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Day Trips from Jasper National Park

Places to visit from Jasper National Park

Last year, we were lucky enough to spend some time in Jasper National Park.

Waking up early one morning, we heard hushed voices right outside the cabin. Peaking out, a herd of elk were lazily wandering down the embankment. We must have watched silently with about ten other travellers as they made their way from the river to the thick tree coverage.

What a beautiful way to start the morning!

Although we weren’t in Jasper for long, we did get chance to take a couple of day trips. These are our ‘don’t miss’ suggestions:

Athabasca Falls

A furious waterfall on the upper Athabasca River, this was a great way to spend a morning. It was only around a half hour drive from our base in Jasper and was fairly easy to find. The force of the water is incredible, as is the noise as it crashes down into the gorge below. Over the years, the water has channelled a way through the softer cliff walls, creating a twisting, turning chasm.

The viewing areas for the waterfall are well thought out, jutting out at a variety of places across the water. Athabasca Falls is located just off highway 93A, making it a great little stop if you are visiting the Athabasca Glacier or driving down the Icefield Parkway.

Jasper Town Centre

If you are heading through Jasper, you can’t miss a trip to the town centre. Set out on a long stretch of road, multiple little shops await, full of the usual souvenirs and bear spray. This is not why you should visit the town centre. I have a bit of a pet hate of natural parks and remote places adding lots of shops (I’m looking at you Banff). I can completely understand the need for a couple of little stores, stocked with essentials and set up to blend in with the surrounding area – however national parks don’t need shopping complexes in my opinion. Anyway, with that in mind: go to Jasper town centre, find the shops and then turn your back on them. Look in exactly the opposite direction and you will be greeted by an incredible view of the Rockies.

I’m not sure if it was the contrast of the mountains against the shops and cars, but this was truly an amazing view. It looked just like a cardboard cut out of a storybook skyline and it was breathtaking.

Athabasca Glacier

This was a slightly longer drive from where we were staying (about two hours). Try to keep your eyes peeled on the drive down the Icefield Parkway as early morning trips are likely to reveal lots of wildlife spotting opportunities.

The weather change from Jasper town centre to the glacier is huge – we started in shorts and ended up wrapped up in layers and winter coats! You can read all about our Glacier Trip here.

Maligne Lake

This was the underdog of the day trips from Jasper. I didn’t know much about the lake and we’d not really done much research about the visit, deciding our destination on the spur-of-the-moment.

If you plan to visit the lake, it’s worth trying to have as long there as you can – you won’t want to leave! What a setting this place is! Emerald waters stretch away from the sandy shore, framed by the glacial mountains in the distance, it’s clear why this location is one of the most photographed in the Rockies.

One of the main attractions is Spirit Island – reachable by one of the many over-priced boat rides on the lake. The Stoney Nakoda First Nation believe that the Island is a spiritual place, particularly as it is overlooked by three of the glacial mountains, which they believe to be their ancestors. As you can’t actually set foot on Spirit Island, we chose to do a walk around the lake instead.

A trail follows the outline of the lake, giving glimpses of the mountain range through the tree line.

I found Jasper to be far prettier and much more relaxed (and cheaper!) than it’s much-discussed Banff neighbour. Lots of other travellers told us to spend longer in Banff than Jasper, but I’m going to be rebellious and suggest that longer in Jasper would have been better. This might have been something to do with our little log cabin stay at Jasper House Bungalows which, although fairly expensive, were in a gorgeous setting, looking out over the Athabasca River.

We had some incredible sunsets here too, it was such a tranquil setting.

An Unexpected Favourite: Whistler, Canada

A quick stop in summer-time Whistler

Before we went on our most recent trip to Canada, many people told us that Whistler wasn’t as popular or beautiful as Banff and therefore we probably shouldn’t spend as long there, if we visited it at all. Seeing as we haven’t been before, we decided to build in a day’s stay at the little ski resort on our way through to our next big stop.

The journey from Vancouver was stunning, at every curve of the road there was something to see. Deep blue lakes with imposing mountings rising upwards to transform into snow-dusted peaks. If this was scenery that people thought we could miss, then they were missing the point!

Arriving at Whistler was a really nice surprise – the little complex is really well built, hiding amongst the scenery without impacting on the surrounding landscape. We were staying at Pan Pacific Whistler Mountain which was absolutely stunning – all wooden panelling and log fires!

The immediate area around the hotel was paved to create a meandering, circular complex, full of restaurants and shops. Although it was quite commercial (it’s going to be, the whole place is designed as a ski resort), it managed to be so well designed that you almost didn’t mind. A stream cut through the centre of the stone walkway, which broke up the run of shops and ensured that the natural draw of the mountain wasn’t forgotten.

We went in the summer, so there was no skiing on the mountain, however, that didn’t mean that it was quiet. In fact, the place was bustling, with biking and dirt trails replacing the snow and ski boots.

