldn’t resist and walked all around the area. The falls are beautiful and very powerful. There are easy paths that lead to the upper and lower part of the falls as well as across to the other side with lots of viewing platforms. The hard, mostly quartz rock has been thoroughly worn away forming a narrow canyon resulting in a spectacular, thundering of the river rushing down the canyon and crashing to the bottom. A sight we will long remember.
The Sunwapta Falls flow into a limestone gorge and here, too, the falls are a spectacle to see. The carved, smoothed rock of each of the canyons at both the Athabasca and Sunwapta Falls, with all the layers of rock exposed, is a visual treat.

Jasper National Park to Banff National Park–
The rest of the day was spent driving the Icefields Highway from Jasper National Park to Lake Louise Village in Banff National Park. I think we stopped at just about every view spot along the way. In the Icefields Area, there are easy to spot glaciers of various sizes. The largest is the Columbian Icefield that contains the Athabasca Glacier. With an area of about 122 square miles it is simply huge and is the largest in the Rocky Mountains. The glaciers, large and small can be seen from the road or view sites with some of the telltale blue color showing. Additionally, the rugged mountains are a beautiful sight and after the rain the sun was out intermittently for the rest of the day.

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MALIGNE CANYON AND LAKE IN JASPER NATIONAL PARK. ALBERTA, CANADA.

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July 30, 2012

Camping–

Stayed over night at Snaring River Campground in Jasper National Park. It is located closest to Maligne Canyon and Lake where we spent the day. At Snaring River campground, the price was $15.90/night for a space (no hook-ups and no senior discount). Other campgrounds for RV’s here are a little more expensive than we paid. We saw a black bear just outside the campground so that made it interesting. Most National Parks we have been in do not allow boondocking so the designated campground was our only option save leaving the park. The campground was fine, quiet and completely dark an hour after we arrived (so we couldn’t even see our nearest neighbor) but it was smoke-filled as some one had a campfire that produced a tremendous amount of smoke.

Jasper National Park–
We started our day fairly early so saw some wildlife by the side of the road and we ended our day an hour before dark so had a chance to see more wildlife as we drove along. This park is huge and we are just hitting some of the highlights as outlined by the National Parks Visitor Center folks. I can imagine spending an entire summer just exploring this park there’s so much to see. Before we started sight-seeing we got gas at $4.53/gal. regular (price of gas for us is improving!).

Maligne Road–
We took the Maligne Road turn off in Jasper National Park. This is a good, paved, two lane road and leads to some of the many spectacular places in the park. Our favorites today were the Maligne Canyon and the Maligne Lake. The Maligne Canyon appears to have been cut by the fast-moving Maligne River. The canyon rock faces can be seen all the way down to the raging water by taking an easy trail that includes footbridges over the canyon, raging river and a spectacular area where the rapids go over a breathtaking waterfall with tremendous force.
At Maligne Lake we took a 90 minute lake cruise. Cost was $57.50 each and no senior discount but it turned out to be money well spent. In addition to seeing spectacular mountains, a lovely box canyon and glaciers it took us by the well-known “Spirit Island”. We were able to disembark to an overlook giving everyone an opportunity to take pictures of the iconic “Spirit Island”. The island was very small, tree covered and rather non-descrepit but the color of the water surrounding it was that glacier melt, beautiful blue/green, the surrounding mountains were wonderful to look at and the sky was a lovely blue and studded with fluffy white clouds.
All this on a beautiful sunny day that was shirtsleeve weather. The tour guide said that last year they had 73 days in a row of rain at the lake.  Sadly, many people who went out on the cruise last year did not get to see some of this fabulous scenery.

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A DAY IN THE TOWN OF JASPER. ALBERTA, CANADA.

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July 29, 2012

The town of Jasper–
Jasper is located inside the Jasper National Park and is essentially “all things tourist” in an upscale way. It was very busy with lots of tourists when we were there but business owners said this was a slow year despite the fact that people had to drive round and round looking for a parking spot. We parked the RV a few blocks from town and just walked. When we first arrived in town, there was a light drizzle, but then the sun came out and it turned into a beautiful day. The Visitor Center for the National Park is right in the heart of Jasper so we walked over there and got lots of information. The town reminded us of Truckee and South Lake Tahoe in California. Cute towns with lots of things to do and see, all in a beautiful environment. We spent most of the day poking around this pretty little town. In and out of art galleries, coffee shops, etc. Even took a look at a house for sale (from the outside). A lovely way to spend the day.
It does get cold here in the winter of down to about 20 degrees F. but they say they get very little precipitation (at least in the valleys), so it’s fairly dry. You wouldn’t say it was dry by the look of it with everything either green or in bloom.

