Mountain River Lodge to Jasper
Basically a rest day.
After another excellent breakfast of pancakes smothered in maple syrup, with fried eggs and turkey sausages, we took our leave of Claudia and Curtis and their other friendly guests.
Driving back towards Clearwater, past the Terry Fox Mountain rest area, we soon reached Rearguard Falls (top picture), another place where the Chinook salmon reach a final insurmountable barrier. Other guests at the lodge had seen them jumping, but we were out of luck again. Nice falls though.
Then we paused for a last view of Mount Robson (second picture)
Our next stop was at Overlander Falls (third picture), where in 1862 a hundred and seventy five men and one woman rested on their journey from Ontario to the newly discovered goldfields of British Columbia. The group split into two here. Most of them never made it to the goldfields of the Cariboo, choosing instead to settle in places like Kamloops.
We entered Alberta, lost an hour, and proceeded to Jasper for a picnic lunch in the shade of a tree on a lawn next to the high street. Jasper is a small town about the size of Aviemore, but a bit smarter.
We were booked on position K22 of a gigantic campsite, Whistlers Campground. Apparently there are 700 pitches. Luckily they are spread over a wide area. We are next to an 'Explore' group who are on a whistler stop tour.
After a planning session - we are here for six nights and needed a plan - the tent went up and we decided to go for a walk. It was about 4.30. It was 4 km into Jasper, partly beside the Athabaska River (fifth picture) and 8 km on a Heritage and Nature trail that circumnavigates the town. Then back 4 km to the campsite, where we took some time to find K22 and finished up doing about 17 km. Anyway, by then it was after 6.30 and a cold beer was most welcome. It's very hazy here due to smoke from the fires that were apparently being stoked by lightning strikes whilst we were enjoying a snow storm at Sun Peaks.
Pasta with mushrooms and portobello mushroom sauce, with tuna, went down well, preceded by avocado and caesar dressing and followed by our staple diet of strawberries and cream.
The showers were then tested and were found to be as good as all the other facilities here.
2 km bimbles and a 17 km dash around Jasper in 2.10. Plus 110 km in Charlie.
5 comments:
Just caught up on the blog before we head off island hopping in the Cyclades. Loving the colours, especially the water and the mountains. Look forward to catching up again when we are back from our adventures.......
Canada looks beautiful, and the pancakes sound delicious! Looks like you are having a good time.
We saw the salmon but they are very difficult to catch on camera. Pity about the smoke haze - we had it too. We recommend the hot springs pool about an hour from Jasper by car.
Thanks everyone, it's good to hear from you.
This is a blast from the past for the Olivers.we were wild camping in the Canadian Rockies 25 years ago.nice to see hear it's all still adventurous.
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