Jasper Park Lodge--High End Camp for Grown-Ups

From the Athabasca Glacier (Columbia Icefields) to the town of Jasper is 103 KM which goes very quickly (just over an hour) and we arrived at the Jasper Park Lodge (JPL as it is called) a bit over 5 hours-with all the stops and sightseeing- after leaving Lake Louise. The Jasper Park Lodge is beautifully situated across the Athabasca River about 5 Km from the town.. We are greeted by a large family of Elk grazing over dinner at about 5:00 PM on the front lawn of the lodge. The staff is very friendly and our room seems to be a deluxe version of a camp bunk—but what the heck we are living in the wilderness and when in Rome, do as the ....Jasperians do. We eat dinner in the deluxe buffet-hyped by the concierge as the best of the best from all their dining rooms—well, it was pretty awful, dried out main dishes, tasteless food-BUT the salads and dessert were quite excellent as was the chocolate creation the chef prepared as we complained about the quality of the food.

One of the “fun”things we did was to “hike” around the extensive grounds of JPL and walked about 3.5 miles through the forest and visited 3 different lakes (Trifulio, Annette and Edith), all beautifully emerald in color, some with beautiful mountain backdrops and one next to a Quicksand Pit and having its own sand mini-beach. We really enjoyed it very much. At night we had dinner at a restaurant called Tekarra Lodge and really loved it—so much so that we made reservations for the next night. The food was terrific, service excellent and ambiance perfect for the location. We went into downtown Jasper for ice cream dessert and found this old fashioned country store run by a Korean named Dong who just retired from the Saskatchewan government and his wife “grandma”. We had a really nice discussion. On the way back to JPL we encountered several Elk families out for a stroll outside of downtown.

After breakfast we decided to take a journey to Lake Maligne (about 45 minutes from Jasper Lodge) and were richly rewarded. We stopped off about half way up at Medicine Lake—a huge lake that “disappears” in the winter and provided great photos. As we drove toward Lake Maligne, we spotted a large moose-very exciting, even more so after we parked and saw a mother moose and her baby cross the road in front of us. Lake Maligne is likely beautiful, however it was still frozen so while pretty, it is likely gorgeous when thawed. On the way back we encountered more elk, caribou and one long horned mountain sheep—really very exciting and unusual for we city slickers. We spent the afternoon cruising downtown Jasper, lots of time in an Indian native art shop.

The Most Beautiful Road in North America and one of the most Awesome Sites!

We started our journey to Jasper by driving on the Trans Canada Highway #1 west from Lake Louise onto the Icefields Parkway, Canada Route 93 which goes for over 230 Km (142 miles) through some of the most beautiful mountain scenery we have ever seen. We stopped at Bow Lake and the Num-Ti- Jah Lodge that was really quite beautiful and afforded us some terrific photo opportunities. We proceeded up the Parkway passing the intersection with the Saskatchewan Crossing (Canada Route 11) and up towards the Columbia Icefields a series of six or more glaciers surrounding an icefield that comprises the Athabasca Glacier, the largest formation of ice south of Alaska. The icefield is huge, over 233 square miles! The glacier is about 5 Km long and over 1000 feet thick—what is frightening is that in the last 100 years about 1.5 Km has disappeared and the projections are that it may disappear completely in less than 100 more (primarily due to global warming). The trip up the Icefields begins in a large lodge by the side of the road. Large tour buses drive us about 8 minutes to the edge of the Athabasca Glacier and then we are placed on these absolutely enormous specially designed ice tractor-buses (unique in the world with 22 of 23 being in service here). These ice buses move slowly (about 10 MPH) down a very sharp incline onto the glacier itself-once on the glacier we are able to appreciate the enormity of it and also the stark beauty, including crystal blue glacier water draining down the side of the ice path we are on. We are able to spend about 25 minutes at the crest of the glacier to take pictures, etc. and then re board the ice bus to return up the hill to the shuttle bus back. One amazing fact is that this glacier is a tricontinental divide with water from here flowing to the Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic Oceans. This was one of the highlights of this trip (and most others we have taken).

Lake Louise and The Nearby Lakes-Wow is it Beautiful!

