Friends in High Places

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I have never heard a train go by and not wished I were on it. And so I found myself on the Via Rail "Canadian" that heads east from Vancouver. Nineteen hours after ambling through British Columbia we arrived in Jasper, Alberta. I slept in the chair overnight, and slept quite well. Trains are infinitely more comfortable than any bus or car, and remind me of more halcyon days of travel. Whoever waves from a bus, or waves at the travelers in a bus? We wave at trains and their passengers and they wave back. The train was long, possibly as many as twenty carriages, with two dining cars and three dome cars for a panoramic view. The scenery was fantastic as we followed the Fraser River, and then the Thompson River upstream. The highlight was when we approached Mount Robson, and all of us tried to jam into the dome car. The dining car was packed full during meal times, so we all shared tables. My breakfast was with three retired and chatty female elementary school teachers from Alabama; lunch was with two independent travelers - one a retired forester from New Zealand and the other a younger playwrite and actor who is currently bartending to pay the bills. That is the life on board a long distance train, pleasant sociable people who choose the train. They don't ask for speed, it's the slowness of the train that is the allure.

I arrived in Jasper in the late afternoon, and I had already missed the shuttle bus up to the hostel. I walked about town for a few minutes as that's all it takes. I booked a couple of tours at the Adventure Centre, I bought a few supplies at the grocery store, and then I went for dinner. I was forced to take a taxi up to the hostel. If I had known the hostel was so badly located, I might not have booked it. It was built in the 1960's and purposely located about 6 km out of town to keep those no good hippies far from Jasper. I had booked five nights there, but I lasted only three. There was no breakfast supplied, so we all had to haul our own, and somehow we all use the inadequate kitchen at the same time. There were two big rooms, and when so many go hiking the room had that permanent stink of an old boot. The bathrooms were not large enough for all of us, so we frequently had to wait to shower and to discharge. But the staff were friendly, and so were the guests. I left after the third morning, and checked into the next cheapest place in town, an old boutique hotel, the Athabasca Hotel central to everything. The Athabasca Hotel is a Jasper institution, newly renovated but made out to look like an old mountain lodge. There was furniture in the old style, deep red carpet, brass fittings everywhere, exposed wooden beams, and numerous stuffed indigenous animals hanging from the walls in the lobby. Big horn sheep, goats, moose, elk, goats, an otter, a buffalo (which no longer inhabit Jasper or Banff) and an osprey.

On my first full day, I went on a wildlife tour, a sort of safari in a bus on the roads. We headed north east and quickly spotted two large bull elk grazing by the side of the road. They were handsome looking ruminants with impressive velvet antlers which they shed each year. We drove on and the guide spotted an eagle perched some distance away on top of the tree. I would never have seen this bird if I were not with a guide. We drove and and saw the highlight of the night, a black bear nearby. We were on the relatively quiet Maligne Valley road, so there was no one else to chase or spook the bear. We stayed with him at least 15 minutes, and the bear seemed quite oblivious to us and he continued to graze on wildflowers. On this trip. I was to see four different black bears, but no grizzly bears, though they are known to be in the area.

The next day I took a more lengthy tour along the Maligne Valley Road, and cruise on the Maligne Lake. Our guide was a forester turned tour guide who chose to live in Jasper nearly twenty years ago, and I can see why. He had plenty to say about the condition of the forests in Jasper, and the animals who try to live here. One hundred years of forest fire prevention has actually increased the amount of trees, and decreased the habitat for the larger ruminant animals. He drove us to the lake, and put us on a lake cruise with another guide. Photos from this lake are the iconic representative photos of Jasper National Park that everyone is familiar with. The waters at the far end to where only boats are capable of getting are a deep turquoise formed by glacial run-off. Mountains surround the lake on all sides. The stand of trees that form the serene image of Maligne Lake is Spirit Island. It was peaceful, and wished I could stay. Later than evening, I took the Jasper Tramway up to the top of Whistlers Mountain, the highest gondola ride in Canada. The views from the top are breathtaking - I am sure the hoary marmots appreciate their views, and that's why they choose to live there. After all, housing is all about location, location, location. I took one of the last gondola rides up, but it was still nearly two hours before sunset. There was plenty of light left, but it was cold up there.

On my third day, I took a short hike with another tour to Mount Edith Cavell. When Jasper National Park was formed in 1907, few of the mountains were named. Many of the mountains were named subsequently after heroes of WWI. The Victoria Cross range has peaks named after VC winners, and Mount Edith Cavell was named for the British nurse who was shot by the Germans accused of being a spy - all she was guilty of was treating all soldiers regardless of which side they fought. To the side of the Mount Edith Cavell is Angel Glacier, which is in serious retreat, the wings have no more than 20 years left, and the glacier looks nothing like it did when it was first photographed 100 years ago. We trekked to the foot of the mountain where there is a lake full of icebergs calved from the glacier. Three times while we were there I heard a loud crack from the glacier that echoed across the valley. The sound of global warming. Later that day I rented a bicycle and visited Pyramid Lake about 3 kilometers north from Jasper town. I took the road there, but I took the trail back. I didn't know it at the time, but this was the easier way to do it, because the trail was quite steep in places with plenty of sharp switchbacks. This would have been tough to negotiate in the other direction uphill. Downhill on the trail all I needed was brakes and balance, uphill on the road was merely some work.

