Jasper National Park
I’m not gonna lie guys, when I tell people that my husband and I went to Canada for our honeymoon, we get all kinds of reactions. Some can’t even hide their disappointment in time, but most people try to mask their judgement with a surprised smile and an “oh that’s nice”. And to be honest, I kind of felt embarrassed telling people our plans before we went. But let me tell you, the views we saw were some of the most amazing I’ve ever seen. Canada- you don’t get enough credit.
If you’re going to Jasper National Park- 1. you made the absolute right decision and 2. you need this post. Read about our top 3 places, what we wish we skipped, and our compilation of must read random tips- maybe even go there first, they have all the details.
Our Top 3 Sights in Jasper
1.Maligne Lake Road
If you only have 6 hours, this is the #1 thing you have to see. Maligne lake road takes you past Maligne Canyon, Medicine Lake, and then ends at (spoiler alert!) Maligne Lake. Do everything, stop everywhere, and pull over for every animal you see- because you will see all of the animals. When you hike Maligne Canyon, just go for it and hike to all 5 bridges. The depth of the canyon will take your breath away and the views are worth it. Medicine Lake and Maligne Lake are equally as breathtaking with the Rocky’s in the background. Not only are the major sights impressive, but this road is like a North American safari. We saw a bald eagle guarding his nest, a mama and her baby black bear cubs stroll down the side of the road, and a moose guiding her calf through a riverbed. In other words, go without a timeline so you don’t feel rushed. I think this took us about 5 hours to do everything. Do It. And love every minute of it.
Top left: View from the 5th Bridge at Maligne Canyon; Bottom left: Medicine Lake; Right: Maligne Lake
Left: Black bears stroll on the side of the road here; Right: A Moose crosses the river bed
2. Parker’s Ridge
This hike is a bit outside of Jasper on the way to Banff so 110% make sure you do it when you’re driving from one park to another. You might curse me while you’re walking up the switchbacks (Justin sure did), but once you summit the ridge and can look on the other side down onto the Saskatchewan glacier, you’ll be happy you did. Just the vastness of this view makes it impressive. And it’s pretty cool to see one of the Columbia Icefield Glaciers that you can’t see from the Icefields Parkway drive. It only takes about an hour and it’ll make you realize that you’re just one small beautiful human in a world of big beautiful things.
3. Valley of the Five Lakes
Justin said that one of his favorite memories of our entire honeymoon is when I turned a corner when we were running the Valley of the Five Lakes trail and just sighed “Wowwwwww”. For the first second he was worried I saw a bear, but what I was looking at was the color of these lakes. The trail is about 5 miles around and relatively flat so we decided to run it (and by run it, I mean a very slow jog with lots of stops to stare at the water). You’ll pass one huge turquoise lake after another and it is seriously breathtaking. I kept thinking it couldn’t get any prettier until I saw the next lake. Run, walk, crawl- whatever. Just go.
Other Worth It Sights (in order of Worth-It-ness)
– Miette Hot Springs and the Sulfur Springs Hike– The day we came here, it was snowing. That’s right snowing. Did you go in the winter, you may ask. Nope. We went in June. The end of June to be exact. So we waddled about halfway up the trail until the snow was at mid calf and then turned around. Don’t get me wrong, the snow covered trees were beautiful. But we were cold and barely surviving so it definitely wasn’t #1 for us. The snow also cooled off the hot springs so they weren’t as much of a hot tub as I would have liked. Still worth a stop if you have the time and the springs are a great outdoor option if it’s raining.
– Old Fort– this is a hike local to downtown Jasper and really we only did it because we had been sitting on a bus all day (see below for Things we could have done without), but i’m glad we did. You can do the whole loop or you can just climb up a bunch of steps and a seriously steep hill to get an absolutely stunning view of Jasper. Do this. The rest of the loop is just a walk through the woods so take it or leave it based on your time and energy level.
– Wilcox pass– You can do this hike (which is right after the Icefields Center when you’re driving towards Banff) to get a view of the Athabasca glacier. It’s a pretty view (but the glacier doesn’t change much so it looks the same from the bridge at the Icefields Center) and a good hike, but the coolest thing we saw there wasn’t the glacier, it was the big horned sheep that we happened to walk up on. They made this hike a monumental one for us.
Left: View from Wilcox pass; Right: Big Horned Sheep!
