Greetings From Jasper

The 2024 Jasper wildfire destroyed 32,000 hectares of forest and city

Our campsite in the Jasper National Park was in the most beautiful of settings, nestled between the mountains on four sides, and on the other side of the highway, the Athabasca River, the longest in Alberta which eventually drains into the Arctic Ocean.

Dropping down from the Icefields Parkway towards Jasper, burnt out forests lined the road. Blackened tree trunks sticking up like pencils in the earth, with verdant green grassland underneath which left no doubt of the conflagration that consumed 32,000 hectares of this stunningly beautiful environment, including a large part of the town itself. Equivalent to 1/5 of Greater London.

Before the fire our chosen campground was forested, today the black stumps and charred trees are a reminder of 2024. The lush grass and meadow flowers hide many of the remaining stumps.

Interim housing - Jasper National Park - Parks Canada

Temporary mobile sites/cities on the edge of our campsite and in town, a total of seven, have been set up for displaced residents and rebuilding contractors.

In town, construction is underway everywhere to replace what was lost.

It is a poignant sight, but also inspiring to see how a community has come together to rebuild.

We are four days into our 5-week summer tour of Northern and western BC and a western strip of Alberta. We picked up our truck and trailer from Vernon at the top of the Okanagan Valley wine region where Nick and Lizzie had finished their week away with the boys. A good time was had by all apparently, though not without the odd challenge.

The Sunshine Coast RV advice line was in full use..........

Grey and black tanks not draining (plug had been left in the soil pipe - twice!),
Water flooding out of the water heater and from the flush supply to the toilet (excessive local water pressure - regulator fitted),
Damaged tire on the Tundra (all four tires replaced - tolerances are all important on a 4WD), plus a few other minor issues.
The passing shot was if I 'knew the driver's side rear tire on the trailer was bald on the inside'.

Another trailer arrived and parked between my truck
and the trailer on the left -and another on the right -
fag paper proportions

Vernon is at the top of Lake Okanagan. The southern Osoyoos area is classified as a desert, as you go further North it becomes semi-arid shrubland.

Though a long way north of Osoyoos, it still felt more like Arizona, than BC.

The Dutch's Campground wasn't the greatest.

It was extremely dusty which coated every surface of the truck and trailer, outside and in.

The individual sites were 'sardined' in with a few feet to spare between each truck and trailer. We will not return.

The one highlight of the Vernon visit, aside from seeing Nick, Lizzie and the boys, was an evening supper at the Cambium Cidery which they booked for us. We sat in the orchard with Jack to enjoy our food and cider. Great grub and location, definitely worth a visit if you are in the area! As we came to leave the cidery, we discovered Nick & Lizzie had also paid for it as well :-)

Golden - Looking out to the Kicking Horse ski resort

Our next stop was Golden, on BC's Columbia River in the Rockies. It was a good stepping stone on an otherwise too long a drive to Jasper

We'd camped at the Whispering Spruce campground at the start of last year's trans-Canada trip, so it was a no-brainer choice.

The highway behind the camp is a bit noisy, but the location looking over the town and surrounding mountains is beautiful.

The sites are set amongst trees, are well separated and fully serviced. It's also famous for the Indian Kitchen restaurant on the other side of the highway.

We resisted the temptation this visit.

On arrival in Golden we paid a quick visit to the Kal Tire centre to get the trailer tire checked.

We had a time-out stroll along the fast-moving Kicking Horse River and a bevvy at the Whitetooth Brewery while they did what they needed to do, which unfortunately wasn't to replace the dodgy tire having discovered they didn't have one in stock after all.

They turned the tire on the rim FOC and set us up to have it replaced further along the trip. If you are in Golden the brewery is definitely worth a visit.

Wednesday was to be highlight of the trip, a drive up the Icefields Parkway to enjoy the stunning scenery.

One of the clearer views

It's a 232km drive up the Rockies on the Alberta side of the BC border with no cell signal for most of the drive (make sure you download maps before you start), one gas station, lots of viewpoints to see the glaciers and amazing mountainous relief that is supposed to be breathtaking. Plus trails to stop off and explore. A once in a lifetime experience.

Except it wasn't.

It would have been better named the Smokefields Parkway. Apart from the first, and last 20km of the trip we saw only silhouettes of the mountains in the 'fog', or nothing at all.

A huge disappointment, but we decided we need to return next Spring, before the wildfire season.

The Boston Bar fire, a seven hour drive SW of Jasper, or 400km as the crow flies, bought in very heavy smoke - like driving through poor vis or fog.

If the Parkway was a disappointment because of smoke from current wildfires, Jasper National Park and Jasper itself was in many ways a disturbing sight from the effects of the 2024 wildfire. We shall return to explore the crystal clear Lakes Edith and Annette another time.

Thursday we drove to Prince George, the centre of BC and four hours NW of Jasper on Hwy 16 along the Cariboo Mountain range; it was to be our next planned stop and a chance for trailer tire replacements and two days of exploring. We kept a look out for Cariboo but none were spotted.

Not the most inspiring or drives on Hwy 16 aka the Yellowhead Route - it is the more northerly of the trans-Canada highways. Known for the miles of sweetcorn/maize/canola oil fields. We touched on part of it last year, further east. This section is not a route we'd rush to drive again.

The day prior to setting off on this summer trip I was singing in a recital in North Vancouver. One of the pieces was a duet with one of my fellow choir members. Seemed to go OK but professional tenors have nothing to worry about just yet!