A Spring Drive through Jasper and Banff National Parks
By Naomi Judd
Driving East on the Yellowhead Highway (Highway 16) I began to see the snow capped Caribou Mountains just southwest of the Canadian Rockies. I grinned looking out the windshield; this drive would not be a disappointment. My partner and I, with our belongings packed in the back of our pickup would turn our move from Alaska to Washington into a scenic drive through Jasper and Banff National Parks. What's more, we would explore the park mid-April, before the tourist rush. Even on our budget this meant we could treat ourselves with the help of off-season discounts.
Just before crossing from British Columbia to Alberta, Canada we pulled over to stretch our legs and admire the tallest peak in the Canadian Rockies. Mt. Robson, nearly two and half miles tall at 12,973 feet (3954m) is bold. It hid its presumably magnificent summit in thick grey clouds but even its severe lower half seemed to command attention from every person, peak and mountain goat around it. I stared at its many bands of rock and ice, steeply stacked into the clouds. Some of the ice was a glaciated blue, having been part of the mountain for a very long time.
An older couple pulled up beside us with their van and small camper trailer.
"It's beautiful isn't it?" The man in a fur cap said from the driver's seat. His wife nodded, smiling warmly as if we were praising a well kept garden. As it turns out this was their sort of garden. They had hiked all around the area in their youth and lived in or visited most of Canada and the United States. Now in their 80's they still roamed the area, unwilling to succumb to four walls and a less than spectacular view. They kindly offered us cans of beans if we needed any. They were the real thing, the real road trippers of the Northwest.
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Along Bow Valley Highway
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The peaks after that presented themselves as more picture worthy. The Canadian Rockies, with their signature triangular spires are layered with blue-black rock under wind-blown cornices of snow. The cornices arch off the ridgelines like cake heavy with too much vanilla frosting. After spotting a moose in the wetlands of Moose Lake and purchasing a 3 day park pass at the park's gate, we made our way into the comfy, mountain town of Jasper. Dinner at Earl's presented us with a luscious green curry.
The Tonquin Inn welcomed us to our room complete with an outdoor hot tub just several yards away. Our bodies relaxed into the hot steaming water and our eyes relaxed into the dark, star-studded sky above. We watched the clouds brush by and smirked to be the only people around. Not only do you get a hot tub to yourself in the off-season, but also 30 percent off your stay. Little flecks of snow fluttered down and melted into the steam.
Flurries drifted outside the window of the Other Paw Bakery as we enjoyed a fresh sticky bun the next morning. A red and black train shuddered on the tracks parallel to the bakery. The mountains and the road, beckoned us to make our way to Banff.
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Pileated Woodpecker
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The 180 miles (291km) from Jasper to Banff was the best segment of road I have ever driven. Route 93, known as the Icefields Parkway would normally take just a few hours to drive. The way we stopped to take photos, we took over 6 hours. We paralleled the Parkway on the curvy 93A for a while, finding two busy pileated woodpeckers, vibrant in their black, white and red plumage. We walked around the still frozen Athabasca Falls, back-dropped by Mount Kerkeslin
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Visitor Center
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Rejoining with the Parkway, we saw some peaks slanted to the left, others to the right. Some were scarred with vertical lines, others horizontal, some were formed of many slabs and pointed sharp while others tabled off like mesas. All of them became whiter as our truck chugged up the pass towards the Athabasca Glacier which spills out of the Columbia Icefield. A castle-like visitor center stood sentinel across from where glacier tour buses clawed onto the ice with giant tires. It wasn't just the glacier that attracted my attention; it was the entire 360 degrees around me. Every peak was capped in a hat of blue glacier ice, creeping solidly over everything. My eyes strained to comprehend it all.
We left the main road once again and let the Bow Valley Parkway take us into Banff. A quiet, winding road, it calmed us before we came to a large herd of Elk by the exit into town. They munched on the grass like horses, blending into the field but for their white rumps which shone like beacons.
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View From Banff Inns
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Banff was easy to slip into. The architecture of the town is rugged and classy at once with large stone and wood beams that even the supermarket was artfully constructed of. We checked in to our room at the Inns of Banff, complete with a stunning corner balcony overlooking the peaks. The room was, we would find upon checking out two days later, accidentally upgraded in addition to our off-season discount. We softened our muscles in the giant outdoor hot pool on the roof after a bite to eat. The breeze was sharp but clean and revitalizing. The peaks glowed at us under blue starlight.
By midmorning the next day the sun had worked away the bright coat of snow that was shed from the sky in the night. We walked around town all morning and went for a swim and sauna after lunch. People still walked Banff Avenue in ski boots, carrying skis and boards back to their rooms from the mountain shuttles, but really there weren't too many people around. Mount Rundle among other mountains seemed to keep watch over the happy village. It was comfortably inhabited but not crowded this time of year.
St. James's Gate Olde Irish Pub on Wolf Street presented us with a mouth watering whiskey marinated chicken and shepherds pie. The night breeze picked up outside and, eyes tired from so many sights, we clinked glasses, a Guinness and an Irish coffee. We'd be coming back again.
