Icefields Parkway, Jasper

Marlies WobbenCanada12 Comments

Β» photo albums 2006/CANADA

Finally a new update! We’ve seen so much that we have been too busy to catch up with the diary and sorting out pics πŸ˜‰
First a few reactions to the reactions:

@Mike: we were at Melissa’s the last time, great place! But this time we got fed such a wonderful hot breakfast at the B&B that we haven’t been there.

@Tontje: we’ll drive through Moose Jaw when we get back to Calgary, but I don’t know if we’ll have time for such a tour. We’ll keep it in mind!

@Henri, Sandy & Mattias: (belated) HAPPY BIRTHDAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!

@Casper: have a great vacation in Chili!! I feel so sorry for you that you have to do that… heh heh

@Rik & Syl: my heart rate was OK, he was far away. Could see him very well through the zoom of the video camera πŸ™‚ Nico was affected by it more, but he’s OK again, he says πŸ˜‰

@Agnes & Colinda: I heard from others that they’ve seen a bear in that spot (whether or not that was the same bear, it must be a yummy grainy spot there en very visible with the open field in front of it. Oh and that interview in Regina is the 19th.

Here we go with the diary:

Wednesday, October 11th

We finally slept through the night and I feel a lot better today. We took it slow today (tomorrow we have a gorgeous, but fairly long drive to Jasper), just walked through Banff in the beautiful chilly-but-sunny weather. We made some pics at the B&B (in and outside of the house and with the manager, Denise), walked towards the Bow River and did the Fenland Loop Trail near the Vermillion Lakes. Close to 4 we went to Canmore to visit Anneke and Gerard (and family) – we had a great time and a delicious meal, chatted about emigration of course and listened to all their enthusiastic stories. Thanks for the hospitality and good times guys! You are an inspiration πŸ™‚

Thursday, October 12th

With a heavy heart we had our last breakfast at the Rocky Mountain B&B and said goodbye to Denise. I will miss that place!! I also took a few pics of a deer that was just walking by the house when we left at 10am.

We took the Highway 1 to Lake Louise this time (instead of the more scenic 1a, the Bow Valley Parkway), and took the 93 from there, the famous Icefields Parkway to Jasper. This is called the most beautiful panorama road in the world. Now I haven’t been all over the world, but this road certainly is impressive. Lots of different landscapes between the mountain ranges, from forest, to meadows or stony parts in the higher regions. We made some stops (Bow Lake, Saskatchewan Crossing, Big Bend – yes Margret, we found your “hidden” falls near the parking lot! – Tangle Falls, Athabasca Valley viewpoint) and did a few short hikes to viewpoints (Peyto Lake, Mistaya Canyon) along the way. We skipped the falls close to Jasper, for we can do those in the upcoming days. We were scanning the woods and meadows for wildlife all the time, and once we saw a coyote walking on the opposite site of the road.Β He was so close, what a beautiful animal! Even though I had the photo- and video camera on my lap the whole time, it disappeared too quickly πŸ™

It was already 5.45pm when we finally arrived in Jasper, wow! Even with the stops I didn’t think we’d need almost 7 hours for the almost 300 km. We settled into the nice basement apartment (but with a big window and a bit of mountain view πŸ™‚ ) and walked to the centre of the town (about 10 minutes) to have some dinner. We ended up at the L&W restaurant for some chicken & ribs, and it was OK, but hey, no Tony Roma’s of course. We were tired from the trip and crashed around 10pm already!

Friday, October 13th

The mountain air makes you sleepy I guess, we slept until close to 8am! When it comes to meals, we’re on our own here in Jasper and we really missed Denise’s breakfasts. After a while we went out to do the laundry at Coin Clean Laundry where we could also grab something to eat (just banana bread, scones etc. though), drink (latte) and use the internet. I didn’t post on the weblog, because I hadn’t had a chance to write all this down yet. It was again a beautiful day (most of the time we could walk around in our t-shirts), but the weather will probably change over the weekend. The Jasper Tramway up the Whistler Mountain unfortunately closed last weekend, instead we drove to the Marmot Basin for a few views (wasn’t too much, maybe we should’ve continued on the gravel road) and up the Mt. Edith Cavell over a long, winding road and hiked to the pond below the Angel Glacier. What a beautiful spot!!! It was already too cold (the pond was frozen and there were some icy patches on the path) to see and hear pieces of the glacier fall off.

