Jasper and Surrounds

16^thSeptember 2019

After a peep out the window early this morning, things were looking promising. No rain, still an overcast sky, but it looks promising for a better day than yesterday at the Columbia Icefields.

We left the hotel at 8 am, giving ourselves plenty of time to arrive at the Icefields Centre before 10 am, to start our Columbia Icefields Experience, that we had booked on the way through yesterday in less than ideal weather.

Only around 500m from our hotel, cars are pulled over at the side of the road taking photos of Elks feeding in the roadside meadows.

Until we started climbing into the alpine area, conditions were pleasant, 7 C, no rain but cloudy. As soon as we got higher though, the rain started. We are starting to doubt whether we made a good decision to drive all of the way back to do this. Anyway, we are almost there, so lets see what eventuates.

It is still pretty miserable when we park, and enter the centre. Our tour leaves on about 30 minutes, so we head up to the restaurant to get some breakfast. Sadly, they do not serve breakfast, so we grab a muesli bar and a cup of coffee and join the line for our tour.

Remarkably, the rain appears to have stopped. A bus takes us only a short distance to the transfer point where you climb aboard large purpose build 4WD buses which take you up onto the surface of the Athabasca Glacier.

The cameras are working overtime as there is amazing scenery everywhere.

Specially built 4WD buses take us on to the glacier

Standing on the 250m deep ice 

The Columbia Icefields occupy an area of 60 square miles and feeds 6 glaciers of which the Athabasca is one. At the point we are standing on the glacier the ice is 250m deep.

An isolated glacier (no longer connected to the icefields) overhanging the valley

Staking a claim for Australia

Weep holes in the face of the glacier

It is an interesting short journey in an amazing piece of machinery. The commentary is very informative, and we have 30 minutes free time on the glacier to walk around and take it all in. The weather is co-operating so there is no rain, no wind and a warm 5 C.

The amazing ability of these vehicles

The same vehicle returns us to the transfer point, climbing a grade of 38 degrees, an amazing machine. Once back at the base we get on another bus to do the Skywalk. It is another bus trip up to a walkway that is suspended out over the river valley. Roadworks delay the  transfer by about 15 minutes as they are going through a process they call descaleing. This involves removing all of the loose roacks from the cliffs above the roadway. Apparently this road was known as the shooting gallery, as it was not uncommon for rocks of up to 190 tons break loose and come hurtling down the escarpment at motorists reaching speeds of 300 km/hr. Obviously cars did not respond well to this.

After eventually arriving at the skywalk, the rain has started to return, and a quick walk along the walkway suspended off the cliff face hanging over the valley, we were back in the bus and keen to get back to our car for a potentially long drive back to Jasper if we get caught in the roadwork lineup again.

Scenes from the Skywalk

Fortunately, by the time we are back on the road, the one way traffic is heading in our direction. The weather is not great, so we decide to head straight back to Jasper. The whole icefields experience took 3 hrs, a lot more comprehensive than we expected.

The only thing we would like to see on the way back to Jasper is the Athabasca Falls. We divert to check them out, and it was a good decision. Whilst there are so many waterfalls, glaciers, canyons on this road, this one is well worth a visit.

Athabasca Falls

Pothole at the bottom of the falls

The canyon at the outlet of the falls

Onward to Jasper, we are back in town by 2.30pm. We walk around the town, and really it is just another alpine village that must boom in winter and survives on sight seeing tourists , like us in the off season.

Nice Railway Station

The attraction that appeals to us is actually 40 km out of town, Maligne Lake. It is purported to be very scenic, runs boat cruises of the lake, and seeing wildlife along the road is a real possibility.

Cars parked on the side of the road, and people running around franticly with cameras, is a sure sign there is some wildlife somewhere nearby. We pulled over at once such point to see a moose casually standing in a lake having its afternoon snack.

It was a fair drive to get to Lake Maligne, passing another quite scenic lake, Lake Medicine on the way. Once arriving there, it is not hard to see why it is so popular. Lovely vistas, cruise boats running around the lake, picnic spots everywhere and a very modern café on the waterfront.

The Lakehouse Cafe

On the way back to Jasper, the wildlife scene looks like it is on again. The road is almost blocked by urgently parked cars and motor homes this time chasing the opportunity to photograph a black bear wandering along the roadside. Somehow we managed to sneak a shot, but it was chaotic.

Finally back at our hotel room by 6pm, it is time to get ready for dinner. Tonight we are going to a very nice local restaurant that comes highly recommended (thanks Peter Mac). Our friends the Wesslinks dined there a few nights ago and gave it a big tick, so we are really looking forward to having a nice dinner.

We were not disappointed. This restaurant, Syrah’s of Jasper, was a great dining experience, offering the opportunity to taste a bit of local wildlife as well. The Elk rib I had was excellent!

We walked home from the restaurant and saw one if the elk’s relatives wandering through the traffic, oblivious to the fact that he could end up on the menu.