As we were only there for a short stay (just the one night), we went in search of a short trundle to see what Whistler had to offer. It was quite late in the afternoon and so we chose to head off down towards Lost Lake, a stunning lake in the middle of Lost Lake Park and only a short walk from the hotel.

Within minutes of leaving the village complex, the trees closed in, hugging the edge of the woodland trail. It was a beautiful walk, initially requiring us to cross over a roaring stream which was captivating to watch. We made sure to create noise and check our surroundings frequently as we were the only ones on the path and we didn’t want to unintentionally creep up on an unsuspecting bear! Being bitten alive by all of the mosquitoes helped to keep us shouting!

The lake itself was beautiful. The surrounding mountains created an imposing backdrop to the calm waters. What we hadn’t expected was the beach and grassy areas surrounding the lake. As it was summer, there were people playing ball games and chilling out on the sand. Its easy to imagine a very different picture in the winter when the lake freezes over and the beach is covered in snow! It would be nice to see it in winter to compare our experiences.

Leaving Vancouver, the people we shared our route with told us to expect places to get more commercial and expensive, the closer we got to Whistler, Jasper and Banff. This felt like almost counter-intuitive advice, given that we were heading away from the big cities and towards mountains and national parks. It did hold to be true, however, which was somewhat disappointing – we like our mountains and lakes to stay rural, not to be encompassed by a shopping street! That being said, Whistler integrated the shopping areas and natural beauty well. The design of the village was well thought out to ensure that the sight of the mountains towering across the skyline wasn’t lost.

Although we loved Whistler, it was still easily one of the most expensive places that we stayed on our trip. This was partly because we’d left it fairly late to book accommodation, but also because Whistler is a fairly expensive place generally. Obviously, if you are heading there in the winter to ski, some of the cost is unavoidable. If you aren’t bothered about skiing, consider visiting in the summer instead. Although it’s not classed as ‘off peak’, there are some better deals on hotels and with a great number of trails to explore, there are lots of cheap (or free!) things to do!

Did you find Whistler expensive or cheap? What are your tips for easing the costs when staying at this location? Tell us in the comments.

Happiness Only Real When Shared: Reflections From The Top of Sulphur Mountain, Banff.

We look back at our favourite image from 2017

As we hurtle towards the end of the year, we thought that we would look back on the year until now. 2017 saw the launch of this blog and it’s great to have been able to share some of our adventures with you!

Helpfully, the daily post’s photo challenge this week was on the topic of favourite photos from this year. With this in mind, me and Wandering Beeb went digging through our photos to see what we would class as our favourites.

Some of the stand out ones from this year were our ‘walking the glacier‘ set – just because the experience was so surreal and so different to our usual trips.

The photos on Sulphur Mountain in Banff grabbed us and made sense for us to share on this theme, although probably not for the reasons you would think!

Sulphur Mountain was impressive, with stunning views on a near 360 degree viewing platform. We were lucky in that the haze from the forest fires had cleared a little, moving the view of the mountains from a fuzzy outline in the distance to 3D relief, affording us some stunning vistas. We made the short trundle from the observation deck to the now defunct Cosmic Ray Station, heading up inclines made manageable for most visitors by structured steps and under-foot decking. So much so that a small child was walking confidently the length of the observation deck, loudly proclaiming ‘Eeek’ to the surrounding mountains, blissfully unconcerned with the breath-taking drop below. Looking back at the photos, the views are clearly stunning, but this wasn’t the reason for singling them out.

One of the best things about travelling is speaking to other people from different cultures, countries and perspectives – even when it’s only briefly. Those snippets of conversation are what add flavour to the otherwise routine trawl through the sightseeing gambit and it was the connections we made on this part of the trip that we were reminded of by these photos.

Whizzing along on the upward gondola trip, we found ourselves sharing the four person gondola with two guys who were catching up on a trip out to Banff. They explained that they had been neighbours 10 years earlier, with one of the pair only being a kid at the time. Learning about two people and their stories in an 8 minute ride up the mountain can only give you a flavour of their history, but we had the sense that they were two really cool guys, enjoying their time catching up. There was an easy-going banter between the two of them which helped to reduce my anxiety at being suspended above the ground by a single cable.

The way down saw us sharing the space with a couple from Sweden who were clearly as freaked out by the height as I was (you can read more about my terrible relationship with gondolas here).

Despite the anxiety, we talked about their trip, starting with Reykjavik, heading on to Quebec and learning about their observations on Toronto (a smaller version of NYC). We shared our views on Vancouver (to which they were heading soon). They took a couple of snaps and asked us about our football preferences back home in the UK (Zatan was a favourite topic of conversation). As soon as people find out we are from Manchester, the first question is always ‘are you a red or a blue?’ By the time the gondola had reached the bottom and we wished each other happy travels, we had shared travel tips, made new acquaintances and had some ideas for our future travels. It’s those memories that have made these photos some of our favourites.

