The Mountains – Alberta Road Trip Part 2

I lost two GoPro batteries and a memory card on a mountain trail. We both suffered from stomach issues thanks to something we ate and spent too much time in pain. And still, the three nights we spent at Jasper National Park in the Canadian Rockies was one of the best experiences of my life.

You know that “we’re not in Kansas anymore” kind of feeling? That’s what I had the first time I walked from our campsite to the bathroom. Looking to my right was a mountain peak rising above the trees, with the rock face having almost a pinkish hue. On my left was another peak, this one more jagged and pointy and the rock was more white. As I write this I’m looking at the pictures and still feel the absolute awe I had at that moment. It never failed to stop me in my tracks. Miette Campground and the Rocky Mountains won me over instantly.

We had chosen to book a site at Miette Campground for a couple of reasons. The first was that I did want to reserve a site ahead of time and not leave it up to chance that we would find something when we reached Jasper National Park. Only a few campgrounds take reservations, the rest are first come, first served. Second, when we looked at pictures of the few sites available elsewhere, they were in campgrounds that had lost many of their trees due to pine beetle damage and the sites were no longer private. The site at Miette looked perfect in pictures and turned out to be amazing in person.

Our first night there was all about learning how to set up camp with the new Gnome Homes teardrop trailer we had picked up earlier that day (read Part 1 of this series here). It was, after all, the entire reason for this trip. Nestled among the pine trees, we parked the trailer, pulled out the awning, and started setting up the side tent. The side tent attaches onto the passenger side of the trailer and more than doubles our living space.

The dogs took to the tent immediately and fell asleep. I had planned for them to sleep in the trailer with us, but throughout the rest of the trip they would usually sleep on sleeping bags in the side tent and just jump in the trailer with us occasionally.

We woke to a light rain falling through the pines the next morning. It wasn’t enough to trigger the rain sensor on the fan and close it, but the pitter-patter of the rain hitting the trailer made it feel that much cozier and kept us in bed a bit longer.

Driving through four provinces in four days and putting more than 3,700km on the truck had left all five of us beat.

After a lazy morning at camp we packed up the camera and GoPro and headed to the other side of the campground to go for our first mountain hike.

Molly strained at the end of her leash, trying to pull us along the trail even faster. I’ve walked along plenty of trails meandering through a pine forest before, but I’ve never been able to glance to the side and see a towering mountain peak through the trees. It felt like I was in some nature documentary.

Wagging tails, hanging tongues, and sudden stops for smells were a sure sign that the dogs were enjoying the chance to stretch their legs.

My favourite spot was the lookout at the top of the old mining site trail. It was our first chance to really take in a full mountain vista…and wow. I could have stayed there all day. I don’t know exactly why mountains are so fascinating. Maybe it’s because none of them look exactly the same. Maybe it’s how wild they feel. At that moment I wished I was in way better shape, because hiking to the peak seems like a pretty incredible experience.

I think it was at this point that I made the mistake that lost me the GoPro batteries and memory card. I had the spares in my camera bag and opened the pouch to get Darrell’s phone out. For some reason, I never zipped the pouch back up. I didn’t realize this until several hours later at camp. Nothing else fell out, just the most expensive things that were in there.

That evening we headed up the road to Miette Hot Springs. Neither of us had a desire to soak in the hot springs, but there was a trail taking you to the source and we both wanted to see that.

The trail to the source is an easy walk and takes you along the river, past the old Miette Aquacourt that opened in 1938 and closed in 1984, and past a couple of smaller sources, to the main one on this path. The stream reminded me of some of my favourite little brookie streams, except for the overwhelming smell of sulphur. When you get to the source, you can actually reach down into the water thanks to a board that has been placed there. It’s amazingly warm.

We were in the minority of people visiting the hot springs as we didn’t go for a soak. But even if you don’t want to do that, there’s so much to see and plenty of hiking trails. The Miette area is one of the first high country areas to open in Jasper each year. It also happens to come with a warning in the info booklets that thunderstorms pop up with little warning.

Back at camp Darrell got a fire going and we finally got to enjoy our Victory steaks. The journey to get to this point had been a long one. From ordering the trailer back in December, to having our pick-up date change a couple of times due to parts delays. To all the planning and driving that finally landed us there, on a mountain, in the Rockies, with our trailer. Those steaks were our way of celebrating.

Thanks to a fantastic conversation with a fellow camper in the bathroom on our first night at camp, we headed for Edith Cavell on our third day in Jasper National Park. We made a pitstop in the town of Jasper to get fuel and sandwiches. If you love tourist towns and checking out little shops, Jasper is the perfect place for you! It was not the perfect place for us and we were happy to get back on the Icefields Parkway.

Driving up Mount Edith Cavell was our first good experience in mountain switchbacks. Miette Road had nothing on this. Darrell’s not fond of heights and I’m not fond of sheer drops a foot or two from my tires. It was hilarious! The two of us were laughing so much that my cheeks hurt by the time we got to the parking lot.

If you get the chance to go to Edith Cavell, do it. You won’t be disappointed. It’s stunning.

We spent the rest of the day driving the Icefields Parkway into Banff National Park before returning to camp. Along the way we stopped at various pull-offs that gave incredible views of rivers, glaciers, mountains, and forests. Goats and Glaciers Lookout won for my favourite name of the trip. Unfortunately there were no goats to be seen while we were there.

Athabasca Falls was packed so we looped the parking lot and headed back out.

Athabasca Glacier on the other hand was easy to view. There’s a great pull-off on the highway before you get to the road to the glacier. It’s an awesome spot to stop and take pictures.

My Backroads Mapbook App is full of waypoints for neat things we saw along the way and places we want to return to. The two full days we had in the park was mainly for gawking at the mountains and just taking it all in.

I can’t find a way to put into words exactly what I felt while in Jasper National Park. I hope the pictures tell the story better than I can. What I CAN say is that the mountains profoundly affected me. I have dreamed of them every day since. It’s been over a month since we returned home and I find myself scrolling through the pictures and videos constantly. I want to go back. I need to go back.

Our goal is to return in two years, with fishing licenses and in better shape to handle some more difficult trails. You can be sure I’ll be planning and dreaming until that happens.

And just like that, our time in the mountains was over. On our third morning at camp, and on Day 7 of our trip, we packed up Fish Finder, got the dogs loaded into the truck, and started heading back to Ontario.

We still had plenty of adventures ahead of us, and some of the most frustrating and funny moments of the trip were yet to happen.

This is Part 2 of 3 in our Alberta Road Trip series. The first part can be read here. Keep an eye out for the last part, as well as posts about why we chose a teardrop trailer, and why we bought from Gnome Homes. We’ll also be posting videos from the trip on our YouTube channel when we have a bit more time to edit them.