We headed out at about 11:00 a.m. on Sunday morning. Our first stop, of course, was the local 7-11, to gas up the car and get some money.
We made good time on the drive to Banff, and since we were heading on to Jasper, we got to bypass the long lineup of campers waiting to get into the park. Haha! When we got to Lake Louise, we decided to drive up to the lake. That meant we had to finally buy a park permit, but we needed one for Jasper anyway, and it was quicker than waiting in the Banff lineup. About $19 for a day pass which would expire tomorrow at 4 p.m., good for Banff and Jasper.
Lots and lots of people at Lake Louise, and all of us circling around, looking for the rare and elusive parking spot. I circled twice, saw someone pulling out, and zoomed in. Haha! Lake Louise is quite lovely with the snow-covered mountains in the background and beautiful blue water. Bet you it costs a fortune to stay in the Chateau Lake Louise. Doesn’t matter – we’re not staying. We took a few photos, then headed off towards Highway 93 to Jasper.
You need to have a park pass to travel on the Icefields Parkway (Highway 93), and there’s no commercial trucking allowed – tour buses excepted, of course. But no big rigs. And speed zones range from 90 kph, down to 70 at times.
It’s 233 km from Lake Louise to Jasper. In your brain, you calculate this to be about 2.5 to maybe 3 hours of driving. The truth is, that everything is so fricking postcard perfect beautiful that you find yourself stopping every five minutes to take a picture. No sooner have you got back on the road again, and there’s another roadside turnout, or a sign pointing you to another scenic lookout. Some of them just beside the road, and some after a little hike. And they’re all SO STINKING BEAUTIFUL. So, you’re having fun and think you’re making good time, and then you realize that you’ve barely crawled up 1/5th of the distance listed on the map. Huh. Wonder if we’re going to get to Jasper before dark.
We get to the Columbia Icefield at 4:45 p.m. (and the last tour of the day left at 4:00 p.m.). Oh well, we pick up a brochure and decide we’ll hit it on the way back.
On the way into Jasper, you can tell when there are animals at the side of the road by the sudden traffic jam. There’ll be a line of cars suddenly parked, and some really dumbass tourists leaping out with their cameras to get a closer picture of the elk or the bear or whatever it is. Hey, dimwit, you’re not supposed to get out of your car!
It was about 6:30 p.m. by the time we got to Jasper. Our first order of business was to find a place to stay. We passed some cute little cottages on the way in – yes, Vacancy – but we wanted to find a place in the townsite if possible. Driving on, there was the usual boring hotel-looking-hotels. Yawn. We turned towards a building that looked lodgey, but it was someone’s house. (But you’d be surprised at the number of houses that are bed & breakfasts.) We drove down another street or two, found another “meh” hotel, and then right behind it was the Bear Hill Lodge. What adorable little cabins! The main building listed Cabins, Chalet, and Bed & Breakfast. And yes, Vacancy!
We went in and asked to check out the cabins, but the only one available had only one bed and a tiny couch (too small to sleep on, and I’m not inclined to share). We hemmed and hawed, with me saying I wanted a cabin, and Stephen willing to settle for the bed & breakfast. The clerk said that there was a chalet available with double beds and a couch, kitchenette and a deck. How much? “$225,” he says, “but I could—” “Okay,” says Stephen, hauling out his wallet. I can’t let it go: “Wait! You said ‘$225, but I could…’” “But I could let you have it for $200,” the clerk says, sad to see his full fare slip away, but probably happy he hadn’t come out and said $150, like I’m sure he’d been planning to before somebody jumped the gun and yelled “we’ll take it!”
The chalet room is set up like a one room cabin (plus bathroom). Wood paneled walls, a fireplace, and big patio doors leading to our own private deck. We had to get groceries, so we found the local grocery store and bought one night’s worth of sustenance at park-inflated prices. (Who knew we’d have a kitchenette?) The food turns out to be Delissio pizza, cartons of pop, Smokey BBQ chips and two chocolate bars. Mmm, rustic nutrition!
We’re in a hurry to do something in Jasper before everything shuts down, so after unloading the food (without eating), we immediately head out to the Jasper tram.
When I hear tram, I think “train”, but it’s actually a big cable car that goes up Mount Whistler. You’re supposed to bring a jacket because it can get cold up on top of the mountain. Crap. I left my jacket at the Lodge. Oh well. It’s $25 for a “flight” up, and we’re at the top of the mountain by 7:30 p.m. At the upper terminal, there’s a boardwalk outside, a gift shop (of course!), and a restaurant. The guide tells us we can hike to the top of the mountain, which usually takes about 45 minutes, but the last tram down leaves at 8:30, so we have to be back by then.
It’s a 1.5 km hike to the top of the mountain. Mindful of the time, we set off at a really brisk pace. Holy crap, it’s really steep. All of a sudden, I see the need for proper hiking boots with ankle supports. Stomp stomp stomp – keep going. Stephen has foolishly left his asthma puffer in Calgary, and everything I look back, he’s doubled over and wheezing. Why is it so steep? Why is it so far? So hard to keep climbing. I obviously haven't been going to the gym enough.
