DH Wall's Jasper National Park Journal Travel Guide to Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada

Rare 1930s Jasper National Park Home Movie of Maligne Canyon Hiking

DH Wall — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 10:03:22 +0000

If you want to know what it was like to hike Maligne Canyon in the early days of Jasper National Park (founded in 1907), check out this rather fun vintage 1930s home black and white movie from YouTube. Take a look at the people, the signs, and the experience of this rare home movie footage.

Notice how different the hiking clothing is. It seems as if the 1930s Jasper National Park hikers are all dressed up.

It is also very likely, given what I’ve read about Jasper National Park’s history in Culturing Wilderness in Jasper National Park and in other sources, that the people visiting Jasper National Park in the 1930s were more wealthy than most. Remember too that the great depression was in the 1930s. In the 1930s, Jasper National Park was still relatively obscure compared to Banff National Park, with Jasper having an average of 14,859 visitors per year in the 1930s whereas Banff National Park had an average of 173,178 visitors per year in the 1930s (source: I used the visitor statistics chart on page 226 of “Culturing Wilderness in Jasper National Park” [2007] to come up with these averages).

Have you played the mountain goat memory match game?

DH Wall — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 23:58:19 +0000

Mountain Goat Memory Match is a fun memory match game here on Jasper Journal featuring one of Jasper National Park’s most favorite residents, the mountain goat.

Click here to play Mountain Goat Memory Match.

7 Lovely Photos of Mt Edith Cavell in Jasper National Park

DH Wall — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 01:07:59 +0000

The best way to see Mt Edith Cavell in Jasper National Park is to hike on the nearby trails, be it the Cavell Meadows Trail or the Path of the Glacier Loop. The resulting experience is splendid with many lovely views like these.

Elk stay at Pine Bungalows in Jasper National Park

DH Wall — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 23:46:25 +0000

Where do elk stay when visiting Jasper National Park?

As this video shows, elk stay in the cabins at Pine Bungalows in Jasper National Park. The cabins are a nice alternative to the typical hotel accommodations – for humans and elk alike.

The video shows the elk walking around the grounds, snacking on grass and looking around at the rustic cabins surrounded by woods. They then go for a swim in the cold waters of the Athabasca River which is next to the Pine Bungalows grounds.

Back to Basics at Athabasca Falls Wilderness Hostel in Jasper National Park

LOL mountain goats? Jasper National Park gets the LOLcat treatment.

DH Wall — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 02:22:56 +0000

If you’ve been on the Internet for any length of time, there’s a good chance you’ve seen funny cat pictures known as LOLcats made famous on the website icanhascheezburger. Wikipedia describes lolcats:

“A lolcat is an image combining a photograph, most frequently of a cat, with a humorous and idiosyncratic caption in (often) broken English—a dialect which is known as “lolspeak” or “kitty pidgin” and which parodies the poor grammar typically attributed to Internet slang.”

But what does that have to do with Jasper National Park?

Imagine what would happen if one of Jasper National Park’s most favorite animals was given the LOLcat treatment.

I introduce to you LOLmountaingoats, a homage to LOLcats, mountain goats, and Jasper National Park.

5 Amusing Photos of Mountain Goats

THE Spectacular Rainbows of Jasper National Park

DH Wall — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 22:52:59 +0000

What do you do when it’s rainy out and you want to see something spectacular in Jasper National Park? Look for rainbows.

Seeing one in person will take your Jasper National Park experience to the next level.

Let’s look at some photos from fellow Jasper National Park travelers who rejoiced at some extra-spectacular scenery.

Here a full rainbow appears alongside Connaught Drive, the main road in the Jasper village area of the park.

“So which end is the pot of gold?”

In this crafty photo, a rainbow appears to come out of the 6015 locomotive parked next to the Jasper Train Station.

A spectacular double rainbow scene highlights the Jasper Train Station.

Catch the lighting just right and see something like this at Athabasca Falls, one of the popular attractions on Jasper National Park’s Icefield Parkway.

This video shows the Athabasca waterfall in action.

Wouldn’t you like to be sitting in one of these chairs watching this spectacular scene right now? This looks to be along the Athabasca River, one of the best places in the Canadian Rockies to go rafting.

This Jasper National Park traveler is having fun with the scenery.

Sometimes seeing just part of a rainbow is still very cool. This one hovers above the Athabasca River. Look close. You can see the blanket of mist that the sunlight uses to reflect colorful light for delighted observers.

