the jasper experience, part I
another unplanned out-of-town trip happened the week before last. nothing was scheduled for the coming weekend, except for a small bbq picnic on a nearby park if the weather is good. our spirit was dampened by the days of awful weather. a correspondence with a fellow photoblogger in calgary prompted me to check the weather website and it's only then that i realized how beautiful the weekend's gonna be. i immediately run in my mind a list of places that we could visit. with a disadvantage of four hour drive, and the price of fuel skyrocketing, plus the fact that we would probably spend some time in the place when we go to Banff on the labor day weekend, we decided to see the Jasper National Park. with a reputation for a scenic drive, it boasts a lot of beautiful lakes, mountains and anything a nature lover would ask for.
our first major stop was the Ashlar Ridge viewpoint along the miette road, which would eventually lead us to the Miette Hotsprings.
at the parking lot of the Miette Hotsprings park, we saw this beautiful bighorngoat sheep, wandering around, mindful of the many visitors, and providing a great photo op for everyone.
this is where we spent most of our afternoon, dipping in the hot pool, in the midst of the mountains, with cold mountain air! click here to see the view of the hotspring, stolen from nel's blog =)
with still a couple of hours of daylight left, we drove to maligne road to check out two beautiful lakes and a canyon. unfortunately, to see the canyon would require some hike. and with the two kids sleeping in car after the hotspring bath, we have to skip it. here's a sampling of the scenic road view that i mentioned above.
and this is the first of the two lakes, the Medicine Lake:
and here's a roadside view of the lake. it would be totally dry by autumn time, according to the information that we read, and here the water is now only knee high on some areas at the middle. how did i know? there were some guys fishing on the right side of the photo, which i decided not to include in the composition.
then we headed for the Maligne Lake, but since we arrive considerably late already, we didn't get the chance to see much of the area. there were some boat that i presume would take you around the lake, and to the world famous Spirit Island, but the dock is already closed. There must be a trail that could lead us to the island, but the kids are really not in a good mood to hike, and i bet it's a long one! here's a view of the lake on a very late afternoon.
it's getting late and we still don't have a place to sleep, so we headed to the Icefields Parkway(hwy 93), which is still an hour drive. we checked the Whistler campground first, but they don't have a campsite with a firepit anymore. we then proceeded to the Wapiti and they are full as well, so we drove another 8kms to Wabasso campground which i think is much better than the first two. it's 9pm and we are just starting to pitch our tent, starting fire and preparing our yummy barbecues and smokies dinner. we slept quite late, and was already thinking of the coming day. we can't wait to see more of the beauty of the place.
note: i would update this entry again to include more photos, to give you a better feel of what we saw on our whole trip. salamat!
our first major stop was the Ashlar Ridge viewpoint along the miette road, which would eventually lead us to the Miette Hotsprings.
at the parking lot of the Miette Hotsprings park, we saw this beautiful bighorn
this is where we spent most of our afternoon, dipping in the hot pool, in the midst of the mountains, with cold mountain air! click here to see the view of the hotspring, stolen from nel's blog =)
with still a couple of hours of daylight left, we drove to maligne road to check out two beautiful lakes and a canyon. unfortunately, to see the canyon would require some hike. and with the two kids sleeping in car after the hotspring bath, we have to skip it. here's a sampling of the scenic road view that i mentioned above.
and this is the first of the two lakes, the Medicine Lake:
and here's a roadside view of the lake. it would be totally dry by autumn time, according to the information that we read, and here the water is now only knee high on some areas at the middle. how did i know? there were some guys fishing on the right side of the photo, which i decided not to include in the composition.
then we headed for the Maligne Lake, but since we arrive considerably late already, we didn't get the chance to see much of the area. there were some boat that i presume would take you around the lake, and to the world famous Spirit Island, but the dock is already closed. There must be a trail that could lead us to the island, but the kids are really not in a good mood to hike, and i bet it's a long one! here's a view of the lake on a very late afternoon.
it's getting late and we still don't have a place to sleep, so we headed to the Icefields Parkway(hwy 93), which is still an hour drive. we checked the Whistler campground first, but they don't have a campsite with a firepit anymore. we then proceeded to the Wapiti and they are full as well, so we drove another 8kms to Wabasso campground which i think is much better than the first two. it's 9pm and we are just starting to pitch our tent, starting fire and preparing our yummy barbecues and smokies dinner. we slept quite late, and was already thinking of the coming day. we can't wait to see more of the beauty of the place.
note: i would update this entry again to include more photos, to give you a better feel of what we saw on our whole trip. salamat!
posted by ren at 10:42:00 AM
2 comments:
i'd love to visit canada in the future =)
Great pictures! Thanks for sharing them :)
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