Boondock–
Though there are pull0ffs in the park, as with most National Parks, boondocking is not allowed.  We had been exploring Jasper National Park and the town of Jasper that is actually in the park. After a busy day, we tried to get a campsite at the campground last night that we were sent to by the National Park staff because it had some “openings”. It was full when we arrived so we pulled over and waited for a park ranger to ask about options. The only option he could suggest was a campground right near the northeastern exit of the park. So off we went and rather than stay in a campground at the inside edge of the park we opted to exit the park and stay at a nearby Walmart parking lot.

Serendipity–
We were a little aggravated that we were unable to find a place to stay near the beautiful Maligne Canyon in the closest campground. We were sent there by the NP staff but we arrive to find every campsite taken. We’ve learned not to “sweat the small stuff” so we started driving northeast toward the outlying campground. On the way, we pulled over and got wonderful pictures of a majestic elk with his antlers still in velvet. Also this drive gave us views of the northeastern part of the park we would not have seen with our original plan of exploration.
By the time we were approaching the Jasper National Park’s most northeastern campground we were almost at the exit so we decided just to keep driving and park in the nearby Walmart parking lot with a planned return to the park for the morning. That move paid off in a great viewing of a big bull moose with a large mantle still in velvet just grazing on the side of the road. He was kind enough to stay around so quite a few folks got some great pictures. What luck! Our only two wildlife sightings and they were due to a perceived inconvenience! Ha! Talk about lemonade out of lemons!

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ENTERING JASPER NATIONAL PARK, ALBERTA, CANADA

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July 28, 2012

Read. It could save your life–

Yesterday, soon after we left Prince George, we stopped at Willow River Interp. Area. This is a lovely turn off Highway 16 just east of Prince George. There are picnic tables, bathroom, a lovely trail, and what appears to be a wide, shallow river. Among other things there is a memorial to eight young men who drown one day on this river just downstream. Apparently they were in a canoe and came to a very, narrow canyon down stream and their day ended in tragedy. I had just read the plaque on the memorial about this terrible event when a young family of four parked and spent some time looking around. After awhile, I overheard the woman exclaim that this would be a great place to launch their raft as the water was shallow and didn’t appear to be moving fast. Uh, I couldn’t just ignore what I heard. Suggested to the family that before they consider launching their boat there that they read the plaque. Luckily, they were receptive to the suggestion. As we drove away we heard their exclamations of horror and declarations that they would not go rafting there.
British Columbia, Canada–

British Columbia is simply beautiful. As soon as we entered British Columbia we knew this place is special. To add to the beauty in British Columbia, there is the Canadian penchant for being friendly and unfailingly nice.

Baker Creek Rest Area–
We stopped to eat dinner at a rest area along the Yellowhead Highway. Immediately, there were hundreds of mosquitoes surrounding the motor home looking for a way in. Many hovered at the windshield looking at their dinner that had just arrived. Yikes!!! Since I am about 5’5″, I have no problem climbing out of my seat into the back of the motor home without going outside. On the other hand my 6’4′, long, skinny husband can not easily unwrap his long legs from around the steering wheel or get his size 13 feet out of the drivers well. He always goes out the door and in the side door. As I looked at the stricken look on his face, I giggled. Then my wonderful, gentle, loving husband said in a quiet voice “When I open the door to go out, a hundred mosquitoes will come in and when I come in the side door, a hundred mosquitoes will follow me in.” Which caused me to scream “Don’t open the door!”  Then, right on the spot, we figured out a way for him to get into the back of the motor home from the driver’s seat without opening the door. Oh, yes! It can be done!!!

Boondocked–
After dinner, we continued up the road toward Jasper National Park and stopped at a rest area that was at a higher elevation and had a brisk breeze blowing making it harder for mosquitoes to fly. It rained hard last night. Thunder, lightening and lots of rain drumming on the roof of the motor home.   I love this sound.  This morning it was slightly overcast and the air was clean and smelled sweet.  The temp. was 60 degrees F. when we woke.

Jasper National Park, Alberta–

We arrived at the park this morning and spent a little time figuring out a plan to explore.  So far, the park is beautiful, as you would expect.   The cost for entering the Park was $20, we only paid $18 something with a senior discount and we are excited to explore.

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