Everyone else is coming down off the mountain – one of the guys tells us that a thunderstorm is coming in. Yeah, it sure is, I say, listen to that thunder, and keep climbing. He was probably advising us to go back, but we are determined.
Yay! We’re at the peak at last! Whew. What a refreshing cold wind. Hey, wait, is that a slightly higher hill over there? Are we supposed to go over there? No, I don’t think so. Look at the rainclouds. Wow. The view was amazing. We have many pictures.
Stephen takes out his cell phone, and notes that he has a signal! We call Mom from the mountain (but she doesn’t answer, since she probably doesn’t recognize the phone number), and so we leave a message about how we’re on the mountain, but we have to go now, cause a storm is coming. Bye!
We start back down the mountain, with some urgency, stopping only to climb on rocks and take some good pictures (okay, so not urgently enough). It starts raining, so we start running down the mountain. Whee! Don’t loose your footing or it’ll be WHEE-AARGH! This is a really good workout.
We run onto the terminal promenade, where two people have been watching us run down the mountain, and congratulate us on our survival. We go inside, look at the gift shop for no more than two minutes or so, and by that time, the storm hits and there's a full rain and ice windstorm outside. Because I am stupid, I go outside again to take a picture. It’s amazingly windy – and the ice-rain is needle-sharp. (Good picture, though.)
All the trams have been stopped for now, because they can’t travel in this weather, so we all wait either in the gift shop and the inside observation deck (restaurant is closed by now). I make the unhappy discovery that my sunglasses are lost somewhere on the mountain. Should I mount a rescue mission? Yeah, that’s not going to happen. They’re gone for good.
Eventually, the storm clears, the sun comes out and everything is beautiful. We’re looking down on the most amazing rainbow ever – it’s almost a full circle (can’t fit it all in my camera). It's about 20 minutes later when the first tram arrives, and most of us crowd onto the first tram down. While we’re heading down, Stephen and I were standing near the operator and could hear the walkie-talkie. Another storm is coming in, they’re sending up one last tram, and everyone remaining has to get off the mountain. What a day!
When we get back into the Jasper townsite, Main Street is still open. We start hitting the souvenir shops (because I insist). It’s after 9 p.m. I have no idea what time everything closes, but I guess they need to maximize their profits during tourist season, and besides, it stays light out until almost 11 p.m. I bought myself a warm Jasper jacket (cause I’m still a bit chilled from the rain).
Then back to Bear Hill Lodge, where we fire up the stove to cook our frozen pizzas. Our deluxe little room also has a TV, which Stephen discovers has “lots” of channels. Yes, we came to Jasper to watch Discovery Channel.
We made good time on the drive to Banff, and since we were heading on to Jasper, we got to bypass the long lineup of campers waiting to get into the park. Haha! When we got to Lake Louise, we decided to drive up to the lake. That meant we had to finally buy a park permit, but we needed one for Jasper anyway, and it was quicker than waiting in the Banff lineup. About $19 for a day pass which would expire tomorrow at 4 p.m., good for Banff and Jasper.
Lots and lots of people at Lake Louise, and all of us circling around, looking for the rare and elusive parking spot. I circled twice, saw someone pulling out, and zoomed in. Haha! Lake Louise is quite lovely with the snow-covered mountains in the background and beautiful blue water. Bet you it costs a fortune to stay in the Chateau Lake Louise. Doesn’t matter – we’re not staying. We took a few photos, then headed off towards Highway 93 to Jasper.
You need to have a park pass to travel on the Icefields Parkway (Highway 93), and there’s no commercial trucking allowed – tour buses excepted, of course. But no big rigs. And speed zones range from 90 kph, down to 70 at times.
It’s 233 km from Lake Louise to Jasper. In your brain, you calculate this to be about 2.5 to maybe 3 hours of driving. The truth is, that everything is so fricking postcard perfect beautiful that you find yourself stopping every five minutes to take a picture. No sooner have you got back on the road again, and there’s another roadside turnout, or a sign pointing you to another scenic lookout. Some of them just beside the road, and some after a little hike. And they’re all SO STINKING BEAUTIFUL. So, you’re having fun and think you’re making good time, and then you realize that you’ve barely crawled up 1/5th of the distance listed on the map. Huh. Wonder if we’re going to get to Jasper before dark.
We get to the Columbia Icefield at 4:45 p.m. (and the last tour of the day left at 4:00 p.m.). Oh well, we pick up a brochure and decide we’ll hit it on the way back.
On the way into Jasper, you can tell when there are animals at the side of the road by the sudden traffic jam. There’ll be a line of cars suddenly parked, and some really dumbass tourists leaping out with their cameras to get a closer picture of the elk or the bear or whatever it is. Hey, dimwit, you’re not supposed to get out of your car!
It was about 6:30 p.m. by the time we got to Jasper. Our first order of business was to find a place to stay. We passed some cute little cottages on the way in – yes, Vacancy – but we wanted to find a place in the townsite if possible. Driving on, there was the usual boring hotel-looking-hotels. Yawn. We turned towards a building that looked lodgey, but it was someone’s house. (But you’d be surprised at the number of houses that are bed & breakfasts.) We drove down another street or two, found another “meh” hotel, and then right behind it was the Bear Hill Lodge. What adorable little cabins! The main building listed Cabins, Chalet, and Bed & Breakfast. And yes, Vacancy!
