Jasper National Park

Over the years, we have explored the U.S. Rockies quite a lot: from Colorado’s Front Range, up through the Bighorns and into the Beartooth Range (and that’s not even counting the Wasach and Sangre de Christo). We have even explored the Mexican Nevadas. But we have never been to the iconic Canadian Rockies. Well, we have chosen to remedy that through a couple of trips, the first of which has taken us to Jasper National Park.

We flew into Edmonton, which has a very walkable CBD, a cool art museum and a city hall with lots of public spaces (including fountains in which one is encouraged to play). We took a walk (and when that became too hot), a Segway tour along the The Saskatchawan River, which runs through the city.

The following day we were off to Jasper, and within a minute of entering the park gates, we saw a couple of black bear cubs and mother scuttling across the road. A few minutes later, we came across a big elk buck lounging roadside, and knew then that this trip would be something special.

Elk Grazing Roadside

We spent the next 3 days hiking until hunger and fatigue brought us back into town for a meal and a lie down. We started with a little bit of a(l)ttitude, taking the first Jasper SkyTram up and finishing the lung-busting scramble to Whistler’s Summit (2465m, and first up!). Later, we hiked the Tonquin Valley trail along Portal Creek, with lovely intact evergreen forest and lots of gloden-crowned kinglets to keep us company. To round things off, we swung by the Athabaska Falls (and met some spruce grouse along the way). 

Atop Mt. Whistler

Athabasca Falls

Outlet of Athabasca Falls

We were up before dawn the next day, which allowed us to see the caribou moving across the highway out of town and back into the mountains, and also to see rare black swifts feeding in the early light above Maligne Canyon. We were the first to Angel Glacier that morning, and watched as a small chunk fell off (a sad reminder, really, of a natural world in retreat). Smoke from the massive wildfires burning in British Columbia lingered in the still dry air, casting a haze over the mountains. Undaunted, we drove down the Icefields Parkway to the Columbia Icefield, where we were the first onto the Glacier Skywalk, an amazing glass-bottomed cantilever platform jutting out over the canyon below. We rounded back to Mt. Edith Cavell to finish the day with a strenuous hike up through Cavell Meadows to the summit lookout (2288m), which put us eye-level with the glacier we had seen as the sun rose that morning. 

Dawn Caribou Crossing

Richard on Skywalk

Columbia Icefields

Angel Glacier

Top of Cavell Meadows, Angel Glacier in Background

The last full day brought moody weather and cooler temperatures, and was book-ended by admittedly touristy but actual “must do” visits to Lake Maligne (which was postcard still and beautiful at sunrise) and Maligne Canyon, which we had to ourselves on account of a late afternoon rain shower. The middle of the day was devoted to exploring Mt Robson Provincial Park, which is on Western slope of the divide. This side proved much more lush and, for lack of a better term, “BC-like.” We stopped somewhat randomly at Yellowhead Lake to stretch our legs after getting caught in construction traffic outside of Jasper, and just as we were turning to leave, we heard a loon call out and so did some bushwhacking along the lake shore trying to find it. Although we never found the loon, the experience of wandering off trail for a couple of hours was an unexpected highlight of the trip, as was picking blueberries and salmonberries as we walked along the gorge below nearby Overlander Falls.

Lake Maligne

Overlook Falls at Mt. Robson Provincial Park