Canada – Jasper
After our stay in Banff National Park, we now drive on to Jasper in the Jasper National Park of the same name. The park is 10878 km² in size and was founded in 1907. Our route takes us from Banff on Highway No. 1 to Lake Louise. From there, the highway continues west and to the northwest the Icefields Parkway leads to Jasper. The route from Lake Louise to Jasper is 230 km long and is full of spectacular natural spectacles. The Icefields Parkway is the most famous panoramic route in Canada. The highway is generously developed and leads along an old Indian route along the Bow River. Along the route are Herbert Lake, Hector Lake, glacier-fringed Pulpit Peak at 2075 meters, Bow Lake (4.3 km long) and the Columbia Icefield with a size of 325 km² (the largest contiguous ice field in the northern hemisphere), which almost reaches the highway. From here you can take special vehicles to the Athabasca Glacier. To the left, i.e. west of the highway, are the main ridges of the Rocky Mountains, which are over 3600 meters high. Mount Columbia is 3747 meters high. To the right are the lower front ranges. Behind it are the prairies in the east of the country. The parkway winds through the mountain ranges. The highest pass elevations are around 2000 meters.
We had planned a schedule of 6 hours for the route. As so often in life, however, things turned out quite differently. Shortly after Lake Louise, it began to snow so heavily that visibility was limited to 20 meters. We could only drive at walking pace. Thank God we had a four-wheel drive Dodge with which we dared to continue the route. Within an hour we drove a distance of 30 km and already had a snow depth of 50 cm. At Bow Lake, a snow plough overtook us, so that navigating in the snow was now a bit more comfortable. Our initial concerns about turning back and waiting for better weather for the pass trip now disappeared and we continue the journey after all. It seemed strange to us that we were not overtaken by any other vehicles despite various stops along the way.
As it turned out later, the track behind us was completely closed to traffic. It was snowing so heavily that it was not possible to take pictures on the way. The pictures shown here were all taken on the way back. After 7 hours of driving, we have reached the Sunwapta Pass. Here the blizzard subsided and went into normal snowfall. After a total of 11 hours of driving, we reached Jasper. At the entrance to the village of Jasper we are greeted on the main road by caribou and elk, which appear in packs and solitary and are looking for food in the front gardens and green areas. After the long lonely drive through the Rockies, we are now quite happy to see some life again. We even meet some cars and there are a few people to be seen on the street.
Jasper is a small dreamy town with about 3000 inhabitants and was founded after 1900 with the support of Canada’s second major railway company, the Grand Trunk Railroad. In contrast to Banff, Jasper is hardly commercially marketed and you feel transported back to the 19th century. Everything is modest and original, even the shops and a few restaurants are not adapted to tourism but to the needs of the inhabitants. We find a shop on the main street that sells every conceivable item and equipment needed to live in the wilderness. Everything from sacks of flour to chainsaws, clothing and weapons is available here. It is already late and we stock up on only the bare necessities for today. The snowfall thickens again and expands into a storm. With such a blizzard, which comes completely unexpectedly, the view range drops to a few meters. The snow comes vertically whipped by the strong storm. We quickly make our way to our pre-booked accommodation, the Jasper Lodge. On the road we see some caribou deer, which are not impressed by the storm.
Jasper Lodge is located a few kilometers outside of Jasper and consists of a spacious main house with lobby, restaurants and leisure facilities. Around the lodge various bungalows and log cabins have been built for the guests. The entire complex is spacious and spacious. Some of the log cabins are located directly on the nearby shore of the lake, which is now frozen. We pass the entrance to Jasper Lodge. The lodge has a number of log cabins built in the Canadian style.
After checking in, we fall into bed, dead tired from the long and exhausting drive. The next morning, the day welcomes us with wonderful sunshine and freezing cold of -30° Celsius. First of all, we want to explore the surroundings a little. However, this requires a lot of preparatory work, because the Dodge is completely covered with ice and it takes a full hour until we have fought it free. Despite the cold, it starts immediately at the first take-off attempt and so we can set off.
Jasper National Park consists of a 200 km long and 90 km wide rectangle. The park is characterized by a barely touched wilderness. Worthwhile destinations in the area are the Athabasca Falls, the ice cascades of Angel Glacier and Mount Edith Cavell, which rises steeply with its 3363 meters in altitude. The black bear is a problem child here in the park because accidents occur again and again in summer. The population is estimated at 60,000 to 120,000 specimens in British Columbia, and the trend is increasing. Of course, the problems with the steadily increasing number of tourists are inevitable. Due to the constant feeding, the bears have partially lost their natural shyness of humans. That’s why marauding bears are spotted again and again on campsites etc. and thus become a serious threat to the often unsuspecting tourists. The warnings and notices should therefore always be taken seriously. But we think we are experienced enough and besides, Master Petz hibernates at this time of year. For the next day we have organized a tour with sled dogs through the wilderness north of Jasper National Park. On the following pages we report on these experiences.