We went in and asked to check out the cabins, but the only one available had only one bed and a tiny couch (too small to sleep on, and I’m not inclined to share). We hemmed and hawed, with me saying I wanted a cabin, and Stephen willing to settle for the bed & breakfast. The clerk said that there was a chalet available with double beds and a couch, kitchenette and a deck. How much? “$225,” he says, “but I could—” “Okay,” says Stephen, hauling out his wallet. I can’t let it go: “Wait! You said ‘$225, but I could…’” “But I could let you have it for $200,” the clerk says, sad to see his full fare slip away, but probably happy he hadn’t come out and said $150, like I’m sure he’d been planning to before somebody jumped the gun and yelled “we’ll take it!”
The chalet room is set up like a one room cabin (plus bathroom). Wood paneled walls, a fireplace, and big patio doors leading to our own private deck. We had to get groceries, so we found the local grocery store and bought one night’s worth of sustenance at park-inflated prices. (Who knew we’d have a kitchenette?) The food turns out to be Delissio pizza, cartons of pop, Smokey BBQ chips and two chocolate bars. Mmm, rustic nutrition!
We’re in a hurry to do something in Jasper before everything shuts down, so after unloading the food (without eating), we immediately head out to the Jasper tram.
When I hear tram, I think “train”, but it’s actually a big cable car that goes up Mount Whistler. You’re supposed to bring a jacket because it can get cold up on top of the mountain. Crap. I left my jacket at the Lodge. Oh well. It’s $25 for a “flight” up, and we’re at the top of the mountain by 7:30 p.m. At the upper terminal, there’s a boardwalk outside, a gift shop (of course!), and a restaurant. The guide tells us we can hike to the top of the mountain, which usually takes about 45 minutes, but the last tram down leaves at 8:30, so we have to be back by then.
It’s a 1.5 km hike to the top of the mountain. Mindful of the time, we set off at a really brisk pace. Holy crap, it’s really steep. All of a sudden, I see the need for proper hiking boots with ankle supports. Stomp stomp stomp – keep going. Stephen has foolishly left his asthma puffer in Calgary, and everything I look back, he’s doubled over and wheezing. Why is it so steep? Why is it so far? So hard to keep climbing. I obviously haven't been going to the gym enough.
Everyone else is coming down off the mountain – one of the guys tells us that a thunderstorm is coming in. Yeah, it sure is, I say, listen to that thunder, and keep climbing. He was probably advising us to go back, but we are determined.
Yay! We’re at the peak at last! Whew. What a refreshing cold wind. Hey, wait, is that a slightly higher hill over there? Are we supposed to go over there? No, I don’t think so. Look at the rainclouds. Wow. The view was amazing. We have many pictures.
Stephen takes out his cell phone, and notes that he has a signal! We call Mom from the mountain (but she doesn’t answer, since she probably doesn’t recognize the phone number), and so we leave a message about how we’re on the mountain, but we have to go now, cause a storm is coming. Bye!
We start back down the mountain, with some urgency, stopping only to climb on rocks and take some good pictures (okay, so not urgently enough). It starts raining, so we start running down the mountain. Whee! Don’t loose your footing or it’ll be WHEE-AARGH! This is a really good workout.
We run onto the terminal promenade, where two people have been watching us run down the mountain, and congratulate us on our survival. We go inside, look at the gift shop for no more than two minutes or so, and by that time, the storm hits and there's a full rain and ice windstorm outside. Because I am stupid, I go outside again to take a picture. It’s amazingly windy – and the ice-rain is needle-sharp. (Good picture, though.)
All the trams have been stopped for now, because they can’t travel in this weather, so we all wait either in the gift shop and the inside observation deck (restaurant is closed by now). I make the unhappy discovery that my sunglasses are lost somewhere on the mountain. Should I mount a rescue mission? Yeah, that’s not going to happen. They’re gone for good.
Eventually, the storm clears, the sun comes out and everything is beautiful. We’re looking down on the most amazing rainbow ever – it’s almost a full circle (can’t fit it all in my camera). It's about 20 minutes later when the first tram arrives, and most of us crowd onto the first tram down. While we’re heading down, Stephen and I were standing near the operator and could hear the walkie-talkie. Another storm is coming in, they’re sending up one last tram, and everyone remaining has to get off the mountain. What a day!
When we get back into the Jasper townsite, Main Street is still open. We start hitting the souvenir shops (because I insist). It’s after 9 p.m. I have no idea what time everything closes, but I guess they need to maximize their profits during tourist season, and besides, it stays light out until almost 11 p.m. I bought myself a warm Jasper jacket (cause I’m still a bit chilled from the rain).
Then back to Bear Hill Lodge, where we fire up the stove to cook our frozen pizzas. Our deluxe little room also has a TV, which Stephen discovers has “lots” of channels. Yes, we came to Jasper to watch Discovery Channel.
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