This text is part of the special book Plaisirs
In northern Alberta, the small town of Jasper is an excellent base for exploring the huge national park of the same name. And despite the vastness of the protected territory, there is a lot to see without straying too far. As part of our Summer Vacation series, we’ve got you covered with outdoor activities to see the country without leaving the country.
1. In the Footsteps of Edith Cavell
Named after a British nurse executed by the Germans during World War I, Mount Edith Cavell is famous for once being featured on ten-dollar bills, but also for its awe-inspiring rock climbing walls. In 1977, Pierre Elliott Trudeau climbed this mountain of 3363 m by its east face.
However, it is its north face that can be admired when taking the delightful Prés-Cavell path (5 hour walk). Moderately steep, this one offers privileged views of the Angel Glacier in addition to crossing meadows of subalpine wildflowers, before sinking into a forest of conifers.
At the foot of this mountain, a milky green lake seems to have had an infusion of mint, when observed from a belvedere located at the end of the Passage-du-Glacier trail (1 hour walk). However, it is better not to venture to the foot of the cliff, because, in 2012, a block of ice the size of a house broke off from the wall. And in these times of climate change, we must be extra careful…
For a guided hike: jasperhikesandtours.ca
2. A small canyon that makes you think big
In summer, Medicine Lake, about 20 km from Jasper, is completely filled with water, along its 7 km well enclosed between peaks planed by ancient glaciers. But in the fall, this shallow lake looks more like a vast mud pool, before filling up again the following spring. So what’s going on here?
Like a vast bathtub that slowly empties because of a badly inserted stopper, Lake Medicine sees its waters flow gradually, during the summer, in a vast network of underground galleries. Several converge on the Maligne River, which for millennia has carved its way through the friable karst and limestone of the soil, which forms, in places, an impressive canyon 50 m deep.
Today, a series of six bridges and very well laid out easy trails (75 min round trip) frame the canyon, offering as many views from above on the falls, cascades and other curtains of flowing water. In early spring and during winter, the canyon is even more spectacular when its walls are adorned with sections of ice and icy stalactites, and when the frozen river bed can be explored with crampons on your feet. We will have to come back…
3. Wind around Pyramid Lake
” Hello bear! guide Elissa Cummings shouts at every turn, a bottle of pepper spray on her belt, as she takes the bends in the mountain bike trails leading to Pyramid Lake. Despite the proximity of the town of Jasper, grizzly bears sometimes prowl the area, and you wouldn’t want to come face to face with one. Rest assured: as they say over there, “grizzly bears are real Canadians: they want peace and quiet!” “. It is enough not to surprise them and, to do this, to loudly signal their presence.
By milling a little bit around Pyramid Lake, you soon come across junctions that allow cycling asides to vast panoramic openings with breathtaking views of the Rockies, but you can also continue on a dirt road for four hours and access the summit of Mount Pyramid (2707 m), with a hiking portion. From Jasper, there are also 150 km of mountain bike trails for all levels of cyclists, which form an abundant network of picturesque paths.
The Pyramid Lake trail is taken from a parking lot at the edge of the forest, not far from the Desrochers Francophone school — an astonishing presence in this Alberta town of barely 4,600 souls.
For guided hikes: journeybikeguides.com
4. Unqualified Stars
If Mont Mégantic, in Quebec, is at the heart of the first international dark sky reserve to have seen the light of day (and night) in the world, that of Jasper National Park is the second largest on the planet and it has was designated as such in 2011 by the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada. Its isolation in northern Alberta offers the promise of skies particularly free of light pollution and well endowed with twinkling stars, but also with aurora borealis, when the conditions lend themselves to it.
Covering an area of 11,288 km2, Jasper National Park has a multitude of sites that allow you to be amazed, but also a planetarium and a telescope, set up on the former tennis court of the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge hotel . Every evening, we review the constellations visible in our latitudes and offer animations and explanations on the native legends related to the celestial vault, in the company of an astronomer.
To catch fragments of the starry sky in flight, you can also take part in the workshops of Mike Gere, a photography pro who offers 2-hour night walks in the open air. And although he also carries a canister of pepper spray permanently on his belt, he has never needed to use it…
The author was a guest of Tourism Jasper and Air Transat.
This special content was produced by the Special Publications team of the Duty, relating to marketing. The drafting of Duty did not take part.