Blogs from Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada, North America - page 11

July 20th and 21st. Today Val, Mike, Pam and I set off for a three day tour of the Canadian Rockies, before returning to Kimberley (Anne and Michael's house. We spent two nights in the park at Sunwapta Lodge, which borders Jasper and Banff National Parks. The scenery is fantastic helped by excellent weather conditions. Saw many glacier ice fields, turquoise lakes, waterfalls, a black bear, deer, a hoary marmot and lots of tourists. Pam and George... read more

Jasper National Park is touted as one of the most scenic areas in the world and Dave and I were about to find out for ourselves, as the road to Jasper was open. Mount Robson, the tallest peak in Canada looked rather majestic this morning as we drove east on Route 16 toward the Park. We drove through the city of Jasper, a very quaint mountain resort area, which reminded us of Jackson Hole, Wyoming. We paid our $20 entry fee and drove south on the Icefields Parkway, Route 93. The mountains here, come in all shapes and sizes, rounded peaks, knife edges, jagged points and flat tops. The higher peaks are still snow-covered and along the roadside, flowers of all colors bloomed. Athabasca Falls, one of our first stops, drops 40 feet through a very ... read more

Our first mountain of the season was Whistler's. This one has special meaning to Jamie and I, as this is where we met. But instead of taking the tram this time, we hiked up instead. And before we hiked up, we had to cycle to the start of the trail. It's about 6-7 kilometres from Jasper to the start of the trail, but about 3kms are up a very steep hill...by the time we parked our bikes and started hiking, I was exhausted! The hike itself was great - really nice temperature (not too hot, not too cold) and lots of viewpoints along the way. There are hundreds of switch backs, so sometimes it feels like you're not getting very far, but then the trees part and you catch a glimpse of the town and the ... read more

We are finding the pace of the travel a little fast, we are getting into our destinations at about 4 pm and leaving again by 8.30. We are used to stopping for a while and really seening a place. I think most of the people on the tour would have liked a couple of days in Jasper. On our way to Jasper we travelled through beautiful scenery again in our coach. Through the spectacular icefields parkway, claimed the most beautiful road in the world. We stopped at the Columbia Icefield for a unique and exciting ride in a specially designed Ice Explorer onto the athabasca Glacier. We got out and walked on the Glacier the ice we were walking on was the depth of the Eiffel Tower. We stayed in a beautiful lodge right on the ... read more

Our first white Christmas! Even though I've been brought up with Christmas in the summer time, I was really looking forward to a 'traditional' Christmas, with snow and turkey and eggnog and all those other Christmas traditions you see on TV and on Christmas cards. And Christmas in Jasper didn't disappoint! We were a little sad not to be with our families, but very excited to be spending our first Christmas as Mr and Mrs Heather in such a magical place. We woke up to the sounds of children upstairs opening their presents (lots of running around and woo-hoos). The lovely landlady upstairs had given us a little christmas tree with lights, and we bought ourselves our first christmas ornament which we put on the tree. We exchanged our gifts and then went to find a ... read more