JASPER.
Day 326 – We got up early this morning in order to be waiting out front of the registration office at the campground for a tour bus. There are more tours of various kinds offered in the Banff, Jasper, and Lake Louise areas than you can imagine. There are many huge buses on the roads filled with tourists. There are even more smaller van/buses driving around filled with tourists. That, and the sheer number of people here for the holiday weekend, make it difficult to go anywhere – or at least it will be that way for a few days.
We thought taking a small tour would be a good way to familiarize ourselves with each area when we were there. This tour bus was a large van with huge windows. It could hold 24 people. There were 20 on board including the guide/driver. One of the reasons we picked this particular one was that they picked people up at certain Lodges, Hotels, and campgrounds. We were picked up at 7:50 a.m. along with another couple who were camping here.
This tour was a Nature tour for viewing wildlife. It was supposed to be from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. There were already 3 ladies on board when the four of us were picked up; we were the second stop. We spent the next 50 minutes picking up other people. We were the only customers from the U.S. Everyone else was from Canada, Germany, Scandinavia.
Our tour guide was Sebastian. As we were driving through Jasper, going to different locations, he told us some details about the City. Until about 1980, Jasper was mainly a railroad junction for the coal and oil industries. Those items are still shipped through Jasper, but tourism is the main draw now. Still, of the 5,000 full-time residents, 1,500 work for the railroad. Maneuvering the City crowds at the peak of summer would be difficult for most people. Even earlier in the day, parking lots were full (there were many parking lots) and both sides of the streets had cars parked. Crowds of people hurried across streets. It was a zoo. We will stay away from the City as much as possible during the holiday weekend. Sebastian said you could often see members of the Park Protection crew in people’s back yards, rescuing wildlife (bears mostly). In fact, we passed a house where three people with Park vests were in a small back yard by a fence staring up a tree. He said there was probably a bear up there. He said this year a mother black bear and her two cubs had been coming into town. The problem this year is that it was a cold and wet spring and the berries on the bushes got a late start, only to have the extreme heat roll in and kill the berries when the bushes went from too wet to too dry. The bears are desperate for food.
After picking up the last passengers and our quick tour of the City, we headed east on Highway 16 towards Edmonton. He usually begins his tours this way, but today we went to check on the forest fire, also. The Chetamon Wildfire was started by lightning in the mountains near Jasper the day before yesterday. After we drove by, Sebastian said the wildfire had tripled in size since yesterday. Certainly not huge compared to the ones that have been out of control elsewhere, he said the fire crews were struggling, and that everything should be okay if the winds don’t change from west to east, therefore not approaching the City. Still, a campground near the base of the mountain was being evacuated as of noon today.
Near the fire area, rivers run on both sides of the road. It was beautiful. The reason they go to that area was to see Big-Horn Sheep and Elk. Rutting season has just begun and it’s more likely to see Elk right now, and we did see one female eating greens off a tree, but she was several trees back in the woods. He said that rutting season lasts about six weeks. At first the males go out in search of females and the Bull Elk is actively showing off his “virility” to try to attract the females to go with him. The males work hard at forming their own “harems”. The problem is that for the first 4 to 6 weeks, the females are not in season yet while his hormones are going whacko. Glad I’m not a female (or male) Elk! Then, you have a male Bull Elk and his harem out there and another male with his harem from elsewhere, or a so-far-unsuccesful male, and they will fight each other for possession of the females. These fights are violent and often bloody. During this timeframe, the Bull Elks are extremely aggressive and will attack anything (we later saw one attacking a tree) and people are continually warned to stay in their vehicles because they can be attacked, too. Sebastian told us about what to watch for from the Elk if they are bothered by your presence. In fact, he was in a vehicle in the past when a Bull Elk charged them and narrowly avoided ramming the car and smashing the window. They had to outrun the Elk in their car.
We had turned around at this point and were headed back to Maligne Road which is a beautiful two-lane road that leads to Medicine Lake and Maligne Lake, both favorite stops for many of the larger tour groups. On this long, meandering road, there are smaller roads to turn off and look for wildlife. He took us to all the places the animals were often seen. We saw Bald Eagle and Osprey nests (the babies have grown and flown away). We saw a young Black Bear (so cute!), and we watched it for awhile. It was scavenging for berries, but there wasn’t much so it was eating leaves. Its belly showed us that it wasn’t too hungry yet.
There was a crowd parked along the road with people out of their cars and standing fairly close to a Bull Elk that was angrily going after a tree. Sebastian stopped and warned them to at least back off and get behind their cars. Two young guys were quite hesitant to do that but everyone else went to their cars. We could see the Elk and at one point he stopped and looked straight at us, but he was too deep in the trees to get a decent picture through the bus window with everyone also straining inside the bus to do the same thing.
We stopped at an area where Marmot and Pika are often seen sunning themselves on the rocks. We saw neither animal then, but on the way back we stopped again and got several shots of the cute little Pika.
We went to the area where Moose are sometimes seen but didn’t see any. Sebastian said that most of these animals don’t come out as much when it’s hot out – that early morning and particularly the evening, were the best times to view in this weather.
The scenery was beautiful and the crowds and traffic were much less out of the City, but we did get a taste of what’s to come when driving the Icefield Parkway. We should wait until after this weekend and Monday’s holiday, huh?
We passed by lovely Medicine Lake and drove to the parking lots (many lots with a huge capacity for vehicles) at Maligne Lake. We stopped at a picnic area and got out to stretch our legs and use the restrooms. Sebastian brought out sample Elk, Moose, Sheep, and Deer antlers and also showed us the berries the Bears were eating. For a snack, there were fresh Raspberries growing along the River. (Bears don’t like them due to the berries sharp spines.)
We turned around and drove back toward Jasper, but before leaving the parking lot, a beautiful Deer was by the lot eating grass – until we approached – then she ran off. We were happy to see Pika on the way back this time when we stopped to look for Pika and Marmots. Sebastian also told us that if the skies stayed clear, tomorrow night we were likely to be able to view the Northern Lights, and he showed us the place to do it from the Athabasca River, right across the road from the campground. And he told us a good place to kayak on still water without crowds. He said that our campground, Whistlers Campground, was the largest campground in Canada. By the time most of the passengers were dropped back at their stops and we were dropped off back at the campground, it was 12:25 p.m. We stopped in to see the girls who were sleeping soundly, then headed back to Jasper to grab lunch (and dinner to go) from Freshii Restaurant, a healthy place serving Bowls, Wraps, Salads, and Soups. Of course, we did have to stop at the Bear Paw Bakery around the corner for sweets-to-go. The temperature this morning when we got up was a wonderful 52 degrees. Today’s high was 85 degrees but we have some shade at the campsite. We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing and will save driving on congested roads and visiting popular destinations for after the weekend.
Fire update: this evening Rob saw this update on the Chetamon Wildfire near Jasper. The picture shows it noticeably bigger than this morning. As of 1:42 p.m. it was 20 hectares in size and as of 5:47 p.m. it was 300 hectares in size. If they have to evacuate the campgrounds and the crowds, we can’t imagine where all the vehicles and people would go. Here is the link to the article in case you are interested. Compare the picture in this update to the one we took earlier today. It’s growing!