Early start today. The 5am boys are our alarm clock, and they’re right on time. We’re up and on the road by 6am! Why? Because we’re going to Jasper, in Jasper National Park, and that’s a lot of driving – about 10 hours total just driving!
There is only one way to go. We repeat the trip of two days ago, to the Ice Fields at the boundary between Banff and Jasper National Parks. That represents a lot of the mileage, and since we’ve done it, taken pictures and made stops, you might think it would go faster this time. Well, it did, but we still took a few more pictures and made a few stops. Everything is so beautiful and impressive that you just can’t help it. Plus, the light is different, cloud conditions are different, etc. It can be like a brand new trip!
So it turns out that our previous trip we were always in Banff NP, not Jasper NP at all. The transition is painless, and the beauty just keep right on coming. How many ways can I say incredible? I won’t even try. Look at pictures – ours, whoevers – they should tell part of the story, but in the end, you just gotta see them in person.
We work our way up the highway toward Jasper. When we’re almost at Jasper we take a detour to the Jasper Tramway, Whistlers Mountain. You can take a gondola 3240 feet up the mountain – I don’t know what that elevation is, but it’s probably around 9,000 feet. I’m sure the view from there is spectacular, but after waiting in line for about 30 minutes we realized that it was going to be too hot for Woody and Jake in the car (no shade), so we abandoned the tram ride. It’s okay – it was crowded, slow, and would have taken all of our available time.
From there it’s on into Jasper, a surprisingly bustling little town with a railroad station, five thousand restaurants, and at least that many tourists. It’s a nice little place, devoted entirely to tourism, I’m pretty sure. Sally-Heath has identified Coco’s Café as a potential eating spot, and we locate it with a minimum of trouble. We found a shady spot to park, and off to eat. Inside Coco’s we discover they have free WiFi! So I hoof it back to the car for the computer. Back at Coco’s I find I don’t have my glasses, but I’m not going back to the car – just fake it. With a minimum of aggravation, and the help of a female member of the Canadian Army, I get connected. The few pictures from yesterday are uploaded quickly, as is the blog. Then Flickr goes haywire (am I the only one?), and won’t let me view my pictures – so I can’t connect them to the blog. Oh well.
The sandwiches are good, and after eating and checking email we’re back on the road. By the way, I had to gas up here, and since it’s a very isolated place I expected to be reamed – but surprise!, the gas is cheaper here than in Golden – 12 cents cheaper. I still haven’t figured out how 1.32 per liter compares to 4.04 per gallon…
We really want to hike – it’s been a while – and Sally-Heath has identified what looks like a very interesting hike in Maligne (pronounced ma-leene, we think) Canyon. Sounds like hiking along the top of Paria Canyon – a slot canyon in northern Arizona. It doesn’t quite work out well. We had a short hike, and there is an impressive slot canyon, with waterfalls. But it is crowded – there was even a wedding party hiking part of the trail! Not our cup of tea. We also didn’t really do the hike Sally-Heath had planned – my fault, but in the long run it may have come out about neutral. We hiked and saw the slot canyon.
Then we drove south past Medicine Lake to Maligne Lake. There were great views, and I took a few pictures. By now it’s getting past time to head home, so we retrace our steps – all of them – including a stop in Jasper for coffee (to go). Then it’s on the road to get back ‘home’.
We’re home. The drive was long, and fairly uneventful. We saw some goats. There wasn’t much traffic. We ate a small dinner at the Ice Fields visitor center, while gazing at the glaciers and marveling that the glaciers once filled this entire valley. When it’s all over, we’ve driven almost 500 miles, and spent 14 hours doing it. It was wonderful, and it was hard. We’ve done it, we’re glad, and we won’t do it again (not this way!). Our remaining forays will be shorter, we have promised ourselves. There really wasn’t much choice here, if we were going to at least see all of Jasper NP.
It’s tired out. Goodnight.
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