Wildlife spotting in Jasper

After leaving Kelowna, it was about a 10 hour drive to Jasper, our next destination. To break the journey up we stayed the night in Revelstoke. There is nothing to in Revelstoke at this time of year, so after a very brief walk round town, we headed back to the RV site, Cazzie made a chilli and I set about lighting the fire. We cracked open a bottle of red and had our first campfire of the trip.



We were up early the next day to head towards Jasper, which involved driving over the top of the Rockies and Cazzie decided that she wanted to drive this leg, which I was quite pleased about as it meant I could get a proper look at all the views.

There had been some snow overnight and the higher we got, the heavier the snow became, but the Canadians are geared up for much, much worse than this, so our journey was quite a smooth one after the huge snowplows and gritting machines had done their work.

Once we had crossed the BC / Alberta border and started our decent, the snow stopped, the roads became clear and the views became better. It felt like we were stopping at every opportunity to take in the scenery and a snap a few photos.


We arrived in Jasper, but as all the RV parks were shut for the winter, we booked ourselves into a hotel for 2 nights and we took this opportunity to have an early night and enjoy close, warm showers and inside toilets!!!

Up early the next morning as we were being collected at 9am for our wildlife tour. Sundog Tours were the "local experts" at finding wildlife, and sure enough, we saw a Bald Eagle, Mountain Goats, a deer and a coyote.

What we were really after was Elk though, but our "experts" couldn't find any.

Our tour took us up to lunchtime, and we were dropped off back at our hotel, so after a quick bite to eat, we decided to head out to Maligne Lake to see what we could find. After about 15 mins drive, we spotted an Elk just standing by the road. It was brilliant and we felt really chuffed with ourselves - almost like we were better than the pros! After another 2 mins drive, a few cars were stopped on the road, and another 2 elks were about to cross the road.


What we really, really wanted though was a stag, and Cazzie managed to find one in it's natural environment hidden deep in one of the forests. You have to look very carefully to spot him.



We continued down towards Maligne Lake where we met a couple that told us we must do the Maligne Canyon on the way back, so after a few more pictures, we moved on. Maligne Canyon was littered with iced over waterfalls, wildlife and swirling rapid rivers.



Having walked down and back up the canyon, daylight was fading, so we headed back to our hotels room where we once again wanted to take advantage of the home comforts, so we ordered a pizza and bedded in for the night!

I don't feel like I have done this place justice in this blog, but I didn't want to could go on and on about how lovely and picturesque Jasper is. But they say pictures speak a thousand words, so all of ours can be found here.

The town of Jasper is quaint. Lots of gift shops selling little bears, elks and deers, a few restaurants and a couple of places that sell tours etc. A lot of places were closed for the winter and the town itself was quiet.

But let me leave you with my favourite pic of Jasper, a place called Medicine Lake.


Next stop, Banff via Athabasca Falls, the Columbia Ice Fields and Lake Louise!

Stuoobs

xxx