Jasper National Park

The campsite in Banff, Lake Louise Campground, was very comfortable. It was also a very crowded, large campground. In Jasper we stayed at Wabasso Campground. This out-of-the-way campsite was close to a hike, Edith Cavell Meadows, that was a must-do item according to the Frommer's traveler's guide for Jasper National Park. Our last night at Lake Louise campground left us damp. We arrived at Wabasso to warm sunshine. Fifteen minutes after setting up our campsite, all our tents and towels were dry. We basked in the sunshine. Wabasso campground was on the Athabasca River. It did not have any showers. We asked at the campground entrance station if we could swim in the river. The park employee informed us that we would be swept away if we tried to swim in the river. After seeing the river's currents, we understood why the ranger told us to beware of the river. Here is a picture of the river and our group of happy campers.

The next day we hiked the Edith Cavell Meadows trail. Edith Cavell was a British nurse during WWI. She was told to leave an area due to the heavy fighting. Instead of leaving, she stayed to help nurse the injured on both sides. During this time she helped over 200 people escape German occupied Belgium. She was captured, tried for treason and executed by the Germans. Her death made world wide news. Canada wanted to honor her by naming the tallest mountain in the Athabasca range after her. On the mountain is a glacier called the Angel Glacier. The hike to the meadows opposite the mountain and glacier was beautiful. I could see why Frommer's Guide recommended this hike. The flowers along the path were in full bloom. We saw some marmots and a pica. The main attraction was the mountain, glacier and the pond below the glacier. The pond was full of pieces of ice that had broken off either from the mountain glaciers or from the glacier near the pond.
Note the greenish glacier color in the water. Sandy was posing for this picture. This hike was enjoyed by all (this was not true for some of our hikes).

After the hike and lunch most of the group went to the hot springs east of Jasper. These hot springs fed water into two large pools. You paid for the use of the pools: two small cold and two large hot pools. The pools varied in temperature, the cold pools were several degrees different from each other. The same was true for the hot pools. The setup of the hot springs was efficient. You could rent a swimming suit and/or towel if you needed one. The pools were large enough to hold a lot of people. Visitors here spoke a wide range of languages; we spent some time trying to place the languages being spoken. After our hike, these hot and cold pools were a treat for our muscles.

Our favorite place in Jasper was the laundromat. This laundromat offered laundry services, internet connections, a place to recharge appliances, a shower, coffee and sweet treats. It was a wonderful place to visit. There were games to occupy patrons who were not using the internet.

At the campsite, we had a fire every night. Anna was an expert marshmallow roaster. She offered us perfectly roasted marshmallows. We would sit around the picnic table and play cards until bed time. There were no star gazing nights as the night skies were cloudy.


Dinners were at restaurants in Jasper. There were no memorable meals until the day when most of the party left. Anna, Rahul, Shreyas and Todd were heading back to Calgary to catch flights back home. On our last day together we wanted to go for one more hike. The continual drizzle of rain put a damper on that plan. Instead we drove to Pyramid Lake for sightseeing and lunch. This was a spontaneous plan. We were fortunate to find a beautiful wood lodge that offered lunch. It was an excellent meal. It was sad to see our friends depart for home.




Later that afternoon, the rains stopped. Bill, Sandy and I wanted to see some more sites. We went to Athabasca Falls. As usual, the Canadian park system had a great setup for viewing the falls. We could see these powerful falls from afar or at close range. Another lookout point allowed viewing of the water cutting a path through the rocks. We regretted not showing this place to the others before they left. The falls were about fifteen minutes from our campground.

That evening and all through the night it drizzled. We woke up to rain falling on our tents. This was the day we were packing up to head for the Alaska Highway. We did our best to get most of the items dried in a campground shelter. (Most campgrounds offered an open building with picnic tables and a stove for communal use. This allowed campers a place to cook and eat when it was raining.) We used this space to warm up, eat breakfast and try to dry some of our equipment. Our tents were soaked. We packed them up wet. Using the laundromat to dry our tents crossed our minds until we realized the impracticality of it. We had to get our camping equipment dry.