Jasper, Alberta and the Icefield Parkway

Visiting Jasper has been a childhood dream of mine ever since I saw a John Denver special giving an insiders look into this beautiful area. ( In fact, I believe it was here that he was inspired to write "The Eagle and the Hawk,"one of my favorite songs by the way)  Luckily, Jasper has lived up to all my expectations that John had envisioned for me.  We arrived late afternoon from the 10 hour drive from Vancouver but became re-energized upon seeing the glorious Canadian Rockies!  We found a fantastic site in the park, securing one of the last spots.  Master fire builder Guy quickly had the embers glowing as we sat and enjoyed the ambience.  Interestingly enough, it does not get dark here until well after 10:00.

We slept soundly under the stars and were up early to enter the National Park and secure a site for the night.   Because it is peak season, our number one priority is to find a place to sleep. Once again, we secured one of the last sites in the park at The Whispers Campground.  We were warned several times about the high bear activity in the area because the huckleberries are ripe and a favorite of both black bear and grizzly.  We certainly saw evidence of them at our campsite!

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So, off on our bikes we were heading downtown Jasper to explore this mountain city.  But of course, I had bear spray with me.....just in case.

We biked along the Bow river, which has a pretty fast moving current and outfitter companies run whitewater rafting trips along the river.  I would consider doing this again, but the water is extremely cold.  We biked to downtown Japsper and had a lovely lunch outdoors as we soaked up the sunshine. Looking through brochures, we found another gondola/tram and decided that would be a great way to get some sightseeing in along with some hiking. We rode our bikes back to the campsite which was in the backside of the campground and pretty secluded.  10 feet in front of me runs a coyote!  A bit suprised but not alarmed, I turned around to go the opposite direction....and another one runs across my path.  Now, I am alarmed....of course Guy is encouraging me to hand him the camera so he can get some pictures of these beautiful creatures.  I kept saying..."they are a pack now....and they have the upper hand....let's go!!"  The smaller coyote ran off but the bigger one held his ground as to claim that this is HIS territory and we are intruding.  We slowly backed away and he seemed okay with that.  We immediately reported the sighting to the ranger who sent a crew out to investigate.  Hind sight, I wish I had a picture as he was truly magestic standing there staring us down.

Enough excitement for an afternoon, we gathered our stuff and headed up to Maligne Canyon which has a self guided trail that takes you over 6 different foot bridges.  There are several routes to choose from ranging from easy walks to strenous.  We decided to do a moderate walk and take along the doggies.  The hour long walk took us along the gorges where the river plunges 75 feet into the steep walled gorge of limestone bedrock.  Much of the river runs underground and makes brief appearances where it dances along the trail.  The water is powerful and is changing the formation of the rocks.

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Satisfied that the dogs had enough exercise, we were off again, this time headed to The Jasper Gondola where we climbed  to an altitude of 8100 feet and explored panaoramic views of six mountain ranges, glacial fed lakes and the scenic mountain town-site of Jasper.  The Tramway has been in existance since 1964 and it was a bit unnerving to step onto such an antique.  The ascent was steep and honestly, not as fast as I would of prefered, but it did the job.

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Once on top we hiked another 1000 feet to the summit.  The views were truly spectacular and the sound was deafening....

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The town of Jasper from above

Back to the campsite before dark (10:00pm) we sat by a warm fire with wood that had been left from us by the previous camper.  No act of kindness goes unnoticed....and the fire seemed to burn all the better!  We loved our time in Jasper and it was everything I had hoped it to be.  We were sad to leave but had another adventure ahead as we travelled the Icefield Parkway to Banff which is considered to be one of the most beautiful roads in the world.  It is 230 kilometers of continuous World Heritage Site scenery completely protected in two national parks!  It passes within viewing distance of seven icefields (large upland glaciers) and about 25 smaller but still notable glaciers.  The centerpiece is the Columbia Icefield which is the largest in teh Rocky Mountains.  Within a short distance from the road, we hiked up to take a closer look.  Because of the deep creavasses, and fragile edges, we were not able to walk on the glacier itself.

The temperature was cool and the wind was biting.  I was suprised to see how "dirty" it was.  I guess if you were around since the ice age, you would look a bit worn too!

The marker shows how much the glacier has receeded due to global warming.  After about 20 minutes and no longer able to feel my toes, we headed back to the RV to take in some more scenery.  The Canadian Rockies are majestic and everywhere we looked was beauty.  We even captured some wildlife feeding on the roadside.  Because the parkway runs along the valley floor, it is home for elk, deer, bighorn sheep, wolves and other animals.

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A black bear who has been tagged and being monitored.

One of my favorite photos!