Since there are so many photos of Jasper National Park, Alberta to organize, edit and choose from, we are doing this by topics spread across the 3+ days we were there. Since this is the beginning of this section, we’ll start talking about Jim’s early morning adventures.
Two of the mornings we were staying here, Jim got up at 5AM, stuffed a granola bar in his mouth and headed off to what he hoped would be good picture-taking sites before the sun rose. He wasn’t at all disappointed. On the first of these ventures, he stopped by a bridge across a small, rushing river on his way to Lake Beauvert. The nice thing about being there so early is you don’t need to be concerned about leaving your car by the side of the road.
Jim got to the lake while colors were still very nice. 5 minutes earlier would have been great.
Jasper Park Lodge was just peering out of the mist across the lake. This lodge is nearly a hundred years old and has had many famous guests, including the Queen Elizabeth, King George VI and Marilyn Monroe.
Jim walked much of the way around, taking a lot more pictures than he will post to this blog. He stopped when he got to the golf course – hikers were verboten.
He saw a spruce tree that looked as though it was growing a bright yellow flower.
A very short distance from Lake Beauvert lies a trailhead for Old Fort Point. There was never a fort near this spot, according to a local historian. It was a loop trail with a long and short way to the destination. Jim chose the long way. He got to hike on lovely wooded trails without a soul near him.
He enjoyed the color and texture of a mossy area in the woods. He is surprised at how few places like this he has seen.
Ardith gets concerned when Jim runs off into woods like this alone, lest he encounter a bear. Jim is very nonchalant about the whole matter. First, there have been no fatal encounters with bears here in many years. Second, he is smart enough to not get between a bear and cubs. He has listened carefully to ranger talks about what to do if you encounter a bear. There was no reason for concern this morning. He didn’t see any animals bigger than squirrels. He did several instances of “road less taken” when small trails went off the main trail. Some shortened his journey; some made it a decent bit longer. He went up a hill past a field of flowers to a plateau that was about a third of a mile long.
There he had some nice vistas.
These weren’t the vistas he was seeking, though. He saw a rise ahead of him that was probably wanted, so he ventured along the ridge toward it. He thought “it should be just over that small rise”. When he got up the rise, he saw that there was a chasm between the two hills. He gave some thought about trying to “bridge the gap”, but realized that not a soul knew where he was and that falling through the crack probably wouldn’t have a plan B, so he backtracked. He finally got to his destination, the best overlook of the town of Jasper. Unfortunately, it stated to rain as he climbed the last hill. He pulled his camera out from under his nylon jacket and took a couple of quick shots. The view would have been wonderful if it had been clear, but ...
The next morning he was up at 5 again. This time, he had planned to go to Lake Patricia and Pyramid Lake. From the map, he had picked out a spot where he though a sunrise picture would work well. When he got there, he saw 2 vehicles parked on the road shoulder and thought 2 other people had the same idea. He was on a slight ridge with a rocky beach below. When he looked down at the beach, there were nearly a dozen people armed with tripods and cameras pointing to where he had expected good color would be. Another car pulled up seconds later and a guy and his gear emerged. Jim asked if it was a photography class and the guy affirmed it.
They stayed put, learning the many subtleties that can be evoked at such a scene. Jim took a few shots there and proceeded to walk about a third of the way around the lake, finding lots of different angles.
He drove a very short distance to Pyramid Lake. The views here were as interesting as those at Lake Patricia.
While he was walking and shooting, he came upon a woman about his age that was doing the same thing. She said that her husband was enjoying his sleep as Ardith was. We were headed in opposite directions and went our separate ways after agreeing that the day and reflections were marvelous, though the latter could be deceptive.
There were a lot of rental boats by a lodge along the lake that added interest to shots. It was hard to decide which to include.
Pyramid Lake is name for Mount Pyramid, named because of its shape. The mountain has a very strong magnetic composition and throws compasses off by as much as 30 degrees.
Jim walked across a small bridge to an island in the lake. It has been a favorite site of regulars for years. It was originally developed by the Canadian equivalent of the Civilian Conservation Corps and a pavilion they built still stands.
On his way back from Pyramid Lake, he saw several people emerging from the lodges with cameras in hand, almost 2 hours after he first arrived. Yesterday, he was out for over 4 hours and the only people he saw were a pair of joggers on a road above the trail around Lake Beauvert.
Meanwhile, back in town, two men are carving and painting a totem pole to replace one that had been repatriated a few years ago to a tribe from which it had apparently been stolen many decades ago. The new pole tells the story of 2 brothers from the Haida tribe that lived near the Pacific coast who traveled to the Rockies out of curiosity. One stayed, one went back. After many years, the one who went back returned to the site where the 2 had last been together. He knocked on the door there and found the daughter of his brother who had passed away. The daughter was very much like her father.
We went on an evening history walk downtown that covered about 4 blocks and lasted about 2 hours. Our guide was a retired history teacher from the town who really knew amazing details about the town and the park. About 10 years ago, the towns of Banff and Jasper voted on whether they wanted to have greater independence from the parks of which they are a part. Banff chose to have “home rule”. Jasper chose to have a city council with limited powers, with ultimate authority belonging to the park’s superintendent. As a result, Banff has had a lot more growth and bigger buildings (though not gigantic). Jasper has remained smallish and quite charming.
He also told us about the importance of the railroad to the town. The town was the result of building the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway (now part of the Canadian National Railroad), the second of Canada’s transcontinental railroads. The pass near Jasper is the lowest altitude of any crossing of the Rockies and related ranges between Alaska and Mexico. It was Canadian politics that decided the first route. One of the early railway superintendents saw the need for a preserve in the area that grew to become Jasper National Park. He also built the Jasper Park Lodge seen above. The railroad used to be the main source of income for the area, now it is tourism, but the railroad is still quite important. Many very long freight trains pass through here daily and 2 passenger services (VIA rail and the Rocky Mountaineer) regularly bring passengers here.
Our tour finished at the Anglican Church in town. This is the oldest in town and our guide told us several anecdotes. The church has a wonderful quilt altarpiece and a mixture of very traditional and very contemporary stained glass windows.
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