Jasper National Park Alberta CA

There are two campgrounds in Jasper National Park that would fit us.  One is Whistlers CG, which is closer to town, and was where we stayed when we were here in 2011.  The other is Wabasso CG, which is about 8 miles out of town and is on the Athabasca River.  We had chosen Wabasso and had made a reservation for three nights.  However, when we checked in we found our site was not very  level, and there was no internet access at the site.  Internet access is very helpful when producing this journal.  Consequently, I drove back to the check-in kiosk, and the ranger was able to transfer our reservation to Whistlers CG.  The only down side was that we would have to move to a different site for the second two nights.  Not a biggie, so we took it.

Site D36 at Wabasso CG

In short order we we set up on site 62E at Whistlers CG.




By 9:00 the next morning 61P was vacant, so we made a quick move.  Wow 3 setups in just a little over 12 hours!

Over the next 3 days we toured the Jasper area.  While at Maligne Canyon we ran into Dale and Karen .... again.  We had met Dale and Karen on a hike at Mistaya Canyon the day before while traveling the Icefields Parkway. They are from North Carolina, and it turns out that Dale has sold air pollution monitoring systems for many years.  We knew a number of the same people in the air quality field from way back when.  We crossed paths with them at different stops several more times that day, and again at a hike at Maligne Canyon.  Small world.

Dorcas entertaining Dale and Karen from NC

Maligne Canyon is a deep slot canton and very difficult to photograph well.  Click here and here  to see some videos.    

Maligne Canyon

Maligne Canyon

Maligne Canyon

View Athabasca Pass, a major explorer and trade route

Campfire stew and brew.  Hit don't get no better!

A view from downtown Jasper

The Raven Totem Pole

Are there any "The Great Lebowski" fans out there?

Elk were frequent visitors at our camp

Uh Dorcas, don't look now, but ....

I thought these souvenir magnets were cute

Maligne Lake

Medicine Lake has no obvious outlet.  It is drained by numerous small sinks under the lake.  The lake level fluctuates widely.  During the spring runoff, the lake fills more quickly than it can drain, and the level rises.  During dry periods the level drops as water runs out the sink holes.

Medicine Lake

Can you see the moose?

The Athabasca River was running high.  We watched a few raft trips land, and I talked shop with some of the river guides.

This guy missed the eddy!  OH CRAP1

Click here to see a proper eddy turn.

A 1980 Volkswagen Vanagon Westfalia, much like this one, was my first RV

The End.  Is it getting old yet?

Icefields Parkway

We departed Lake Louise on a gorgeous Sunday morning, and headed north on the Icefields Parkway towards Jasper National Park.  When we traveled this highway 6 years ago, it was a blustery and miserable day. 

A shot from the windshield

Mistaya Canyon

A shot from the dash cam

This was the first bear we have seen on this trip, and one of three we saw this day.  It's a terrible picture, taken from a moving vehicle, but hey, it's a bear.  Trust me.

A black bear????

OK, this bear doesn't count

We saw a number of mountain goats.  They were way up on the cliffs, and you had to look hard to see them

How's he gonna get down from there?

Along the Icefields Parkway our coach passed a major milestone.  We bought this coach 10 years ago, when it was 2 years old and had only 9000 miles.  We have kept on trucking'.

I could have taken this picture at exactly 100,000.0 miles, but I was still moving then, and Dorcas would have fussed

Another bad picture of a black bear ..... I think

The Icefield Centre

Dorcas has always liked large mammals in uniform. 

One is real, the other is not.  Can you guess which?

The Columbia Ice Field is the largest ice field in the North American Rockies.  Athabasca Glacier is one of the 6 principle glaciers in the Columbia Icefield and is the most visited glacier in North America.

Athabasca Glacier

In this blow up from the photo above, you can see a tour bus and about a dozen ice buggies up on the glacier.

The elk are much better at posing than the bears

You mean we were way down there?

The Glacier Skywalk is actually level, the camera is tilted!

To see us crossing the North Saskatchewan River click here.

Cool waterfalls

Google maps predicted it would take us over 7 hours to drive the 175 miles from Lake Louise to Jasper.  We knew there was some construction along the route, but saw no specific slow-downs on Google maps.  We did pass one construction zone that delayed us about 15 minutes.  Click here to see the dancing flagman.

Athabasca Pass, a major route for natives and traders

Athabasca Falls

Clock here to see a video of Athabasca Falls.

The end