This is our favourite part of travelling and regardless of beautiful scenery and amazing experiences, it’s the people and the connections that makes the journey worthwhile.

Walking the Athabasca Glacier

Was it cold? Yes. Was it worth it? Absolutely.

It’s not every day you get to walk on a Glacier! I’d planned really well for this trip, even bringing thermals because I knew that the glacier would be cold, and I really struggle with the cold! I’d love to say that my preparations left me toasty warm whilst on the glacier……but stupidly I was tricked into a false state of security due to the hot weather when we left Jasper. This meant that my thermals stayed firmly in the cabin whilst I froze!

As we headed out towards the glacier, the temperature dropped steadily and we all counted down the numbers on the dashboard display with a mixture of anticipation and trepidation. The change in landscape was stark – from the green grass and trees of Jasper to the increasingly snow-topped mountains of the Icefields Parkway. The scenery was simply stunning.

Unbelievably, as we pulled into the parking lot for the glacier trip, it actually started to snow! I was first out of the car and it was absolutely freezing! It was hard to believe we had gone through such a temperature change during the drive up! Hoods up and heads down, we ran over to the main visitors centre to try and get warm. The gift shop was full to bursting of other travellers trying to do the same thing and it was chaos! Having not anticipated the number of people visiting the centre, we had quite a wait a while until we actually started our trip out on to the glacier.

What to take when you are walking the glacier:

A book /IPod – it gets busy at the ticket booth for the glacier & getting there early is a must. We arrived at 12.30pm and our ticket time was 4.45pm so there was a lot of waiting around. Alternatively, you can book your slot in advance which is highly recommended.

Bring some food / drink for whilst you are waiting. It will save you lots of money (the restaurant is fairly expensive) and a flask of something hot will warm you up on the ice.

Waterproof coat – it was snowing when we were up on the glacier and my huge waterproof hood came in handy for staying dry and keeping my ears warm. Of course, you might have beautiful sunshine whilst you are up there but it will still be fairly cold!

Base layers – as I mentioned, I left mine in my case as it was sunny when we left Jasper. By the time we hit the glacier, I was freezing and wishing for a good pair of thermals. I was kicking myself for the rest of the day for leaving them back in the cabin.

Gloves – goes without saying, when you get cold, fingers and toes are the first to feel it!

Sturdy boots – walking boots if you have them, paired with thick socks. I had Vibram soles and was still feeling like I could slide over at any point.

Nerves of steel – the Ice Explorer used to transfer you from the road to the glacier takes some fairly steep hills (45 degree angle at some points) and for someone who isn’t keen on edges, it’s pretty scary!

An empty water bottle – so you can drink some of the glacier water – on the day we went, there was a smoky tinge to the water due to a recent forest fire.

Sunglasses – although it can be cold, if the sun is out, your eyes will thank you for some relief from the glare of the snow!

A camera! The views are stunning and you won’t want to miss them!

The only way on to the glacier is via the Ice Explorers, operated by Brewster. These are huge machines and whilst they are designed for all terrain, it was still pretty scary to be moving down to the glacier at 45% angles! Sharp drops, rubble and rising snow drifts rolled past the windows, my stomach lurching each time the Ice Explorer tilted or rocked. The Explorer works on engine braking, rather than using its actual brakes down the steep slopes. The driver (a guy from Wales who seemed like a knowledgable, friendly dude) told us all to buckle up, laughing as we all reached for the non-existent seat belts.

Stepping out on to the ice was amazing. The wind and snow was biting and it was instantly hard to catch my breath. Although the area on the glacier designated for visitors was fairly small and the time spent out on the ice was short, it was absolutely incredible. The sheer size and scale of the mountains, coupled with the intense weather made me realise just how harsh and unforgiving this type of landscape is. Encouraged by the guide, we filled our water bottles with the glacier water, tasting the smoke from a nearby forest fire and wandered around the surface of the glacier, snapping pictures with shaky, cold hands.

The visit to the glacier is topped off with a ‘Skywalk’ experience – a walkway suspended over a 918 foot drop with a glass floor. I’d been on something similar at the Grand Canyon but it didn’t stop the ground spinning dizzily away as we made our loop of the structure. Valleys and canyons below us, we focused on the waterfalls in the distance, being fed by the glacier above.

Although most of the day was spent feeling freezing cold, wet and uncomfortable – not to mention fairly scared (me and heights don’t mix), it was completely worth it. There are few places that truly make us realise how much we are at mercy of the elements. Sure, some people do get to go on expeditions and explore the places we only see in pictures, but Athabasca Glacier is one of those places that allows us mere mortals to feel like we are right there with them, grasping adventure by the scruff of the neck and doing something that truly is a ‘once in a lifetime’ experience.

Have you visited the glacier? Share your experience in the comments!