Edmonton to Vancouver through Canada’s Beautiful Mountainsfeatured
his summer for Canada’s Day we decided to road trip from Edmonton to Vancouver through Jasper and then Whistler mountain. This was my first road trip in Canada. Usually I would either go camping or cottaging, but they’re usually a 4 hours drive max, so I was really anticipating this adventure from my regular summer routine. This would be my first time going to Jasper. I’ve drove towards Banff before, but had to loop back to Calgary before even entering the Icefield area due to time constraint. We only stopped by at Lake Louise before heading back to Calgary and then Edmonton. The first time we drove towards Banff, I was awestruck by the boundless tree-lined mountains, fluffy white clouds just floating above their tips and their crystal blue river. I lived in Ontario, the place of trees and waterfalls. The closest thing I’ve seen to a mountain was the Bruce Peninsula and its Grotto, a large rocky hill with an underground cave where you can swim inside. It was super cold, but no other provincial park in Ontario even came close to the crystal blue/green colour of the lake there. Although that was breathtaking at that time, it was nothing compared to the feelings I had while driving towards Banff coming from Calgary. I couldn’t contain my excitement; I pulled out my camera and took hundreds of pictures through the window even before we stopped at Lake Louise. So of course, the night before we took off, I couldn’t even sleep that well while containing my excitement; a road trip to Vancouver through Jasper! How awesome is that!
1If you take a look at the map below, that’s the route we took. Instead of heading directly to Vancouver, we decided to drive through the mountains towards Whistler instead because apparently that highway is super dangerous during the winter time. I can definitely see why. After Kamloops, you’re continually driving on an incline towards the mountain, the road is like a snake, winding and turning sharply at time with no straight drive. In certain area, if you were to look out the passenger window you’ll see how steep of a drop the side are, how high above you are driving. In winter, if you don’t have winter chains on, you wouldn’t even be allowed to drive there due to the sharp turns and the deadly steep drop. It was definitely a sight to behold, especially if you’re afraid of heights like I am. My hands and feet tingled just looking out the window. If I were driving, I’ll probably be going at only 80 km.
Jasper National Park
Our first stop was in Jasper. We left Edmonton around 6pm so by the time we got to Jasper, it was around 10pm. So the first thing we did when we got there was to book a campground. We decided on Whistlers Campground. While registering, we were warned of bears roaming the area so we were told to keep everything in the car, other than clothing of course. I was glad I brought my Kodiak Wildlife Deterrent Horn. But of course, we had no bear encounters that night…disappointingly. Although I know I’ll be full of fear when I see one, I still want to, not like at the zoo, but one roaming freely.
Old Fort Point Loop trail
Since we had a good night’s sleep, we woke up around 6am and packed up for our first hike in Jasper, Old Fort Point Loop Trail, trail #1. To get to this trail we used Waze, a GPS app which directed us to the parking lot where there are two options you can undertake; a quick tough way and a long scenic way, both leading you to the highlight of the loop trail, the lookout point. If you’re looking for a workout, take the shorter and quicker, yet steeper and much more challenging option; the wooden stairs adjacent to the bridge. The wooden stair entrance leads directly up to the viewpoint through a series of wooden stairs.
For a longer, more scenic adventure, albeit a less steep trek, take the trail route behind the information billboard in the parking lot. This hiking trail circling behind the hill measures 4km, there and back to the parking lot. The lookout provides some great views of the surrounding area. In the northern direction there are views of Pyramid Mountain, Signal Mountain, Lake Annette and Lac Beauvert. To the south are views of Miette River, the Colin Range and the Jasper town-site.
While hiking through the trail, there are other routes which you can choose to take to access other trails such as the Valley of Five Lakes, the Wabasso Lake Trail and the Sulphur Skyline Trail. You could have a full day adventure if you packed properly, but since we had to continue our drive at 1pm, we wanted to see the Athabasca Falls before we leave Jasper.
Athabasca Falls
Approximately 30km south of the Jasper townsite, on the Athabasca river is Athabasca Falls, the most powerful waterfall in the Canadian Rockies measuring at 23m high and 18m wide. It is one of the major tourist stops on the Columbia Icefield so legions of tourists had already filled the parking lot when we got there at 11am. It would have been better for us if we had visited Athabasca Falls first at 8am, we could have avoided the crowd since the Old Fort Point Loop trail isn’t as highly trekked.
Most people who visits Athabasca Falls do not give it enough time to do it justice. The rush over to the falls, snap a few picture and heads back towards the parking lot thinking they’ve seen all that needed to be seen. Why not explore? Look around for worn rocks and abandoned routes? Through the eons the waterfall has moved and cleaved rocks, cutting and abandoning channels. Channels such as the one developed with stairs to create an easy trail system, one leading to a viewpoint overlooking the main abandoned canyon underneath, and the other leading down to the river bank where you can sit and lay your feet in the river while taking in the scenic view of the area. If you packed some food, there’s a lot of beautiful area where you can sit and have a light picnic, while enjoying the view of the lake.
Maligne Lake Drive
By the time we left Athabasca Falls, it was already around 12pm. Since we’re heading off to continue our journey, we decided to take a more scenic route to Maligne Lake which is 44 km south of the Jasper town-site, and is only accessible by car or tour bus since the lake is just off the highway.
Coming off the highway, we entered the small parking area. Even from inside the car, you can see the beauty of the lake. From the top of the stairs which is just in front of the parking area, you see Maligne Lake in all its glory; the crystal blue/greenish water so clear you can see the trees and cloud reflected on its surface, the beautiful peaks that surrounds the lake and the three glaciers visible from wherever you stand.
