Jasper

Jasper June-July 2018

Our youngest daughter works at Maligne Lake in Jasper, so we decided to drive out and see her. Turns out it's quite a ways to Jasper.

The original plan was to take out the trailer and camp in bear country but after actually looking at the logistics it seemed easier to drive out quickly and stay in motels enroute, and a lovely little cabin we found near Jasper while visiting.

June 19 Wawa

The first day we made it to Wawa. It was touch and go finding a place to stay for the night as there was some kind of convention in town. Luckily there was a cancellation and we got the one and only room at a little roadside motel with a fabulous Polish restaurant.

June 20 Fort Frances

Day 2 found us in Fort Frances because we wanted to drive by Quetico. Quetico was neat and I'd like to go back. We seemed to have a hotel on the wrong side of the tracks in Fort Frances, so I'd shop around a bit more before staying there again. If you're driving around in Fort Frances or googling for places to stay or eat, you have to be aware that Fort Frances is actually two towns; one this side of the border and one that side. Confusion and roaming charges ensue.

June 21 Virden

We drove almost until we dropped and made it to Virden, Manitoba. Nice place, but kind of a waypoint, especially on the highway as we were. Apparently it's the oil capital of Manitoba, so if you need oil go there.

June 22-23 Drumheller

Drumheller! Hotel was not our usual 5 stars but the town is quite interesting, and there's a delightful Japanese restaurant called The Roll that for some reason is mostly empty but well worth a visit. Anyhow, if you go to Drumheller make sure you do the circle tour in which you drive all around the town and the surrounding valley. The museum is world class, and the canyons and valley are quite rugged.


Inside the museum	Stairs to the top	Critters

Rugged Landscape	Walking a trail at the museum	Hoo Doos

June 24 Jasper

Spent the day driving to Jasper along the Icefields Parkway. If you like mountains you'll love this trip. It's really up and then really down, and this is where I was glad I didn't have the trailer in tow.


First Stop	Driving Along	Mountains

Finally we got to the little cottage we rented for the week, just outside of Jasper. We could walk into town for restaurants and stuff, but were advised to take bear spray even though the walk was short. Didn't see any bears while walking the whole stay, but there are plenty of Elk and apparently they're almost as dangerous.


Little Cottage	Lots of Elk	And other critters

June 25 Maligne Canyon and Miette Hot Springs

Today we went for a hike along Maligne Canyon and then finished up the day at Miette hot springs. The canyon is where the water from Maligne Lake percolates through the rock and then drains. It's not a very ambitious trail but it is long and very scenic. The further away from the visitor centre you get the fewer the number of people you have to wade through.


Maligne River	Water coming out of the rocks	Miette Hot Springs smells like sulphur

June 25 Maligne Canyon

This is the day we got to see what our youngest, Laura, does for a living. She drives and/or narrates the boat tour on Maligne Lake to Spirit Island, a site of significance to First Nations people of the area. The boatride goes through some very striking scenery in a box canyon surrounded by mountains.


Laura and boats	Spirit Island	Leaving the canyon

June 27

Quite a busy day. We started early with the Columbia Ice Fields. This is the one where they drive you out onto the glacier in a kind of an all-terrain bus. After the glacier we took in the skywalk, a "bridge to nowhere" that juts out over the Sunwapta Valley some 280 metres down. There was a goat about half way down. Beats me how those things can climb rocks like that.


The glacier	Glacier buggy	On the glacier

The skywalk	Don't look down	A goat

Next we went for a hike on the Parker Ridge trail. It was a good introduction to the mountainy trails that are the norm in Jasper.


Parker's Ridge Trail	Not your normal hazard	Parker's Ridge

June 28 Bald Hills

Bald Hills is a mountainous trail at Maligne Lake. It starts out easy but steep going up what is apparently a road though I don't know what could make the trip. After the road peters out it's a bit of a climb and at the top there's a knife-edge trail with a substantial drop to either side. Did I mention I'm afraid of heights?


Snack'n'sneeze	After what I thought was the scary bit	Apparently it's not a chipmunk.

So far down	Sort of safe place for a break	Laura's not fazed by heights

At all	I think it's a marmot	Safe again

June 29 Whistler's Mountain

Whistler's Mountain (not to be confused with Whistler Mountain) is a sky tram most of the way to the top followed by the push to the summit on foot, and then back to the restaurant for lunch.


In the tram	Going up	False summit

Alpine flowers	The real summit	Followed by lunch

June 30 Brooks

Sadly, it was time to leave our youngest and the mountains and head to Brooks, Alberta to see dinosaurs.


Mountains	No Mountains

July 1 Dinosaur Provincial Park

From our hotel in Brooks it was a short drive to Dinosaur Provincial Park, one of the neatest parks you'll ever go to. We started the day with an organized hike looking for fossils which is pretty much a matter of looking down. Later in the day we struck out on our own and I came very close to stepping on a prairie rattlesnake which I understand would have been a bad thing.


Starting the hike	Neat scenery

Continuing the hike		A piece of something. Might be a turtle.

Vertebra		Hoo Doo





	Looks like they found a critter here in 1922



		Tourists

Fossilized wood. Looks like it would still burn.

	Piece of something	You got me

		Critter

Yikes!