Jasper, Alberta, Canada

As we started to get closer to Jasper on Sunday, 6/8, the devastation from last year's wildfire was evident. The fires started north and south of the town and grew out of control, forcing a mass evacuation on July 22, 2024. We spoke to a waitress who was here last year and she said they knew the fire was around them but usually it gets contained, not so last year. Her and her boyfriend were trying to decide if they should leave when the decision was made for them, evacuation orders were given. She told us they weren’t prepared, they needed gas, so by the time they were able to get to a gas station (along with all the others) and finally made their way out of town, eight hours had gone by. The fire destroyed 358 structures and it was finally announced on September 7 that the wildfires were under control. Lightning sparked three wildfires and over two days the fires joined into one burning 80,860 acres. When Mark was making plans last year to come here, he wasn’t sure there would be a town to see. We stayed at Whistlers Campground in Jasper National Park. The trees had been decimated by the mountain pine beetle several years ago and now with the fire there aren’t many trees left. The town is rebuilding and the people are resilient and mother nature is also strong and resilient. They have opened the town to tourists and encouraged people to come. It is that strength that brings beauty to the burnt and fallen trees. The new green growth is evident; the wildlife is coming back and the lodgepole pine will once again grow tall…it just needs a little time.

Jasper is a good mix between Banff and Lake Louise. Not as big as Banff and not nearly the number of tourists (so far) and not as small as Lake Louise. It has a quaint feeling with 2 main roads in the town with plenty of restaurants, souvenir shops and grocery stores. There are beautiful lakes, rivers and mountains surrounding the town. We had outstanding weather, way above average which makes a few locals nervous…too warm, too soon and with the fire fresh in their minds they prefer some rain and cooler temps. Tuesday night smoke from other Canadian wildfires made its way to Jasper and obscured the beautiful mountain views. Unfortunately, on Wednesday 6/11, when we left, we ended up having smoke from Jasper all the way to High River, Alberta, our stop for the night. We went right by Calgary on our drive but could barely make out the city. The weather forecast is for several days of very poor air quality.

While in Jasper we went out to Maligne Lake and took the boat cruise to Spirit Island. We also went back to the Icefield Center and walked on Athabasca Glacier. When we booked the glacier excursion it also included the skywalk. The Skywalk is a glass-floored walkway, 918’ above the Sunwapta Valley…the big question was, could I do it? I can tell you that we could tell who was afraid of heights, because all of us that were held on tight to the railing as we made our way on the platform. The best part was we were treated to a mountain goat in the rocks beneath us.

I’ve started a new game with the waiters, waitresses, guides and it’s not what’s my line but where am I from? It kind of reminded us of the show Below Deck with all the different accents. With a, I love your accent or with that accent where are you from, we commonly hear “where do you think”. As mentioned before there are a lot of people from Australia and now we are adding Wales, Quebec City (although she sounded German) and the Ukraine. Each one with a different tale and so very, very interesting. When the girl from the Ukraine applied for a job four years ago, she didn’t know any English. She told us that it was advertised as “no problem” if you don’t have any experience or if you don’t know the language. We can attest she has done very well learning the language and she was a great waitress.

The Canadian Rockies have been on our bucket list and we are so glad we got to experience the beauty of the area. It was amazing!

Traveling along the Icefields Parkway there are

many areas with large boulders scattered from avalanches.

Whistler's Campground.

If you look at the satellite photos from 2018-2020,

 all the sites were treed. In 2019 they had to close so

they could cut down the trees because of the mountain pine beetles.

They allow campfires at some of the sites. They

supply the wood, which is burnt trees that they cut up.

We have never seen so much split firewood in one place.

Maligne Canyon Overlook, you can view it but

it is closed for hiking because the burned trees possibly

falling make it unsafe.

This plaque was burned during the fire at the 

Maligne Canyon Overlook.

More devastation from the fire

Maligne Boat House.

Fortunately, the fire didn't make it to the lake. 

Our guide Liam telling us all about the area.

This is what the map that Sampson Beaver drew for

Mary Schaffer which guided her to Maligne Lake in 1908.

That drawing covers 160 km!  and no roads!

Spirit Island in Maligne Lake

It was such a beautiful day that many people were

out enjoying the lake.

Not a full moon but glad I got this picture

from our campsite on Monday night. Tuesday

night the smoke rolled in and you could barely see

the mountains.

Athabasca Glacier

They said you could fill a water bottle and drink the

water from the glacier, we decided to pass on that.

This was our mode of transportation to get to the glacier.

There are 23 in the world, 21 here and 2 in Antarctica.

The descent was a 30% grade coming down the mountain.

Walking towards the Skywalk...what a view!

I did it! I even looked through the glass floor.

Mountains and glaciers everywhere.

Mount Snow Dome is located here and is

a triple-continental divide. Headwaters

from the Columbia Icefield flow down from Mount

Snow Dome and continue on until they reach three different

oceans: the Pacific, Arctic and Atlantic.

You could see the mountain goat through

the glass floor of the skywalk.

Tangle Creek Falls

Sunwapta Falls

Athabasca Falls

The smoke covering the mountains as we left the

Canadian Rocky Mountains Wednesday.

We saw big horn sheep daily.

We watched the elk in the campground

each morning as we ate breakfast.

Elk are also known as wapiti, meaning

"white rump".

We finally saw a bear on my side of

the truck so I could get a picture.