The town of Jasper is somewhat of an enigma. Made up of gift shops and restaurants along a single main street which parallels the railroad, this community is literally leased from
the park system at what one merchant described as an
exorbitant price. This, of course is reflected in the prices
charged, although the food, with some exceptions, was within
reason. Just out of town, in any of the three directions was what
we had come to see. Jagged mountain peaks, still lakes and
rivers, bathed in bright sunlight which reflected of the lush
green mountainsides. There were animals everywhere. All pretty
much oblivious to the coming and goings of tourists. Big horn
sheep, mountain goats, deer, and of course the ever present Elk.
For you 1950s film buffs, "River of no Return", with
Marilyn Monroe was shot 
on the Athabasca River which runs
through town. The Maligne River which has been cutting through its limestone bed for millenniums has created a gorge of
unprecedented proportions. Everything is clean, clear and
unspoiled. Our last day's outing was spent climbing a glacier.
This feat will go down as one of our more spectacular bragging
rights. Sprawling across the Great Divide, the Columbia Icefield
covers 325 square kilometers, and is over thirty stories deep at
its deepest point. The largest icefield in the Canadian Rockies,
the Columbia Icefield feeds rivers that flow three directions
into three
different oceans. This phenomenon is
somewhat of a rarity, existing only in a few other places. The
two things that we learned was that it is always cold on an ice
flow, and as glaciers always run down hill, they are always
between two large mountain structures which creates a wind
funnel, so cold and windy are the ingredients that met us as we
climbed. At first I thought a light rain had developed until I
was informed that the wind was sufficient to pick up surface
water off the ice and hurl it down the mountainside like rain. We
were interested in watching the four men shown in the background
of our pictures. It seems that from time to time the crust of the
ice will break sending an unwary tourist plunging into a crevasse
in the ice. It is
these men's jobs to go down into
that crevasse after them. It was frightening just watching them
practice going down. The man on the surface has to secure pitons
into the ice and watch them while his partner repels down the
rope. I put this job high on my list of things I wouldn't want as
a second occupation. After our obligatory pictures, as each of us
ventured out onto the ice, we worked our way back down the mile
or so to the parking lot and were off to see the rest of the
Rockies. As we finish up our stay in the Canadian Rockies, I have
to admit when it comes to mountains, these are the best I have
seen so far. There are so many activities in this area it is
almost hard to list them all. There are winter activities such as
cross country skiing and snowshoeing, plus guided walking tours
of the canyon. Those of you who know me, also know my aversion to
cold, so I'm sure that I won't be coming for any of these
delightful activities any time soon. However, in the spring,
summer and fall the list of activities is virtually endless.
There are any number of hikes that can be taken by the novice
hiker, or the over-night-backpack-carry-everything-in 
experienced hiker. They have golf courses in the area
and nearby there is a hot springs. The restaurants in town are
numerous and feature very good food, although at slightly higher
than normal prices. For the ladies who aren't exactly thrilled
with all this nature stuff there are any number of touristy shops
in town. We spent a week there and didn't run out of things to
do. We really loved Jasper and wouldn't hesitate to put this at
the top of our "things to repeat" list. As all good
things eventually do, our adventure at Jasper came to an end and
we trudged reluctantly west towards Kamloops in British Columbia.
If you get a chance take a look at their website at: http://www.parkscanada.gc.ca/jasper.