Jasper; A True Gem!

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We rode the Ice Fields Parkway from Banff to Jasper Yesterday. It's listed as 180 miles long, but took us nearly 5 hours to drive. Not because of traffic or windy mountain roads, but because of all of the breathtaking scenery along the way!

The highway gets its name from the Columbia Ice Fields which straddle the border between Alberta and British Columbia, also forms part of the continental divide. It is an ice field, not a glacier, but ice and snow that fills the valley between mountains. These fields feed into eight major glaciers that cascade down from the mountains along the road. The river that flows from the glaciers is milky-white from all of the glacier flour suspended in it, but when it forms a lake the water settles and becomes a jade green. All of the glaciers along have retreated notably, including the major tourist stop; Athabasca Glacier, which has retreated from the current road side to about a half mile away from the road in the last 150 years.

After taking in the many road-side glaciers and water falls we rolled into Banff where we got a hot meal after a cold ride. There we tried our options for accommodation and realized that a proper campsite would be about as much a a bunk in a hostel. The Hostel is about three miles from town so they can charge a bit less than any in-town competition.

We much prefer Jasper to Banff. The town is smaller, but more homely. There are plenty of locals and no Starbucks or McDonald's. There are many activities offered here, like in Banff, but are far away for the most part. We wanted to do a zip line, but it was an hour drive away. So we decided to rent bikes.

The hostel rents mountain bikes for $25 a day (compared to $32-$40 in town) and we decided to make the most of it. We rode south of town until the trail ran into wilderness, then we rode north of town until we couldn't ride anymore. We rode through town on the way back and got some food to grill up back at the hostel. Then we had to ride back up the hill to the hostel. The hill was fun going down. We were able to coast going about 35 MPH. We were lucky to get two MPH on the way back up. We were not only tired from the day long ride, we also had a backpack full of food and discarded clothes because of the warm weather. Drenched in sweat we nearly collapsed when we got to the porch. After mustering the energy to do so we showered and began grilling. Dan had ribs, and I had a chicken breast and potatoes.

Tomorrow we hit the road again heading West to Prince Albers, a small town with a big highway junction, then cut north for as long as we can before bushwhacking a campsite!

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Comments

[Al Herron]

Love the blog and following your adventures
You guys are the biggest free spirits I know and at my advanced age that is saying a lot.