July 7, 2015 – Jasper National Park

Tuesday Night - We were in A22 a dry site that backed up to the Athabasca River (a very cold glacier fed river).

Athabasca River from Wabasso Campground

A very nice young couple from Ontario was camped in the next site. They had both quit their jobs and were headed to Vancouver to start over. The first night Laurie cooked a great local tenderloin on the grill.

Wednesday we had a slow start, but were able to stop and view the magnificent Athabasca Falls. We ended up taking care of some chores in town that afternoon.

Edith Cavell Peak

After dinner we drove to the base of the Edith Cavell Peak on recommendations of the neighbors. Temps were about about 10 degrees lower, so it was a good break from the low 90s at the campsite.

Thursday we got going by 8am and hiked the Valley of 5 Lakes.

The smoke and haze had finally cleared, so we had great visibility.













In the afternoon we went to Miette Hot Springs. Much more formal pools than Liard Hot Springs, but still a great stop.

Miette Hot Springs - Hot Pool

Mountain View from Hot Springs Road

Maligne Canyon Fire Cloud

On the return from the Hot Springs, we passed the road to Maligne Canyon and Maligne Lake (one of the most photographed). There was a forest fire burning so we could not enter the canyon. We did photograph the smoke plume from the fire when we got back to our campground. We had dinner in Jasper Village at Earl's (a local chain). Dinner was great.

Friday we broke camp and headed down the Icefield Highway towards Lake Louise. Another smokey hazy day. At the southern end of Jasper NP is the Icefield Centre located at the foot of the Columbia Icefield. This is a very busy place.

Athabasca Glacier

Columbia Icefields

You can take a bus up onto the Athabasca Glacier – we did not want to spend our afternoon in a crowd of people so we headed on down the road.



























We stopped for a few photos at Bow Lake. We arrived at Lake Louise Campground in the late afternoon.