My dad lives in the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia so we had to leave his house early in the morning in order to make it to our campsite in Jasper at a decent time. We would be taking Dad's small trailer with us so no sleeping on the cold, hard, lumpy ground for me! Hurray!
A new four-legged family member was joining us on this trip, my dad's 10-month old puppy, Tilly. It would certainly be a bit cramped with the three of us and the two dogs in the trailer for two weeks!
Marcus (left) and Tilly (right) |
We stopped at a campground and picnic area as we entered Yoho in order to let the dogs run around and do their business. Dad and I were a bit worried about the smokey haze in the air as we were scheduled to hike Lake O'Hara in just over a week and this sign of smoke meant that our views might be obscured. We crossed our fingers that when we returned the smoke and whatever was causing it would have drifted away.
Once we got back on the road we continued into Banff until we reached the turnoff for the Icefields Parkway. We would be driving up the Icefields Parkway to get to our campsite just outside of the townsite of Jasper. We made a few stops along the way to take some pictures. First stop was the Crowfoot Glacier.
Crowfoot Glacier |
Peyto Lake |
Peyto Lake |
Tilly and Marcus enjoying the time out of the car and all the attention they were getting. |
Peyto Lake |
Peyto Lake |
We continued on our drive along the Icefields Parkway. We drove past the Athabasca Glacier which Dad and I would be visiting in a few days time.
Athabasca Glacier |
Marcus |
Tilly |
View from our spot on the side of the road while dad tried to play mechanic |
The dogs and I watched in amusement as Dad and the stepmother tried to back the trailer into our campsite and then stabilize it. It took a loooooong time.
Once we had our trailer stabilized and everything set up and in order we decided to head into the town of Jasper to take a look around. This was mostly for my benefit, I doubt that dad would have gone into town if I had not been there.
Jasper was adorable. Much smaller than the town of Banff but it had everything you would need. We parked on the main street and then made our way to the Visitor Centre to check out what sort of information they had and to browse through their shop.
Town of Jasper |
Jasper Information Centre |
There was a beautiful rainbow as we made our way out of town.
Much to our delight, in the woods right outside our campground we spotted a black bear and her cub. My first bear sighting, ever! We were the only car on the road so we stopped so we could get some pictures. We were very careful and never got out of the car. Unfortunately, we saw many people getting out of their cars and trying to get closer to bears later on in the trip, that is a disaster waiting to happen!
My pictures were rather blurry as I was having to lean into the front seat and look though my dad's window as the dogs would have gone crazy if I had rolled down my window. Dad got better pictures than I did.
I did manage to get a brief video clip of the bears http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pIaL30kJr8
We eventually moved on as a few more cars had arrived and stopped. As we entered the campground we made sure to notify the Parks Canada staff of the bears nearby as they track this sort of activity, especially near campgrounds and townsites. There was also a potential "bear jam" in the making if more cars showed up and stopped.
Once back at the campground we had dinner and got ready for bed. The Wabasso campground, unfortunately, does not have shower facilities, however, the bathrooms were very nice and only a short walk from the trailer. No smelly port-a-potties here, these were roomy clean bathrooms with flushable toilets, always a bonus. We went to bed early as Dad and I would be heading out early in the morning for our first hike of the trip.
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