June 9, 2019
Time to start heading east, but wait, we are still heading west and north! We departed Crimson Lake campground by 10:00 and we were looking forward to the drive into the Jasper National Park. Highway #11 is a real treat. As we left Rocky Mountain House, the mountains began to reappear around each curve. We had never seen the Rockies from this perspective and again, they became spectacular. West of Nordegg, Abraham Lake, welcomes you into the Jasper National Park and the promise of more scenery that takes your breath away. At one point, we stopped to watch two young grizzly bears foraging on the side of the road. We were the only vehicle to sit there and watch.
Once we started north again on Highway 93, we started to encounter the tourist traffic. When we pulled into the Columbia Icefield parking lot it was wall to wall with rental Rvs and tour buses!! As expected, the Icefields had melted considerably since our last visit and we decided that we would continue to Jasper as it was getting late in the day.
At a viewpoint just beyond the ice fields we stopped to take some photos and we met Jerry and his wife from Nova Scotia. They are vacationing in B.C and visiting family in Alberta. They own a Boler trailer and Jerry was excited to see the Armadillo as he had just visited the plant in Enderby a few days earlier. Jerry invited us to drop in and see them in Nova Scotia when we get there, and we exchanged our information. Jerry said he would follow our blog. (He contacted us through the blog several days later.)
The most shocking sight was the huge area of the forest all around Jasper and the mountains, which have been affected by the mountain pine beetle. The pines are a reddish brown color and it goes on for miles and miles. I wonder how the forests will look in a few more years when the needles fall and the trees become bare. The tourist brochures appear to be optimistic on the recovery of the forests, however, that recovery will take beyond my lifetime.
We arrived into the bustling town of Jasper. We fueled the truck and noticed that the price of fuel had jumped twenty cents between Rocky Mountain House and Jasper. It was a foreshadowing of the prices to come in Jasper.
The largest campground in and near Jasper, the Whistlers, is closed for the year as it is undergoing a major infrastructure renovation. The result is that campsites are at a premium and difficult to secure. We were fortunate that we had reserved earlier. We noted, that speaking to some of the locals in Jasper that this closure is affecting businesses throughout the community.
The Pocahontas campground, that we had reserved, is 38 kms east of Jasper so after picking up some groceries we pushed on to our campsite.
We had decided that after supper we would go for a splash in the Miete Mineral Hot Springs pool. The Hot Springs are about 15 kms past the campground. The temperature was dropping again as we arrived at the Hot Springs so the pool was inviting and we took our time to enjoy it.
On our return trip to the campsite Debbie spotted some bears on the side of the road. We were so excited as it was a mother bear with four cubs, two black and two brown!! (We later mentioned that to a Park Warden and he told us that it was a real rarity for a bear to have four cubs.)
We recounted the wildlife that we had seen so far; we had seen 2 grizzly bears on Hwy #11, 5 bears on Hwy#93, 5 mountain goats and 1 elk. We also noticed the hazards associated with the folks stopping on the side of the road to see these animals. The road was often narrowed to one lane with people scampering across, cellphones pointed ahead of them, oblivious to the traffic or the hazards of approaching the bears. That discussion topped off our day as we sat around the fire enjoyed a glass of wine and then went to bed.
Quilting in a Kayak 