Blogs from Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada, North America - page 9

Yes, Warden Wendy...that's the "official" name of a woman park ranger here in Canada! And with a name like Wendy, how can you go wrong? Granted I have just a wee bit of a bias!! But in my humble opinion Warden Wayne and Wendy sound a lot better to me than Ranger Rick and Rhoda! But enough about Warden Wendy, the excitement of the day was seeing a BLACK BEAR!!! Along our travels from Banff en route to Jasper, in the Jasper National Park, we were ever-so-fortunate to see a BLACK BEAR! Granted, the furry creature only looks like a dot in my photos, but I have proof of the fuzzy guy! Sooooooo cool to see wildlife in their native environment!!! And in addition to the bear, today I also saw mountain goats with their babies, ... read more

We were out of luck during our stay in Jasper, as there was either heavy cloud or rain for the most part of our time there. We had some good fortune on our full day when we hired a car though, as the morning remained relatively clear. We drove up the Maligne Valley to its canyon and lake, enjoying the spectacle of its river gushing though a very narrow gorge. Also spotted about four black bears along the way, along with about 10 -20 cars on each occasion, pulling over to look from a (usally) safe distance. Alas there were no caribou or other deer sightings, despite the ample signage. In the afternoon we drove to Mount Edith Cavell, where Darren managed a walk to photograph the spectacular Angel Glacier, perched high on Edith's belly. Unfortunately ... read more

2nd July Pretty uneventful day today packed everything up AGAIN!!!! Oh nearly forgot we did go to a glacier today on our way to Jasper its melting away so much that at its current rate it will all be gone inside one hundred years,its quite impressive but when you see where it was just a few decades earlier it is tiny, the area left behind looks like a moon landscape if thats what a moon landscape looks like,i dont know ive never been to the moon hmmm im just rambling now, on with the saga... Soooo we get to Jasper and the hotel room isnt up to standard so that one is cancelled and we book another hotel over the phone unfortunately when we get there its two single rooms (must have got lost in translation)so ... read more

I was ignorant of Jasper National Park before this trip and really hadn't put it on my intinerary. But, thanks to Zoe, Simon & Rob for telling me I had to go. More mindblowing places. Driving through I just kept telling myself, "It never ends." Meaning the absolutely spectacular scenery. Quite a few people have told me that the Canadian Rockies were probably even more spectacular than the Rockies in the US and I always thought that they had to be wrong. Well, I haven't seen all of the US Rockies but they may be right. You drive for over 200 miles and every mile is astounding. There are beaucoup glaciers everywhere in the huge mountains. I could have taken a thousand pictures. (And almost did). By the way, great weather again. Fair and 60's. I ... read more

We left the cozy atmosphere of Rick and Sharons and headed for the rockies. It was Monday morning and the traffic was a little busy getting out of the city but within 30 minutes we were enjoying some pretty stunning scenery. We had a lot of miles to cover and we made good time to the town of Kamloops which we hit around midday. Stopping for a burger and drink we were back on the road again within 30 minutes. Taking a bit of a slower pace now we had some miles under our belt we enjoyed the views of the surrounding mountains lined with trees. We saw a sign for a waterfall off the road so we pulled over to see if was worth a visit. Deciding it was we paid our entrance fee and ... read more