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Whenever I inform folks – here in Canada and elsewhere – that The Girl and I spent a couple of nights in Jasper, their first instinct is to enquire about the residual damage from the 2024 wildfire. For those readers who know nothing of this dramatic event this brief detail comes from the Jasper Travel website:

“In July 2024, Jasper, experienced a historic wildfire, the largest in the past century, affecting over 32,000 hectares and causing significant damage to homes and businesses.

Despite the adversity, the town’s spirit remained strong, and recovery efforts have been swift and collaborative. While some areas were affected, much of the park’s breathtaking landscapes remain untouched, and the resilience of our community shines as we rebuild and welcome visitors back to our beloved destination.

Jasper continues to be a place of awe-inspiring wilderness, and we invite travellers to experience the beauty, adventure, and warmth that define our town as we move forward together”.

It is true that should one look closely one can plainly make out evidence of just how close the fires came to the centre of the town; in some cases into it. There is also no avoiding the sight of the temporary housing for those whose properties were sadly lost. There are also extensive ‘portakabin’ villages housing the construction crews that are rebuilding the affected parts of the community.

Whilst in Jasper we went on an evening wildlife bus tour, guided by local conservationists. These good folks were surprisingly up-beat about the damage done, explaining that such events are natural and that nature itself is capable of recovering surprisingly rapidly.

Some evidence of this positive news may be discerned in these images:

Following the three day sojourn in Banff concerning which I posted last time out, our small band of intrepid travellers mounted a different bus for the transfer to Jasper – this latter being the location of our rendezvous with the train that would transport us through the Rockies.

This bus was another of The Girl’s excellent finds. Rather than sprint the relatively short journey from Banff to Jasper this excursion would take a leisurely whole day to complete the trip, enabling us to see an additional range of unmissable sights en route.

One of the promised – and perhaps the most dramatic of these sights – featured a visit to the Icefields.

I have walked on a glacier before – in Alaska – but there we were whisked onto the ice in helicopters. Here we were actually driven up onto the ice in the most extraordinary all-terrain vehicles. The pictures must be seen:

This extraordinary glass bottomed structure – the Jasper Skywalk – enables one to walk on air high above the deeply carved canyon:

Additional stops before a late afternoon arrival in Jasper were Peyto Lake (which everyone agrees is shaped like a wolf’s head!) and the spectacular Athabasca Falls:

On the second day of our hop on/hop off exploration of Banff National Park we visited the Lake Louise Gondola and Moraine Lake. The ride up the gondola is spectacular and brings home the sheer scale of the Rocky mountains. In the first image below you can just make out – in the centre of the photograph – Lake Louise and the Chateau.

Moraine Lake is quite possibly the most electric of the blue lakes – though it has to be said that it does have a fair bit of competition within the same national park.

There are, of course, many things to see aside from the many lakes and mountains.

‘Hop on Banff‘ was a great find on The Girl’s part and is widely praised in the various online guides. This photo is of one of their excellent teams – Lewis – the (English!) guide – and Bobbi the driver. Great fun  – great value and most flexible in the way that one can essentially construct one’s own itinerary.

Kudos!

Canada is a huge country which contains, arguably, more than its fair share of natural beauty. The Girl and I frequently  find ourselves overwhelmed by its ravishing gorgeousness – and that is just here on Vancouver Island. Should one explore further afield within in the province –  or, indeed, venture into the great expanse of the nation beyond – one finds one’s breath taken away on a regular basis.

There are some parts of the country, however, that go beyond any glories that I have thus far experienced. Lake Louise – in the Banff National Park – is one such area of staggeringly dramatic beauty! So epic is it that I should at once stop trying to capture its perfection in words – and just let the gentle reader goggle at the images.

Without further ado…

The colour of the waters of the lake seem almost unreal. All of the glacier-fed lakes in the area have similar distinctive hues – a result of the particles trapped in the ice which remains in suspension once the ice has melted.