Back in Jasper we went to eat in the very nearby Mount Robson Restaurant, which we liked a lot. Nothing too fancy, but we liked the atmosphere and the food (esp. for Erik: we had the special of the day with salad or soup for starters, a very big chunk of salmon filet, mixed vegetables and fries and ice cream for dessert πŸ™‚ ) I also had that great Big Rock Traditional Ale again that I also had at the first B&B, love that dark beer! We went back to our “home” and finally find time to chill, watch TV, write all this and organize the pics. Unfortunately we don’t have access to some unprotected network here, bummer! πŸ˜‰

Saturday, October 14th

This morning we had some breakfast (eggs and stuff) at the Black Sheep Cafe and visited a wildlife fair in front of the Jasper Information Centre. We then drove to Patricia Lake and Pyramid Lake, two very peaceful lakes just north of Jasper. On our way up we finally saw the elk herd! They were lying between the trees just outside of town. At the Patricia Lake pullout we met Graham Flint of the gigapxl project, who made pics with a 4000 megapixel camera :O Nico’s jaw dropped when Graham started to set up his stuff on the top of his four wheel drive, so he went over to talk to him and asked him some stuff with a big smile on his face πŸ˜‰ Then we continued to Pyramid Lake where several water sports are possible and a bit further through there is a bridge to Pyramid Island with some great views.

Tomorrow is Nico’s birthday, but I guess it’ll depend on the weather what we’re going to do. Forecasts say we might get some rain, it got a bit more overcast and colder (or should I say less warm) today. It will be our last day in the Rockies, Monday we’ll proceed to Edmonton.

Previous Post
Next Post

12 Comments on “Icefields Parkway, Jasper”

  1. !!! PROFICIAT NICO !!!
    He lieve Nico daar ver ver weg > we sturen je dikke verjaardags zoenen!
    we genieten enorm van jullie reis verslagen en nog meer van de foto’s: wat ‘n plaatjes zeg! indrukwekkend mooi.
    Geniet van je verjaardagdag en tot gauwwes mails.
    groetjes van jullie over buurtjes

  2. BBL: alles Gute zum Geburtstag!! Treffe mich heute mit Paddy und Conny beim Eishockey, wir trinken bestimmt einen auf Dich!! Und Gruß an die Chefin!

  3. Nico!! Gefeliciteerd. En jullie beiden bedankt voor de verjaadags felicitatie. Jullie zijn een stel schatten!

    Maak er vandaag een geweldige dag van! In gedachten vier ik een verjaardags feestje met jullie.

    Henri

  4. Nico van harte proficiat met je 46e verjaardag, ook voor Marlies. Verder veel plezier. We hebben genoten van de mooie foto’s. Tot volgende reactie. Groeten en kusjes van ons, Pa en Amalia.

  5. Sounds like you two are having lots of fun! I can’t wait until you come to regina so I can finally meet you two in REAL LIFE!!! *hugs*

  6. Sounds like you two are having lots of fun! I can’t wait until you come to regina so I can finally meet you two in REAL LIFE!!! *hugs*

  7. Hee Nico, Gefeliciteerd met je verjaardag. Gave foto’s!!! Wie is trouwens die naakte man in de verte op de foto ‘The meltw’…!!! Veel plezier nog, tot gauw!

  8. Nico….. gefeliciteerd met je verjaardag.
    Wat hebben jullie weer een mooie foto’s geplaatst.
    Leuk ook zo met z’n tweetjes bij Peyto Lake.
    Dat vonden wij trouwens ook een van de mooiste meren die we gezien hebben. Zo mooi blauw. Super!
    En dan die basement appartement, wat ziet dat er leuk uit joh.
    Jullie hebben het echt super daar.
    Geniet er nog veel meer van en we horen het wel weer.
    Nog een fijne verjaardag.
    Liefs van Agnes en Colinda

  9. A bold mighty birthday greeting to Nico, the “eye” of the univer.. camera lens Keep on enjoying the time in .ca and may the mighty elks guide you the way to the most adorable places! Greets to Marliesje as well! Ciao, uni

  10. Heee luitjes.
    Nico, allereerst gefeliciteerd. Natuurlijk gewelding om je verjaardag in zo’n fantastiche omgeving te vieren. Wat een bergen, wat een luchten – mooi he zo’n polar filter -.
    We volgen jullie reis op de voet en we kijken uit naar de foto’s…..
    Gr Rita, Ton, Martijn en Sander.

  11. Van Harte, allebei natuurlijk! Iedereen felicieerd alleen maar Nico….Fijn dat alles klopt en dat het allemaal erg vermoeiend is is natuurlijk niet zo gek. Naast de fysieke arbeid van rijden en wandelen is er de niet te onderschatten emotionele arbeid. Teveel indrukken in te weinig tijd. Zo te lezen zijn jullie van plan daar wat aan te gaan doen door te emigreren…spannend hoor!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.