Jasper’s southern neighbor, Banff National Park, is also home to many of these amazing Canadian Rockies scenes. If you go to Banff as part of your trip (recommended if you have time), then keep a look-out for amazing scenes like this:

Rainbows occur when sunlight is reflected by mist or rain. As you can observe from the photos, some of the best places to see rainbows are along the Athabasca River, at lakes and at Jasper village. These are places that have the right combination of conditions as well as being popular places to visit within Jasper. Also look for them in any Jasper waterfall, such as the ones that occur in the Maligne Canyon.

Happy sightseeing!

Back to Basics at Athabasca Falls Wilderness Hostel in Jasper National Park

DH Wall — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 16:17:54 +0000

Back to nature, back to basics. That’s what a trip to Jasper National Park is about. Athabasca Falls Wilderness Hostel delivers on the promise of the rustic, back to nature hostel experience. And for under $30 a night per person, it is one of the cheapest ways to spend the night in Jasper National Park – for those willing to go without the conveniences of hotels.

For a cheap, camp-style hostel experience, Athabasca Falls Wilderness Hostel in Jasper National Park has the essentials – a bed and a place to eat. The HI-Athabasca Falls hostel is part of Hostellers International and consists of 3 dorm room cabins full of bunk beds (dorms of 16, 12, and 10 beds). A main community-use cabin has cooking, dining and relaxation areas where you can relax and put your feet up at the end of a long day of hiking or sightseeing in Jasper National Park.

The hostel is located 32 km south of Jasper townsite on the Icefields Parkway (Hwy 93). It is 200 meters south of the Athabasca Falls entrance.

View Larger Map

The hostel is in a convenient central location for seeing all of Jasper National Park and even a day trip to Banff National Park is possible. The closest top attractions are Athabasca Falls (hence the name “Athabasca Falls Wilderness Hostel”) and the Jasper Tramway.

Running water? Well, kind of. Running water consists of a well where you can pump all the water you need, as the hostelers pictured are doing. There are no showers at Athabasca Falls Wilderness Hostel – a good reason to combine a visit here with a day trip to Miette Hot Springs (Miette Hot Springs has swimming/bathing facilities).

Oh, wait, I forgot to mention the outhouses. There are 2 at the hostel. Boys and girls.

The hostel’s location is convenient for hiking, located right near Fryatt Valley and Athabasca Pass. The Athabasca Falls Wilderness Hostel makes it easy for hikers to spend the day hiking without having to set-up a camp or carry a heavy backpack with camping gear while hiking.

Sasha, the manager of this Jasper Hostel, gives a great personal tour of the rustic Canadian Rockies hostel in this 5 1/2 minute video shot in March during the snow-covered grounds of winter.

Be aware that the hours are not like a typical hotel and may be closed during the day. Learn about the details of staying at this Jasper National Park hostel and how to make reservations at the Hostelling International Canada website, where you can also learn about other hostels in the Canadian Rockies. Be sure to check out some of the neat 360 degree pictures of the hostel here on the Hostelling International website.

Magnificent bighorn sheep in Jasper National Park and the Canadian Rockies

DH Wall — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 13:58:36 +0000

Bighorn sheep are magnificent creatures and one of the more popular Jasper National Park wildlife sightings.

If you spend a few days or a weeks in the Canadian Rockies during the summer, you have a good chance of seeing bighorn sheep somewhere during your journey. You may see them walking alongside the road or while you are out hiking (for instance, while hiking Wilcox Pass).

On Highway 16 along the Athabasca River is a good place to look for them as you drive from Miette Hot Springs to Jasper townsite attractions. Also keep a watch out for bighorn sheep on the drive from Highway 16 to Maligne Lake.

If and when you do spot some bighorn sheep, you’ll have to wonder what a wonderful animal like that is doing in such a place as Jasper National Park – with Jasper’s cold winters and harsh environment.

Theodore Roosevelt, in writing about bighorn sheep, said “There exists no animal more hardy, nor any better fitted to grapple with the extremes of heat and cold. Droughts, scanty pasturage, or deep snows make it shift its ground, but never mere variation of temperature.” I guess that’s why the cold winter weather of Jasper National Park means little to the bighorn sheep, who continues to go about its business.

The biggest threat to bighorn sheep, like so many other species, is the loss of land. National parks and other protected lands are among its last refuges.

Bighorn sheep photos

In this selection of bighorn sheep photos, you’ll see bighorn sheep in Jasper National Park and a variety of places in western Canada and beyond. The males are called rams and have the big rounded horns. The females are called ewes and have small pointed horns.

The first few bighorn sheep photos below are from traveler dancingnomad3 who took lots of great pictures of bighorn sheep while hiking on Wilcox Pass and other areas in Jasper National Park.

Ewes

More ewes

These bighorn sheep were spotted at Medicine Lake, in Jasper National Park.

