Thursday, October 8, 2015

Jasper

After the service in Hinton, we travelled west up the Yellowhead Highway through the mountains into Jasper National Park, and stayed the night at the town of Jasper.  It was a perfect day, as was the next morning, and we saw lots of spectacular mountains scenery.

Jaxson never really knew his Uncle Will, except through the generous and mysterious big Christmas gifts that would arrive.  Nor had his dad been in the mountains here at all, though the rest of us have, several times.  So giving Jaxson and chance to see the mountains, and getting some pictures, will be one way to help him remember.

The Rocky Mountains here start immediately west of Hinton, so it makes a beautiful hour-long drive to get to Jasper.  Lots of Mountain Sheep along the road too.

And the train tracks follow the highway through the pass, as does the Athabasca River.  The noise of the trains is one of the big memories we have of our time camping in the Rockies 25 years ago.  (And as you can tell, some of these pictures are taken through the window of a moving car).

I wish I had an easy way to tell what mountains each of these are, but I don't.  Still, it all makes for great scenery.

Jasper itself is surrounded by mountains.  I think the little bump on top of the mountain just left of centre in this picture is the top of the new Jasper Tramway which you  can ride to the top.  It didn't exist when we were last here.

And I was surprised to realize that Jasper still has passenger service on Via Rail, along with an large old train station on the main street.  There are only 3 passes in the Rockies for train lines, and a main road and railway go through each of these - Crowsnest in the south, Kicking Horse near Banff, and the Yellowhead Pass here.

There even had a nice old locomotive here for you to see.  And note the tall fences around each individual tree - put there to keep the Elk from nibbling the bark, right on the main street!

Some mountain peaks are obviously taller than others, and still had lots of ice and snow; in places you could make out small glaciers.

The next morning we headed back down the highway for a long drive to Edmonton and another flight.  But we stopped several times while still in Jasper National Park, and enjoyed the scenery.

It all just added to our memory of the trip, which will of course stay with us forever.


19 comments:

  1. Jasper is my favorite of mountain resorts. My favorite is to be on the mountains.

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  2. Top shots! I love Jasper, and visit there when we drive through to visit my brother in the Kootenays .

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  3. Photos and memories all intermingle, a beautiful post, heartfelt words for Will.

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  4. The shots at sixty of how ever fast you were driving, are lovely. Your stories of Will are the best way to make his memory live on in your grandchildren. My mother lost her brother 3 years before I was born. She spoke of him till her dying day. So Uncle Arl's memory is still alive in me and my sisters. Blessings on your family and you.

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  5. Jasper is incredible isn't it? Glad you were able to visit! Nice photos.

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  6. Beautiful country. It's been a very long time since I was there. - Margy

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  7. How lovely. What a beautiful part of the world. I'd like to get there one day and maybe I will. Fingers crossed.

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  8. It is very beautiful there. The sky shows how wonderful the weather was, too. Thank you for sharing these precious memories. :-)

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  9. Beautiful scenery and photos. We've been to Jasper about 15 years ago to a wedding in early October and it snowed. I'm glad you got to make some new memories of your visit there. Have a blessed Thanksgiving.

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  10. Jasper and Banff are old pals, so to speak. It does my heart good to see these mountains. Beautiful shots!

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  11. It is really too bad that the incredible desecration of the land caused by tar sands development takes place in this same area of stunning beauty.

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  12. Gorgeous! What a stunning area.

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  13. The mountains are always so wonderful to see, so majestic. Thanks for sharing these shots.

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  14. When I see scenery like this I feel happy to be alive. I feel I am a very small part in a very big magnificent plan.

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  15. Wow just beautiful. I can't even pick a favorite.

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  16. Your photos are wonderful. You are making good memories as you treasure the ones made with your son. Have a wonderful trip.

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  17. Great photos of the mountains & reminds me of the days I lived in Vernon British Columbia for a few year back in the early 70's. Only made it to Jasper once & it was so darn foggy I never did get to see a darn thing. I always find it helpful to have a change of scenery from time to time.

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