Technically we were a little further north in Canada when we were on the cruise. We rented a car in Skagway and drove to the Yukon Territory. We rambled past Carcross to the Trans Canada Highway (Highway 1). If we would have turned left we could have gone to Whitehorse but we turned right and went to Jakes Corner. Now Jakes Corner wasn't really bustling. There was a combination small restaurant where we had lunch and a gas station. You can read more about it in the May 23 "Glaciers, Bears and Whales" post if you feel so moved. All of that rambling above was to simply say that we've been as far north in Canada as we are going on this trip. Our northern most stay was in Jasper at the north end of the Icefields Parkway. Jasper has a population of around 5,000 people and is located in the Jasper National Park, making it the sixth national park we've visited on the "road trip" portion of this adventure.
We stayed at a place that Beth was familiar with, the Patricia Lake Bungalows. She had stayed there before on one of her legendary "old lady trips". The bungalows are small cabin/cottages located about four miles out of town on the crystal clear Patricia Lake. The town of Jasper has a small but busy downtown with enough shops and restaurants to keep both the tourists and locals happy. It also has some great destinations just out of town such as the Jasper Fairmont Hotel which has a great walking trail around it's lake, Maligne Canyon, Medicine Lake which disappears underground during the dry season and much more. We had a great time roaming around many of these places (saw another black bear). We also used a great resource in Jasper that we take advantage of more and more as we travel the globe........the library!
http://www.jasper.travel/
https://www.explorejasper.com/medicine-lake/
Yes, in the US and abroad the libraries are great resources because you will typically find free and very good internet access. It makes staying in touch with family and friends easier and is all so very helpful for researching future destinations. Yesterday we spent several hours working on and booking some of our future travel.
Dang! If I had only realized how useful the library could be back in my high school and college days no telling what may have happened!
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| Patricia Lake |
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| Patricia Lake Bungalows-This picture was taken at about 11:00PM. I'm not sure what time it finely gets dark but daylight is around 5:30AM. |
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| The dock at Patricia Lake Bunglows |
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| From the walking trail at the Fairmont Jasper Hotel |
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| Maligne Canyon |
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| Maligne Canyon-That's actually a park service employee who repelled down into the canyon to get some trash. Better him than me! |
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| Maligne Canyon |