The road from Banff to Lake Louise is quite good, very scenic and it's a very fast 45 minute ride. Afterwards we were advised that taking Route 1A instead of Trans Canada Route 1, especially in the morning would be a rewarding drive as you can see long horn sheep, etc.

The Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise is set in what has to be one of the most beautiful settings anywhere. It is situated on Lake Louise—currently covered in snow and ice and magnificent, backed up by glacier coated mountains. The hotel is a smaller, somewhat more modern version of the Banff Springs Fairmont, the room we have is a corner view of the lake and mountains on both sides. The room is well appointed, but smaller, however the view makes up for it.

We had dinner our first night in the Fairview Restaurant in the Hotel. The view is magnificent, the room gorgeous, the service very nice and the food excellent, it was a bit pricey. For breakfast, we ate at their “Poppy's Restaurant” which is basically a scaled down version of the Banff Springs Fairmont with a wide variety of food and attentive service.

We took a car ride from Lake Louise to Emerald Lake (about 45 minutes)--absolutely beautiful, albeit still frozen in mid May. The scenery continued to be stunning. We then drove into Field, BC, basically a railroad town with several hotels, small cafes and an interesting ceramic design studio run by a most talented couple, Katherine and Ryan. We then went west on Highway 1 to Golden, almost a metropolis by the standards of the other towns we visited and enjoyed a covered bridge that was recently erected. We then bee lined back to Lake Louise along the gorgeous highway and soaked in even more of the beautiful views.

We had dinner at the restaurant in the Post Hotel located in Lake Louise Village. We were hesitant about the restaurant as it seemed quite pricey from what we discerned--well it's not cheap, but is a great value for the money. The ambiance reminded us of a beautiful large swiss chalet, the service was top notch and attentive, the sommelier was very accommodating (we even toured his 30,000 bottle cellar) and the food was the best we've had in the Canadian Rockies. Highly recommended!

The Banff Gondola-A Peak Experience!

One of the best experiences to date was taking the Banff Gondola (about 5 minutes from the Banff Springs hotel by car) up Sulfur Mountain. The ride up the mountain is about 8 minutes in a 4 person gondola—looks just like in the Swiss Alps-the views going up are fabulous. Upon arriving at the Gondola Station, you have a 360 degree view of Bow Valley and it is beyond breathtaking. I took an additional kilometer walk (about 500 up and down steps) along the “mountain boardwalk” to the “Cosmic Ray” Station where the views are even more breathtaking. Believe it or not there was ice and slush on the ground in mid-May that made the last few feet a bit challenging. The views at the end made it worth it anyway-my advice is to wear lots of suntan lotion as I got quite roasted.

Arriving in Banff

Arriving into Banff (take first Banff exit and go left into town) was nice, downtown is about 5 city blocks long with LOTS of tourist shops, however the view on either side of the Mountains is a great distraction. Arriving at the Fairmont Banff Springs was beyond spectacular-the hotel appears to be a giant castle backed up by magnificent scenery. The hotel is strictly first class-warm greetings by name, whisked away luggage and car, greeted by etc. Concierge was very helpful and exuberant, really wanted to help assure our time was well spent. The fitness center is totally first class-great machines, spectacular view of the mountains.

On our first night, we had dinner at Castello Ristorante in the hotel—the view is very nice, the service is spectacular and the food very good albeit a bit pricey. The breakfast buffet was beyond belief, beautiful setting, a mind boggling choice of food and pleasant service. On the second night, we went into Banff and had dinner at the highly recommended Maple Leaf Restaurant—again spectacular view of the mountains from the second floor table, good, fresh food and an enjoyable experience.

This is a Great Place for a Vacation

Bottom Line: The Canadian Rockies we experienced are like the Swiss Alps on Steroids-beautiful, expensive and very, very worthwhile. The Fairmont Hotels we stayed in Banff, Lake Louise and Jasper were quite varied, the most memorable parts of the trip included the sheer natural beauty EVERYWHERE we went with majestic towering mountains, beautiful pristine lakes, easy to drive highways with unending postcard scenes at every turn and many tourist sites to see both in Banff and Jasper National Parks.
Among the highlights that we recommend as "must sees" are the Icefields Parkway, The Columbia Icefields and the Banff Gondola.