Jasper National Park - The Rockies

Day 11-14

From Drumheller I took a little trip to the Royal Tyrell Museum to learn all about Dinosoars and Paleontologists. This brand new museum was a worth-while stop. Then it was up and out of the Badlands and onto rolling prarie hills toward Lacombe, where i visited a twin dome baptist church and got a little tour. I drove on past Rocky Mountain House on Hwy 11 and into the foothills of the rockies. I stayed in a little roadside stop that night, and made a warm fire, the mountains beckoning in the distance.
The Next day i drove out into the thick of the Rockies. Early morning caught many white tail deer family grazing beside the road. This is truly a beautiful drive. I'd love to do it on a motorcycle some day. There are no trucks allowed on the "icefields pkwy" so apart from the odd rv the traffic is great. You just gotta roll down the windows and take in a deep breathe of that fresh sweet mountain air.
Just before you reach Jasper there is a little side road 93A. Turn here and stop first to check out Athabasca falls, then if you follow the Athabasca river you'll reach a mountain road going to Mt . Edith Caval, which is where Becky manages a rustic hostel. Rustic meaning no electricity. Simple and gorgious. There are a few panabode cabins, all of which have woodstoves and gas lanterns. Most visitors come for the day and see the glacier, but a few intrepid mountain climbers make an ascent(some skill required).

Becky has just returned from a 4 day canoe trip with Hieka (her releif manager) in the park, and on top of that Heika's friend Sasha showed up on his motorcycle.
I've spent the last 4 days with this gang and it has been fun. Good food, stories and not to mention scrabopoly! (it's exciting and I'll have to teach you guys it some day)
On Sunday i went on a hike around to the back cirque of mt. Edith Caval and ascended the alpine forest up to the skree at the tree line (7000ft) It was a lot for my first big mountain hike about 6 hours. But I went up with Jack (general manager of Hostels International for Jasper region) and Roger and Laurie (hostel managers). It was great excersice. We got up close to a ptarmigan family who blend in well with the trail in summer and have a total white plumage in winter. I have to say Jack and Roger are a comical pair and in better shape than I. They set a good pace.



The Next day I hiked up to the alpine meadows with Becky and we caught up on a lot of stuff. The Wildflowers are incredable up here. I will do my best to identify them later for you later. (see rocky mountain High gallery on flickr). We saw Clark's nutckracker and Raven. Also a Mother and Baby Marmot. who live in the glacial moraine(rocks).

Last night we had a great exaustive game of scrabbopoly which we invented. It includes as you can guess scrabble, monopoly, but also trivial pursuit, poker and a free market).
Today is town chores in Jasper a beautiful but expensive town. I am heading north west out on the highway to BC tonight on my way to visit with Jeff Taylor and Douglas Curran in Vancouver (2.5 days drive)