We arrived in Jasper on Friday evening, after taking the train from Edmonton. The train was late (as often happens), but quite comfortable. One pleasant surprise was the food on the train - it was cooked right there, and reasonably priced.
Here's a view from the back window of the dome car, as we got close to Jasper:
As you can see, it's hazy. And yes, that's smoke. Jasper is surrounded by mountains, but you wouldn't know it - yesterday (Saturday) the smoke hid them almost completely. This morning (Sunday) you can at least see their outlines.
Suzanne has had a lot of trouble with a sore heel, which has made a real dent in our ability to go hiking. So we rented a couple of bicycles - much better! We rode around town, then I tried riding up one of the trails. It was quite steep and rocky, and I am not an experienced mountain biker, so I wound up walking the bike much of the way.
Jasper is a very compact town; there is no sprawl, no malls. That's because the federal government owns all the land, leasing it to residents and businesses, and they do not allow any expansion into the surrounding habitat. And if you want to live here, you have to have a job or other reason for being here; you can't just buy a vacation home.
During the day Sunday, the smoke gradually dissipated. Look - there really ARE mountains out there!
We rode our bikes a little way out of town to a lovely spring-fed lake called Lac Beauvert. It's one of those "clear blue mountain lakes," tho the color varies from blue to turqoise to green depending on the depth of the water and the viewing angle.
We rented a kayak from a spiffy lodge there and paddled around the lake.
We saw a bald eagle; it sat in a tree for some time and then took off:
Then Suzanne did some more riding while Steve climbed up a hundred steps and up a steep slope to a point overlooking the Athabasca River:
Here's a view from the back window of the dome car, as we got close to Jasper:
As you can see, it's hazy. And yes, that's smoke. Jasper is surrounded by mountains, but you wouldn't know it - yesterday (Saturday) the smoke hid them almost completely. This morning (Sunday) you can at least see their outlines.
Suzanne has had a lot of trouble with a sore heel, which has made a real dent in our ability to go hiking. So we rented a couple of bicycles - much better! We rode around town, then I tried riding up one of the trails. It was quite steep and rocky, and I am not an experienced mountain biker, so I wound up walking the bike much of the way.
Jasper is a very compact town; there is no sprawl, no malls. That's because the federal government owns all the land, leasing it to residents and businesses, and they do not allow any expansion into the surrounding habitat. And if you want to live here, you have to have a job or other reason for being here; you can't just buy a vacation home.
During the day Sunday, the smoke gradually dissipated. Look - there really ARE mountains out there!
We rode our bikes a little way out of town to a lovely spring-fed lake called Lac Beauvert. It's one of those "clear blue mountain lakes," tho the color varies from blue to turqoise to green depending on the depth of the water and the viewing angle.
We rented a kayak from a spiffy lodge there and paddled around the lake.
We saw a bald eagle; it sat in a tree for some time and then took off:
Then Suzanne did some more riding while Steve climbed up a hundred steps and up a steep slope to a point overlooking the Athabasca River:
No comments:
Post a Comment