Thursday, June 22, 2023: Snow, elks and a grizzly
Info:
Where the Miette River flows into the Athabasca River, at 1062 m above sea level, lies the town of Jasper with not quite 5000 inhabitants.
With more than 10,000 km2 Jasper NP is the largest national park in the Canadian Rocky Mountains and together with Banff, Yoho and Kootenay UNESCO World Heritage. Annually, the park has to cope with over 2.5 million tourists.
My opinion:
Jasper is completely different in character than Banff. The valley of the Athabasca River is a wide one. Driving the Icefield Parkway towards Jasper, you get to see a lot of glaciers – but also notice clearly how far they have receded.
Several mountain ranges come together around Jasper, and from Mount Whistlers (about 2800 m) you can even see Mount Robson, which with its almost 4000 m is the highest mountain in the Canadian Rocky Mountains.
I was in Jasper for over a week, but unfortunately couldn’t do everything I would have liked because the weather didn’t cooperate. Still, the times when it didn’t rain or snow were more than compensation. Because wherever you look: You can’t help but be amazed.
Diary:
As I drove north along the Icefield Parkway, I was still thinking that I would revisit many of the places I was passing now over the course of the next week. I was especially looking forward to the Athabasca Glacier.
But then the skies darkened, and what Donna, Paul and I subsequently experienced was 62 hours of continuous rain. On the morning of June 19 there was another surprise: snow!
Fortunately, there was better weather before and after the onset of winter! But honestly: Two and a half days of heavy rain are not a real pleasure when camping …
I was particularly fond of the Athabasca River, and I went hiking along the river several times at different places – with Bear Spray in my backpack.
June 21 was a special day. We were at Whistlers Campground. During the night it was still sub-zero. When I came back from the shower in the morning, there were an elk and an elk cow behind Annie Way. These are very very large deer. (What we call “Elch” in German are called moose here.) The two were comfortably chewing their cud again and were not bothered, although they kept a close eye on us. I entered Annie Way through the driver’s door facing away from the elks, rather than the sliding door, so as not to disturb the animals.
Things got a bit more dramatic in the evening. Donna and I were sitting in the trailer, Paul was outside, when Donna looked out of the window and noticed something big and brown. It was a grizzly not twenty meters from us. I yanked open the door of the trailer and we yelled for Paul to come in immediately, which he did. Then we observed how fast such a grizzly can be.
I also warned a German family I had met in Banff who were camping near us. Shortly after, rangers arrived with their cars and made the grizzly disappear back into the forest.
Incredible how big and beautiful this animal was! And I realized one thing: the backpack is the wrong place for the Bear Spray. A grizzly runs at a speed of 60 km/h. If the Bear Spray is to serve its purpose, which is to drive the bear away, then it must be at hand. Grizzlies are less aggressive than black bears. They are territorial, meaning that if you see a grizzly and back away to show you don’t want to enter its territory, it will probably settle for that.
But June 21 was not only special for us. On this day, the National Indigenous Peoples Day was celebrated all over Canada. In Jasper, therefore, there was a packed program in a park. Unfortunately, the weather was bad for a change. What was shown at the individual booths was highly interesting. Ed Jensen, for example, makes knives from obsidian and other stones and has had great success with them. His knives can be found in the collections of sheikhs, and Justin Trudeau also owns one.
The next day I did not go hiking. Not even the nearby Athabasca River could make me do that. But I bought a bear bell that you hang on your backpack. The bears learn at school that they should disappear when they hear such a bell. Hopefully my next bear didn’t play hooky that day. – Bear bells come in all colors. Mine is yellow.
A great experience was the Skytram ride up Mount Whistlers. As spectacular as everything looks from below, the panorama from up there is awesome! I saw a pika for the first time, a mouse-like animal that lives at high altitudes in the alpine tundra!
Saying goodbye to Paul and Donna was difficult for me. It was a wonderful time with two people who have been a part of my life for 35 years – even across the great distance – and who mean a lot to me.