Today’s goal was to get to Jasper, and we made it! Can’t believe I’ve driven us all the way to Jasper! We passed 3,000 km on the trip odometer today!

But first let’s start at the beginning of the day. It rained over night. Of course. But not much, and the tent was dry by morning. Yay!!

We put everything away and hit the showers before pulling out, and dashing back to Grande Prairie to top up the fuel tank.

Before ever getting to Jasper, our highlights included this Milner coal mine and power generation station. It’s Wikipedia entry said it was supposed to be converted to natural gas power generation by 2020, and maybe it was, but there was definitely a train full of coal coming or going. Neat to see a coal seam right along the road.

We stopped for lunch and supplies at a grocery store in Grande Cache. They had no hot meals available but we decided on cold Chinese food.

Classy right!? Some of it also became my supper.

On a whim, we pulled into William A. Switzer Provincial Park and it was neat! They had taxidermy of all the animals around including a grizzly you could pet, and a cougar, wolverine, and a caribou hide. They had a nice view on their back deck.

Along the way we saw mule deer along the highway.

Once we got into Jasper park, there were sheep on the road! Although I didn’t get much of a picture since I was trying to not hit them or all the cars stopping on the road.

We saw elk too, sitting on an island, at least six of them.

We somehow managed to book a site this week for the Whistlers campground. There were 3 left! That was unexpected but maybe the fire has turned some campers away? I expected we would need to fight for the first come first serve daily allotment.

If you aren’t familiar with Jasper, the town or the National Park, much of the area, and much of the town, burned last summer. (Wikipedia background)

This particular campground is open, despite being burned. It is still so beautiful!

The grass is regrowing and there are baby spruce and pine wither planted in the ditch beside our site, or they were spared by the fire.

You can see burnt logs and stumps. They ask everyone to stay off the rejuvenating grass and remain on the gravel.

The bathrooms and shower houses are brand new.

And there are elk wandering the campground, just as my mom said there would be!

Many of the large road signs in the national park have burned or are partially damaged. Some have fallen. Some are no longer readable.

For the people who lost their homes, this is devastating. But it is otherwise fascinating and still very beautiful.

We took a drive tonight to try to do the hike at Edith Cavell that Dad said was worth it. Tomorrow we are expecting rain so we wanted to see a bit more today.

However, it proved impossible. We took a back road drive for ~16km that gave us a glimpse of all the hard work going on here in Jasper. The road to the Edith Cavell was closed and barricaded, as most of the roads in the fire area are. We saw the next campground down the road is in the process of being restored. There is a new playground installed, and a couple of new shower houses and bathrooms installed. But that campground isn’t ready to reopen just yet.

There are little villages of job site trailers around, like you’d see at a mine or oil patch camp. Likely for displaced citizens.

Here are some pictures we took along the backroad and at the road where we thought we were turning off for a hike.

The gates are melted. And the sign has fallen down.

On this back road you could see where trees on fire had fallen into the pavement and made burn marks.

Look at what’s left of the payphone!

A fine a place as any for our daily selfie, right?

We crossed the Athabasca River a few times and found where it converges with the Whirlpool River.

This was a roadside stop. Parts of it have already been rebuilt. Here is what’s left of the outhouse:

Nothing but concrete and nails (and now a board to cover the hole).

What a beautiful place! In every direction the light keeps changing, and the wind, and even the temperature! It’s gone from HAWT to sweater weather in the last few hours.

Not being sure about rain tomorrow, we went to see the Athabasca Falls tonight too.

I really think it would be unadvisable to paddle this river without a map warning of these falls!!!

And now we are back at our campsite. We have firewood (provided) but it feels somehow weird to have a campfire in a recent burn?

We drove through the town of Jasper too. Just the Main Street, out of respect for the loss. There is a burned down gas station still quite evident but otherwise there are just a few empty lots and fences. It was busy with vehicles everywhere so we didn’t stop.

While we are sitting here on our site, the sun is setting and we can hear some elk calling behind us.

Oh look, there is one right there!!!!

This is a really neat place. I highly recommend it!

Good night!