– Sunwapta Falls and the Lower Falls Hike– The view of the upper falls is a quick 2 minute walk from the parking lot so it’s worth a stop. When i asked Justin a week after we got back from our trip if he liked the Lower Falls hike, he said “I don’t even remember that hike”. It’s not that it’s not pretty, but it’s no Maligne Canyon and if you’re saving time or energy for other hikes that’s an ok decision here.
– Athabasca Falls– Also super easy to see from the parking lot and worth pulling over to check it out. No hiking required here
Things We Could Have Done Without
– The only thing we really regret doing is booking a bus tour to see the Columbia Icefields and walk on the Athabasca Glacier. Maybe i’m just not a glacier type of gal, but I didn’t feel as amazed as I thought I’d feel when I got off of the big Ice Track vehicle and walked on the glacier. If i had to do this again, I would have either researched the tour that hiked up and down the glacier (which you really need a tour guide for so you don’t fall into a crevasse) or just gone to the Icefield Center on my own (with my own rental car :)) and bought a ticket instead of booking an entire bus tour from Jasper than included an unnecessary lunch buffet and dictated exactly how many minutes I had at every stop.
Random Tips
- Rent a car. Having the freedom to go where we wanted, when we wanted was clutch. I would have gotten super frustrated if a bus driver dictated how long I had at each destinations and we would have never gotten to all 5 bridges as Maligne Caynon or pulled over to see all the animals we saw. Be on your own time and rent a car.
- Do not, I repeat DO NOT, do a bus tour. See #1. Rent a car. We did a bus tour one day to see the Columbia Icefield and walk on the Athabastha glacier and I really wish we didn’t. I hated being on the bus all day. I hated a bus driver dictating how much time i had to look at the sights. I felt like cattle and I didn’t like it. And it wasn’t a bad bus tour either! it was just the style of that kind of trip that really cramped my style.
- Please stay in your car when you take pictures of bears. They can eat you. They will win.
- When you’re in downtown Jasper, eat the Evil Dave’s and get the meatloaf. Almost every restaurant in Jasper will have meatloaf made with venison, elk, and other wild game. It’s freaking amazing. I don’t care if you have a bad childhood association with meatloaf- put on your big girl pants and try it. You will be happy you did.
- Also in downtown Jasper, have a coffee at the SnowDome. It’s a coffee shop/laundromat but they have the best lattes. The Mocha Campfire had the perfect touch of marshmallow flavor and really brightened up my mornings.
- Bring a pack with you that has a camel back feature (we used my Osprey pack) and stuff a waterproof shell jacket (like my Northface), maybe another light sweatshirt layer depending on the weather, and some extra socks because the weather will change no less than 6 times on your 3 mile hike.
- In that same vein, don’t let the weather forecast stop your plans. I mean if it says 100% chance of rain all day, it will likely actually rain (so head to the hot springs), but if it’s a 50% chance, just bring your water proof jacket and a pair of socks (maybe new hiking pants/leggings too) and go for it. I can’t tell you the number of times it said it was a chance of thunderstorms all day and it either didn’t rain, or only rained on our drive to the hike and not the actual hike itself.
- Every place where you can pull off to park has bathrooms and they are much cleaner than a portapotty at any race you’ve ever been to in the US. They always have TP. So be smart and drink water
- Put your comfiest shoes (Allbirds please!) in the back of your car every morning because when you get done with a long hike you’ll want to take off your hiking shoes and put on something that feels like pillows on your feet.
- Bring hiking shoes. I think this is assumed but I say it just to say that running shoes or cross trainers won’t be enough. You’ll want what I call the grippies (aka the tread) for the hiking.
- Don’t expect to have cell service or radio stations when you leave downtown Jasper (same for Banff). So start your GPS while you still have service and have some music or podcasts already downloaded on your phone. The drive from the Calgary airport to Jasper is quite long.
- Jasper is a very dog friendly city and most of the trails allowed dogs. The only trail I remember not allowing dogs is at Maligne Lake so just do your research before you go.
- If you can and it’s your style, stay at a place with a kitchen it in. There’s tons of cabin style options in Jasper and we had a wood burning fireplace and full kitchen in our little one bedroom chalet. Which meant we cooked eggs, bacon and potatoes for breakfast in the morning, made sandwiches for lunch, and made s’more by the fireplace every night
- Enjoy every minute of this trip. It’s beyond gorgeous. And so are you 🙂
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