September 9
We left Kamloops for Jasper National Park this morning. As we pulled out of the gas station after filling up, we saw the Rocky Mountaineer train leaving Kamloops, fully loaded with passengers. We’ve talked at length about taking a trip across Canada that way, and seeing it in person was exciting!
Since I first moved to the PNW and heard about the proximity to Jasper and Banff I’ve wanted to take THIS trip and I’m so grateful that it’s finally underway, 14 years later.
As we were unwinding last night we read about Wells Gray Provincial Park, which is sorta kinda on the way to Jasper, and happens to be the setting for numerous waterfalls. I’m a total sucker for a waterfall anytime. It was going to add about a 90-minute detour to our journey today, so we decided to sleep on it. This morning it was a no-brainer. We’ve got the time!
We took the road that parallels the Clearwater River, for about 30 miles and did a couple short walks – one to Helmcken Falls, the 4th tallest waterfall in Canada, and another to Dawson Falls which is really wide with about a 60 foot drop. There were so many more to see! If you lived in Kamloops you could do a waterfall hike at Wells Gray every weekend and see a different one each time!
After taking our time with the waterfalls we needed to pick up the pace of the day but we hadn’t eaten a thing. Luckily we found The Painted Turtle restaurant at Dutch Lake where we had a fantastic lunch as we sat lakeside listening to the loons calling to each other. Canadian paradise!
We headed back up the Yellowhead highway following the beautiful North Thompson River. We could see the Rocky Mountains looming as we drove north. From time to time we had some pretty heavy rain but the roads were in good shape and traffic was light. Marshall would be surprised by the rare car in the rearview mirror. Truly the wide open spaces.
I played DJ keeping the music going and trying to take an occasional photo or two. At one point literally in the middle of nowhere, as I was looking left Marshall pointed to the right and yelled “MOOSE!!” And sure enough, there he was, just standing there on the side of the road. No time to grab a phone or camera but etched in our minds forever.
Now we were both on the lookout for more, but the only moose we saw the rest of the drive were the silhouettes of them on the yellow moose crossing signs along the highway. We did see two deer, a young buck and an even younger doe, crossing the road, and they were beautiful. Their silky fur was more gray than brown, and they looked so healthy.
I don’t know where to begin about Jasper National Park. There’s so much to see and we drove through the main gate with our jaws agape. The mountains don’t look like anything else I’ve ever seen: layers of rock folded in every direction, making wild shaped objects that jut skyward across the horizon in every direction. Water everywhere- lakes, rivers, ponds and marshes, all so distinctly different from each other, blending into the larger scenery in colors that you’d think couldn’t be found in nature.
We arrived at our cabin after suppertime and were greeted by a sky shimmering with starlight. We looked up and saw the Big Dipper and Cassiopeia as well as the Milky Way which appeared as if someone had taken a paintbrush across the sky with glow-in-the-dark paint.
Not sure how we’ll be able to sleep tonight, because we’re so excited to begin exploring the park in the morning.
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