We decided to go down the stairs to the lake for a light dip in the water, and believe me, it’s freakin COLD, and it was a really hot day at 34 degree Celsius. While we were there dipping our feet, a couple was swimming just near us. I don’t know how he did it, but I guess as long as you can take the cold on your first jump, you’ll be able to withstand the temperature after a few minutes considering it was an arid and hot day.
Columbia Icefield Drive
After driving all the way to Vancouver through Whistler mountain and back, I realized something. The Columbia Icefield drive is the most beautiful and scenic drive, with its many stops where you can view lakes, rivers, streams and even deers grazing lazily on a flower field without having to go through a 4km hike (looking at you Whistler). Below are a couple of photos we took on our way back to Edmonton through Jasper.
A scenic drive towards Whistler, B.C.
A few hours drive past Jasper, it was getting late so we entered another campground in Clearwater B.C. called Wells Gray KOA which had flush toilets, a shower area and a swimming pool. However, I think it was here in this campground that we were warned of a fire ban due to the arid air and extreme heat. So no campfire for us.
Even though it was a small campground with no privacy (not many trees), they kept their facility very clean, including the swimming pool, a bonus on a hot day.
Early in the morning, before heading into the mountainous area of Whistler Mountain, we entered the Kamloops area. Where Jasper’s mountains was lined with lush green trees, this area was full of bare mountains with a few trees scattered here and there, some dead like they were burned to a crisp, and many many light green almost pale shrubs. We came upon one rest area and decided to stop by to stretch our legs and enjoy the view. Boy was I glad we did. From the viewing area, you can see the mountains, river and a small town-site. There were even picnic tables scattered around if you decided to stop for a quick picnic. We decided not to stay for long however, well actually, Jose decided we shouldn’t stay too long after he saw a rattlesnake warning sign. I can understand his feeling, he jumped like a scared kitten when a garden snake crossed our path during a hike in Edmonton. And so we took off to continue our journey.
Whistler
The drive on HWY 99 towards Whistler mountain was quite the scenic drive, although very winding. At one point, I think we were so high up that my ears actually popped, the same feeling I got when a plan is just taking off and you’re reaching a higher altitude. Entering Whistler mountain, we though we were pretty blessed with the weather, blue skies, fluffy clouds and a nice breeze. Boy were we wrong, as we continue driving the weather changed from blues skies to dark stormy skies in the span of a minute. Of course we still stopped at any road stop we see. What’s an adventure without explorations.
After many stops and a few pictures later, the sun was setting so we decided to enter the Whistler RV Park and Campground. For a walk-in campground, this was by far the best campground we camped in. As you enter the campground, you’ll enter the RV area and wow did they got an amazing view. There were no trees there and their site was on top of a cliff with a view of the glacier capped mountains. I don’t know why I didn’t take a picture of it, now I’m completely regretting it. Our campground on the other hand was very spacey, but surrounded by trees so we had a lot of privacy. We stayed an extra night here so we could enjoy pancake breakfast and other organized festivities in the morning for Canada’s Day. Due to the fire-ban, it was disappointing to here that they were cancelling their fireshow and firework. So we headed to Vancouver for the fireworks. Of course after we enjoyed the festivities in Whistler. They really know how to organize an event, I thoroughly enjoyed it, and this is the best part: since their patio were set outside, we were able to drink with Cookie, my dog. Awesome!
Waterfall Trails
Jose and I have a thing for waterfall so every time we saw a waterfall sign, we’re there. While in the Whistler and Vancouver area we headed to a few, namely Brandywine Falls, Shannon Falls, and Bridal Veil Falls.
An interesting day in Vancouver, B.C.
I thought I would like Vancouver, but once I got there, I was a bit disappointed. The roads were tiny, and there were way too many one way roads. Even their bridge to get to Stanley Park only had one lane, so there were always traffic there, even-though we were driving at 10am. We thoroughly explored Stanley Park, but even though it was Canada’s Day, we were surprise to find the park to be pretty empty. We brought food with us thinking there would be a lot of area in the park to spread our picnic and eat, but it took a good 20 minute walk from the parking lot to even find a picnic table. The emptiness was a little odd to me. So after fully exploring Stanely Park, we headed off to find a Campground for the night.
We pulled in to Tynehead RV Park and Campground and registered. Once done, he basically said to just pick any site and set up there. Just give him the site number of the campground we’re planning on taking. It was odd considering every other campsite we’ve been to, a site was picked for us specifically. So we found a site, set up our tent and set off for the fireworks nearby in New Westminster Quay.
Once the firework were done, we returned to the campground to a little surprise; a couple had parked on our campsite and were waiting for us. Apparently, they’ve been there for a week on that specific campsite and have not yet checked out. The campground owner made a mistake. Of course, how can they not when they’ve been sooo freakin organized. More interestingly, when the couple asked the owner what they should do, his respond was to take apart our campsite (while we’re not there) and set it aside. Luckily, they didn’t touch our site, but waited patiently. They were a nice couple from Fort McMurray, Alberta and were planning on staying there for another day or two to explore Vancouver some more. We told them we were only gonna be there for the night and they wouldn’t even see us in the morning since we’re leaving at 6am. So we hung out for a bit and they ended up sleeping in their van. Also, here’s another kicker, their shower are token operated and there were no machine to get the token. Since we found this out after the fireworks, around 12am, we weren’t able to shower. The office doesn’t open until 9am. We definitely did not wait, we left there as quickly as we could.
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