Wednesday, June 27, 2018
Day 13255 miles
Daisy and I drove northwest through Alberta to Hinton, near the entrance of Jasper National Park. We spent three nights in a campground west of Hinton to explore this area and the northern part of the park. Thursday was Daisy’s birthday, so of course we were looking for some ways and places to celebrate!
We left the agricultural areas of field crops and cattle grazing lands and entered steeper hills and forested terrain.
There were lots of wildflowers along the roadsides, including daisies of course. It is difficult to get clear photos of small flowers when you are moving at a speed of 100 (kilometers per hour), unless you stop and search for a special Daisy!
We went past Chip Lake, but we didn’t take time to check it out on this trip.
After cresting a hill, we were excited to see our first view of the Rocky Mountains! There will be many better photos to come, but the first sight is always breathtaking.
We arrived at the Hinton KOA campground at 1:18 pm and the temperature was 69 degrees. We did laundry and had lunch. Another important task was researching the travel info we had gathered on Jasper National Park for what we wanted to do there.
Behind our truck camper are the Rocky Mountains, highlighted by the colors of sunset.
A little later, the full moon rose, and it was still fairly light outside. The sun didn’t set here until 9:25 pm.
June's full moon is called the Strawberry Moon, and Daisy never gets tired of taking photos that show its distinctive features.
We weren’t able to go into Jasper National Park on Thursday as we had originally planned because a double tanker truck loaded with gasoline crashed and burned near the entry to the park, causing the highway to be closed for six hours. Instead, we went to the visitor center in Hinton to get our park passes and information, then toured the Northern Rockies Museum. Its focus was the interesting history of railroads in this area.
While in Hinton we had a great sushi lunch and Bananas Foster for dessert .
After doing some shopping, we went back to the campground for an afternoon nap. In the evening, we drove to the Folding Mountain Brewing Company for dinner and brews. The mountain on the right in the photo below is the brewery’s namesake, Folding Mountain.
Folding Mountain has only been in operation for a year, and they have some tasty brews. We like trying the flights with small amounts of a variety of types.
For dinner, we shared a kale and dried cranberry salad with grilled chicken and another version of poutine, a Canadian specialty consisting of fried potatoes, cheddar cheese curds, and a rich brown gravy. The seasoning on the fries and that of the gravy with a smaller cheese curds made a flavorful combination. It paired well with the salad and brew.
Of course I told all of our servers that it was Daisy’s birthday!
Instead of a birthday cake, we had their special dessert: Indoor S’mores for Two!
A small cast-iron skillet had semi-sweet chocolate chips in the bottom, topped with marshmallows and broiled to melt the chocolate and toast the marshmallows. It was served with graham crackers for dipping. Daisy said it was one of the best birthday desserts ever, for this a very special birthday—her last one as a sixty-something! She is just like fine wine.
The next day we would trek to the park.
Friday, June 29
Day 15
35 miles
Jasper National Park, 1 of 3
The day was chilly and overcast with multiple layers of low clouds, but we didn’t let that stop us from seeing the beauty of nature in this special area.
Spanning over 11,000 square kilometers, Jasper is the largest national park in the Canadian Rockies. It is known for its vast wilderness, majestic peaks, abundant wildlife, and outstanding natural beauty.
This was one of our first views of the mountains after entering Jasper National Park. Around every corner we had another “Ah-ha” moment.
I mentioned previously that we weren’t able to enter the park on Thursday because the 2-lane road was closed for 6 hours as the result of a tractor trailer accident and fire.
Before the accident, the tractor trailer would have been similar to this one.
When we drove into the park on Friday, we saw these remnants of the two tanker cars and the fire in the surrounding roadside.
Our first stop in the park was Maligne Lake, which is nestled in a ring of towering mountains and is the largest glacially fed lake in the Canadian Rockies. Maligne is French for “evil” or “wicked.” Father Pierre-Jean de Smet, a Belgian Jesuit missionary, used the word to describe the river that flows from the lake after having trouble crossing it on his horse in 1846.
If the weather had been better, we would have considered a boat ride on the 22-mile long lake, but we decided to save that for another time.
As we were driving, we saw these two elk grazing near the road. Unfortunately, they were more interested in eating than in raising their heads to pose for a photo.
Our next stop was Maligne Canyon, where we walked on a trail that provided views of this famous limestone gorge. The canyon’s karst system is one of the natural features that distinguishes Jasper from other mountain national parks. It is part of the UNESCO Canadian Rocky Mountains World Heritage Site.
We also spent some time at the Athabasca Falls, a natural work of art sculpted by glacial ice and river water. This is one of the most powerful falls in the Canadian Rockies, and the Athabasca River pours over a layer of quartzite forming an impressive canyon. A trail winds around the falls to show various perspectives of the dramatic sight. Of course, we had to take advantage of a photo op!
This is the lake that is at the lower end of the falls and the canyon it flows through. This pale turquoise color is typical of glacier-fed lakes.
The parking lot at Athabasca Falls had this mountain nearby, and it made a good background for a photo of our truck camper.
Next we went to the town of Jasper, which is in the heart of Jasper National Park, to check out future travel stops at the information center. This mountain town originated as a railway stop that happens to originate in the middle of some of the most gorgeous scenery we have encountered in our travels. Across the street near the railroad station was this totem pole, which is a 2011 reconstruction of the original Raven Totem Pole that was erected in 1915.
We took many photos of magnificent mountain views, and here is just one more from the road as we were driving north to our campground.
Just before we departed he park we again passed by the tanker crash site. Crane crews were there removing the remnants of the burned wreck.
Just a little bit further on the hillside we saw mountain big horn sheep enjoying their dinner.
We had dinner at Mr. Mike’s Steakhouse in Hinton that evening, preceded by their special “Sidecar Caesar” cocktails. The “sidecar” was a 4-ounce Big Horn Lager, which had the tag line “one horny beer”!
The small one, mine, was called The Spiked: 1 oz vodka, Mott’s Clamato juice, horseradish, tabasco, Worcestershire, fresh lime juice, garnished with a pickled bean, green olives and lime wedge, in a glass rimmed with Montreal steak spice.The tall one ordered by Daisy was called a Bacon Sidecar: 1 oz vodka, Mott’s clamato juice, tabasco, Worcestershire, fresh lime juice, garnished with a crispy bacon slice and a lime wedge, in a bacon salt-rimmed glass. Both of our choices were very tasty.
A great meal rounded off the day for us. The next day we would be traversing part of the same route on our way to the Columbia Ice Fields in Jasper National Park.
More to come.
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