Jasper, Lake Louise and Banff

Thursday, June 9, 2011 – Leaving Toad River, BC, we are still on the Alaska Highway heading south and east.  Early this morning, we reached Summit Pass, at 4,250 feet, the highest point on the highway.  At the top, we came across a few stone sheep, similar to our Colorado bighorns but smaller. 

Near Fort St. John the pace of economic life quickened considerably, probably as a result of oil and gas exploration and development.  Much more traffic threatened, along with pressure to stay at or above the posted speed maximum.  On the plus side, gas was finally getting cheaper ($1.319 vs. $1.559 per liter, still over $5.00 U.S. per gallon.)

Friday, June 10, 2011 – We reached Dawson Creek, BC, the beginning (or end) of the Alaska Highway.  In total the highway is 2,500 miles long, and we traveled it all, except for 200 miles between Tok, AK and Fairbanks, AK.  The highway began right after Pearl Harbor in WWII, when the US felt vulnerable to potential and actual Japanese incursions into the Aleutians, Alaska and the west coast.  The US army spearheaded the project, which began in Canada before it was even approved by the Canadian government.

Shortly after passing through Dawson Creek, we reached the province of Alberta and set our watches to Mountain Time at last – almost home?  Not hardly.  We visited Costco and Home Depot in Grand Prairie, then turned south on highway 40 toward Jasper, past a big beaver in Grande Cache (and, no, we are not bringing it home with us, it just looks that way) and into Jasper National Park, with high anticipation.  Our first animal was a nice elk next to the road, but we see lots of these in Colorado.

We spent the next three days in the Jasper/Banff area and I want to give you some overall impressions.  The mountains are part of the same Rocky Mountain chain that we know and love in Buena Vista, CO, but the peaks seem newer, more jagged.  The color of the rivers is similar to the glacial green and gray of the Alaska rivers, but the color of the lakes is astounding, from the deep jade green to brilliant turquoise.  The weather reports each day were for rain and the skies were often gray, which dulled and washed out the photo backgrounds.  However, there were periods of sun each day and we were mostly dry, not impeded at all in our hikes or driving.  Temperatures ranged from high 40’s (F.) in the morning to mid to high 60’s in the afternoon.

As in the US, these parks are being loved to death – with lots of people and crowded campgrounds.  We arrived early in the season and many of the campgrounds and a few roads to attractions (notably Edith Cavell road) were closed.  Traffic on the highway seemed light, but parking lots at major and minor attractions were overflowing.  We could not imagine what they would be like in the middle of the summer.

Overall, the Canadians do a wonderful job at presenting the attractions within this spectacular setting.  The roads, towns, and sites are well-planned and clean; the staff is courteous; the animals are varied and plentiful.  Lake Louise is how I picture Italy’s Lake Como – a bewildering array of people strolling along a promenade by a lakefront, a large lodge in the background, the air filled with countless dialects.  Europeans, Canadians, and US Americans seem to arrive in small groups, although bus tours of older (and more infirm) Americans are common.  There are bus after bus of Asian tourists, - Chinese, Japanese, Korean and many other countries are represented.

We took hundreds of pictures, mostly mountain “sucker” shots as you might guess.  Those presented here may not be the best, but should be the most representative.  

Saturday, June 11, 2011 – We spent Friday and Saturday night in Snaring River campground, within the park.  You buy a parks pass for each day in the park (they allowed us to buy senior passes at $15.30, even though we were not Canadian citizens) and a separate permit for camping each night - $16 to $34 depending on use or availability of electrical and water hookups, showers and flush toilets.  The campground sites are close together and we squeezed the trailer into some tight spots.  We heard very little road noise, but the sounds of many, many trains reverberated around the canyon walls at all hours.

We went to Maligne Canyon, a slot canyon with falls, and Maligne Lake, known for a view from Spirit Island.  You need to go on a boat tour or rent a canoe to see “the view”, but it was pretty enough from the shore.  We went into the village of Jasper to get our bearings at the Information Centre, then drove out to Pyramid Lake, and another famous, small island photo op.  We also walked around Lake Annette.  Later, we drove to Athabasca Falls, still more sights and sounds.

Sunday, June 12, 2011 – Leaving Jasper, we drove south, down the Icefields Parkway, towards Lake Louise and Banff.  Glaciers tumble down from the massive Columbia Icefields above and behind the visible mountains.  We walked to the edge of the Athabasca glacier

Then, we took a short walk to Peyto Lake.  We have never seen any lake the color of Peyto Lake.  The reproduction here is not retouched, and it does not even convey the total effect. 

Arriving at Lake Louise, we soon left the crowds in a 2.7 km (1.5 mile) fairly steep climb to Mirror Lake, a small emerald green lake still mostly icebound with snow all around.  Altogether, we had several significant hikes throughout the day and were stiff and sore the next morning, a legacy of too little exercise on this trip.  We found another nice park campground at Castle Cliffs (Escarpmentes Castle) halfway to Banff.

Monday, June 13, 2011 – We drove back to the Lake Louise area, without the trailer, to visit Moraine Lake, beautiful but still icebound.  In the photo to the left, the ice on the lake and the mirror image combine so there appears to be a two-tiered lake, an optical illusion.

Later we took a hike through Johnston Canyon, where iron catwalks are suspended from the sides of the cliffs leading to seven falls up the canyon, a distance of 2.6 km.  Along the route we saw a gray fox and two groups of wild goats.  We drove around the Minnewanka Lake loop, and finally exited the east end of the parks toward Calgary.  South of Calgary, we found a town campground in High River, about 100 miles or so from the US border.