When I returned from the Mount Edith Cavell hike I signed up for an easy white water rafting trip on the Athabasca River. They drove us upstream five miles and fitted us with wet suits. There were seven of us in the rubber boat and one guide who also steered. We each had a paddle, except for the two young girls who leaned over the front and blocked most of the spray, they were soaked and cold when we were done. As this was my first time down a river, I wimped out and chose the class II rapids only. There were four options, an easy float, class II, class II+ and class III. I chose the ride where we would get wet but not injured or sick. This was a lot of fun, and something I could definitely do again. The Athabasca River at this point is only about 15 hours old and 4 degrees Celsius, just released from the Columbia Icefield. At this point it is pristine and probably potable, but the Athabasca River continues on through Alberta and passes through the tar sands where the river suffers seriously before discharging in Athabasca Lake and eventually into the Arctic Ocean.

Thursday was travel day from Jasper to Banff. My guide and driver was the same as the Mount Edith Cavell hike. I had signed up for something different each day, and each tour was usually operated by a different company, but not always. We had a small tour bus, and there were seven of us on this trip to Banff. We first stopped at the Athabasca Falls and our guide gave us plenty of time to take many photos. On we continued to a couple more view points, but halfway for the trip was marked by the Columbia Icefield. The six others in the trip had pre-booked a snow coach tour. Off they went and that left the guide and me to walk to the toe of the glacier. Had we been here 100 years ago our walk would have been seconds from the parking lot. Had the trip been 30 years ago, our walk would still be 200 meters shorter. This walk was at least 2 kilometers to and from the glacier. Once at the toe, there were ropes to prevent people from walking onto the glacier. We jumped the ropes and walked over the moraine and over a few streams gushing from under the glacier. We carefully stepped onto the glacier, and it felt quite soft underneath. We dare not venture too far up, as the glacier really did feel dangerous. We were on the glacier only a few minutes, along with three others who also had ignored the ropes. The park officials figure that the snow coaches may only have five to ten years left of operations because the lateral moraine on which they drive to get far up onto the glacier is collapsing. There may not be a safe way to actually be on the glacier in the near future. Global warming will leave us no glacier to walk on, and eventually no glacier at all.

We arrived in Banff at dinner time, and my guide drove me to the hostel. This hostel was a far better option than the one in Jasper. It had won Hostel of the Year in 2003, because it had a restaurant, small rooms, more bathrooms, kitchen, laundry, bar, plenty of tourist information, internet and a free bus pass for our stay. Although the only drawback for me was that I had the top bunk. There is an lower age limit for top bunks, no one under eight can sleep on top, but they should also have a maximum age as old guys like me struggle to lift themselves up there, and we always have a late night or early morning run to the outhouse. I looked and shopped around Banff the first morning, and in the evening I went on another wildlife tour. This time we saw big horn sheep, a bear but the highlight was the wolf who appeared and then quickly disappeared. This was a particularly lucky sighting, because there are only a couple dozen wolves in the entire park, they are extremely shy and very nimble. He had a collar so the park staff can monitor them. Keep in mind though that wildlife don't really need managing, it's people who need to be managed around wildlife.

The last day in the mountains saw me on horseback. I had a tour on horseback that included a cook-out steak dinner. There were about ten of us, with one guide in front and one guide at the rear. We went on horseback about three miles upstream following the Bow River. My horse's name was Posse and he was a gorgeous animal, back and white and tall. However, he was a lazy old sod who always fell behind. I had to kick him frequently so he would keep up with the other horses in front. I really enjoyed this horse ride; I liked to imagine we were old time explorers trekking through the mountains looking for that elusive pass. We rode for about an hour, and then they cooked a steak dinner for us, along with baked potatoes, baked beans and a salad. We rode back on a different route up and down on a ridge on Sulfur Mountain. I didn't find controlling the horse difficult, but these horses were well trained. We were with capable guides and in a large pack all following in single file. Usually when the horse in front moved, each horse just followed without any real control from the rider. And while I felt a bit wobbly legged when I was done, I was not sore the next day.

I returned to Vancouver on the Greyhound bus. Never again will I take a 13 hour bus ride. They stopped every so often, and I got to see the Rogers Pass as a passenger, but this ride was the toughest and most uncomfortable of the entire week long trip. I missed a meal and didn't get lunch (or was that dinner) until 4 pm when we had a one hour layover in Kamloops. And the dinner was a Greyhound cafeteria hamburger, hardly the gourmet feast you would expect on a holiday. I got back to my cocoon in Burnaby, took a couple of Advil and fell into a deep coma, a well needed rest after a week in the mountains with plenty of new animal friends.

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Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

Loved your blog
You've got some fantastic photos.