Another bighorn sheep in Jasper National Park

A bighorn sheep family in Banff National Park – In Banff National Park, look for bighorn sheep near Lake Minnewanka and Sulphur Mountain, and, like in Jasper, along roadsides, rivers and lakes throughout the park. They can be almost anywhere!

A gathering of bighorn sheep along a river

If you are unable to see any in Jasper, but, like me, enjoy the national park experience, you may also find bighorn sheep in nearby Banff National Park and even much further south in much warmer places like Grand Canyon National Park.

Hiking the Wilcox Pass in Jasper National Park…like a bighorn sheep

DH Wall — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 02:36:38 +0000

If you ever wanted to hike like a bighorn sheep, the Wilcox Pass in Jasper National Park is the place to hike.

Hike the Wilcox Pass for a moderate difficulty half-day hiking trail. Its trailhead is in the southern end of Jasper National Park, 3.1 km south of the Icefield Centre. Easy to find, just look for the trailhead at the Wilcox Creek campground (especially convenient if you are camping in Jasper National Park).

Then, hike like a bighorn sheep. Walk about for a while, then, make some time to relax and take in the views.

Like everything in the Canadian Rockies, the views are going to be great. Hikers also have a chance to spot wildlife, such as bighorn sheep and mountain goats.

If you and your significant other are looking for a fun and challenging hike with great views, the Wilcox Pass should be worthy of consideration – though Jasper and Banff have so many amazing hikes, it can be hard to choose!

It also a great hike to do with a group friends. If you all are avid hikers, this will be a breeze.

What to bring?

Wear layers of clothing and hiking footwear. A travel-sized windbreaker/poncho is alway a good thing to have for longer hikes in Jasper. It can be cold even in the summer and it seems to rain whenever it wants to. Bring lots of water and snacks. If planning on hiking all day, bring a picnic lunch. And, of course, bring a camera.

And if you really want to, you can bring a guide.

Guided hiking with Walks and Talks Jasper

Do you like the idea of a guided hike and the chance to interact and ask questions? Walks and Talks Jasper offers a guided 3.5 to 4 hour Wilcox Pass hike and picnic experience worth checking out.

From the Walks and Talks Jasper website: “Learn about mountain building, glaciers wildflowers and history as we hike up to be rewarded with awesome views of Athabasca Glacier. Watch for Bighorn Sheep, Marmots and Eagles. We’ll keep an eye out for fossils too. The walk is one of the more challenging as we do gain elevation but stops of interest allow breathers.”

The guided hike is currently listed as $125 per adult but I would expect the experience to be priceless. Besides the Wilcox Pass hike, it includes a picnic lunch at the Columbia Icefield.

Are you ready to paddle a canoe in the Canadian Rockies? Proper techniques explained.

DH Wall — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 01:30:44 +0000

Jasper National Park and Banff National Park have some of the most amazing lakes and rivers for canoeing in the world. There are so many places to canoe, it is hard to decide.

Whether you plan to rent a canoe at Maligne Lake or Lac Beauvert in Jasper National Park or Lake Louise or Moraine Lake in Banff National Park, or elsewhere in the parks, there is one thing you can do today to prepare for the experience: learn to properly paddle a canoe.

This article will provide the resources you need to properly paddle a canoe.

I’ve rented canoes in many places – and even paddled amongst large, scary alligators in southern Florida. Before I learned how to properly paddle a canoe, I’d have trouble keeping the canoe straight. It would rock and was hard to keep steady. I’d also get tired and strain my muscles. I lacked knowledge of the proper canoe paddling form.

There is a better way. Learn simple and easy canoe paddling techniques. So, sit back, relax and let’s learn to paddle a canoe for your Canadian Rockies vacation.

If you are new to canoeing and plan to rent a canoe during your Canadian Rockies vacation, learning a little bit about how properly paddle a canoe will help you make the most of your experience and allow you to focus on the wonderful scenery.

These are some of these best instructional videos on how to paddle a canoe. Take a look at these videos to learn about how to paddle and steer a canoe.

This video goes into more detail about the J-stroke.

The following video really gets into some advanced canoe paddling theory – aimed at canoeing enthusiasts. It will make you think a lot about having the proper form and how to most efficiently paddle a canoe.

What happens if your canoe tips over? Since you are now a pro, you shouldn’t have to worry about tipping over your canoe. But if you do, here is a video that shows what to do.

Ok, now that you’ve watched some videos, you should be ready to go. If you’d like more details, read through these articles on other websites which go into more advanced aspects of canoeing:

Hope your Jasper National Park and/or Banff National Park canoeing experience is rewarding. Happy canoeing!