Another 2-ish hours of driving brought me to the beautiful town of Jasper, AB. I have lived in Alberta since 1996 and have never been to Jasper in all that time! So this was well over due.
Had a delay along the way… As soon as I got onto the Yellowhead Highway (Hwy 16), traffic going in both directions was at a standstill apparently due to construction, although as I eventually went through it there really didn’t seem to be much going on. Typical! After that, the speed limit then went lower due to arriving in Jasper National Park, and of all the highways and wildlife I saw on them during my travels, I have never seen so many tourists pulled over on the side of the highway to take pictures of wildlife, scenery, or whatever it was they were looking at! I suppose it’s because the highways up north were very quiet, while the highway to Jasper was very busy.
I didn’t want to spend a fortune on accommodation as it is very expensive in Jasper, so I stayed at the HI Hostel and WOW! I think they must have moved recently because it was in a brand new building and everything in it was immaculate! The common areas, rooms, and amenities within the building are super impressive. I’d be totally fine with staying here again instead of a pricey hotel.
HI Jasper has a most impressive coffee station (below). There was a second drip machine that somehow eluded this picture. A bag of coffee that I had packed with me for my road trip ‘just in case’ came in real handy here. I spent two nights at HI and put on a pot of coffee each morning… and made some fast friends when they discovered I was willing to share 🙂 🙂
The view across the street from the hostel consisted of wilderness and wildlife:
My accommodation was walking distance to EVERYTHING! By everything I mean the town centre, about a 10 minute walk away. There was a train track between the hostel and the town. For as much as the trains would go by (which was a lot!), I never once heard it over night while trying to sleep! The trains that did go by were very long. Thankfully this wonderful pedestrian underpass was available. If you were in a car, you had to wait for the train to go by.
This seemed to be one of the main intersections, that’s a Montana’s restaurant on the corner with what I figure would be a pretty nice view out of those top 3 windows:
Some sights around the town, including the Jasper Fire Hall:
The Jasper Yellowhead Museum:
The St. Mary & St. George Anglican Church ( I can see the geocache in this picture! But yes, I already know what and where it is, ha):
Yes, the three pictures above (fire hall, museum, church) just may have been the objects of my geocaching adventures. I learned that geocaches in Canadian National Parks are not allowed to contain anything beyond a logbook… No swag, not even trackables or travel bugs. This is to deter wildlife from potentially being attracted to them. And it sounds like not all geocachers know this (or read cache descriptions). As a result the cache owners are expected to pay extra attention to their caches.
Saw some more fence art:
And double double WOW WOW! A most fancy and gorgeous Timmies:
Most of the architecture in the town of Jasper looks like this, I loved looking at it all. There were also a gazillion souvenir shops and storefronts where you could book your mountain adventures. And of course, a brewery… up next!!
