June 13-17 June
Jasper
We had been keeping an eye on the weather forecast for Jasper and Banff for almost a month, anxious that our expectations for good weather might be misplaced. Arriving in Jasper, we were to learn that they had experienced an early summer heat wave and the weather was going to turn.
Looking at the skies as we arrived at our lodgings for the night, we could see from the clouds that this looked the case. It was hot and humid, but not for long. It started to drizzle late afternoon and then to pour during the night, continuing until we left.
Jasper is a small place with a population of less than 5,000, catering to outdoor enthusiasts, winter and summer. The centre of the village is clustered around the railway station, which is busy nearly all day with huge cargo trains shunting back and forth, creating metal screeching noise that permeates through the streets.
After an unsatisfactory visit to Starbucks, right next to our motel, where there was no wifi and the glum barista needed 3 attempts to get Peter’s Americano right, we set off to explore Jasper.
We had a 15 minute schlepp into town, which mainly consisted of mountain shops and eateries and a visitor’s centre for Jasper National Park. There was a queue there, so we gave it a miss, an error we later discovered. We spent a happy hour looking for somewhere for dinner, that could cater for Lynne’s garlic allergy- a bit of a challenge! Finally we booked a table at the Bistro Raven, where the chef promised they could cook something more inspiring than grilled chicken and salad (without vinaigrette)!
Although there is a shuttle bus in Jasper, it was apparent that visiting the Rockies independently requires a car, which we had arranged for the following morning. Even the mountain cable car was 7km outside the village. We reckoned the visibility wouldn’t be good enough for a visit.
Raven Bistro turned out to be just as good as promised. It was busy, with a mostly young clientele. We were promptly looked after by a young lady, who was a delight, regaling us with nice stories and useful information about Jasper and the route down to Banff. The kitchen more than matched up to its promises, with an inventive starter and, for Peter, a ‘pulled Elk tagliatelle’ dish.
We had arranged to pick our hire car up at 11am to allow ourselves time for a run beforehand, if we felt like it. Ha! We woke to 6 degrees C and torrential rain. We even had to double back to Starbucks for breakfast as it was really too wet to go into town twice!
We then headed off in the pouring rain to pick up the car at the train station. Lynne came half way to visit one of the mountain gear shops where she got new footbeds (inner soles) for her trekking shoes- thinner, expensive but transformational. Peter picked up the rental car, to be told that he had a free upgrade – even more functions to confuse and get accustomed to!
The Icefields Parkway
We set off to drive the Icefields Parkway (Route de Glaciers) to our next motel at the River Crossing Resort at Saskatchewan River Crossing, 153km away.
Our first unexpected discovery was that we needed to buy a Canada Parks Pass, even to drive the road, including for our previous night’s stay in Jasper! This all the while that Lynne was trying to search the car manual, to establish what the various warning lights meant and how to activate the parking brake.
The weather was foul and we couldn’t even make out the apparently spectacular views of the snow-capped mountains, glaciers and lakes.
The Icefields Parkway stretches 233km from Jasper to Lake Louise. There are many places to stop for camping or hiking, virtually no accommodation, cafés or shops. We were totally unprepared, with little emergency provisions with us.
Our SIM card needed topping up, but this was proving problematic. On-line top-up required a US or Canadian debit card; our London-based US friends tried to help, but couldn’t access the portal from a UK server. Too bad, we’ll have to make an in-person top-up when we arrive back in Vancouver. The only saving grace is that there is very little mobile reception in the Rockies anyway. We have free wifi in the bar, here at River Crossing, but only from 4pm until closing time!
Our first stop was at the Sunwapta falls, where we enjoyed coffee, shared a brownie and settled by the roaring fire, to utilise the wifi.
There was a trail at Sunwapta falls and recognising the Swedish adage: “Dåligt väder finns inte – bara dåligt klädda människor…” that “there is no such thing as bad weather, only badly dressed people”, we decided to do it. It was glorious to see the power of the water at the top and bottom falls, despite the rain. There was a plaque to commemorate the early passing of a teenager and we took note:
“Live life to the fullest – for we are here but a little while “
We pressed on, after the bracing and enjoyable 2.6km trail, stopping only at the Columbia Icefield to see yet another retreating glacier. It was reminiscent of our equally wet and misty visit to the Josef Franz glacier in New Zealand. We were not, in the least bit, tempted to explore it further. It was already 5pm and only 2 degrees C.
The road after the Icefield was steep with probably spectacular scenery in better weather. “How do you shift into low gear on a new technology automatic car in North America?”, was more pressing.
The Crossing is a rather grand name for a motel, pub, restaurant, café, general store and petrol station. It is in a rather glorious position, serving the various trails from May to October. The heating was on in our room and we had the luxury of a bath tub to soak in.
Dinner was a bit of a sad affair in the restaurant, with our young waiter spilling a whole glass of wine over the table, as well as over Peter. Subsequent evenings we went to the on-site pub, which was much more convivial, and had grand plates of nachos with a side order of working internet.
We picked up various maps and guides to plan the next days’ adventures and used the wifi before it was cut off at closing time.
Appropriate clothing indeed! Shame about the weather because it’s a wonderful, spectacular part of the world when you can see the views!