Friday September 8th
I found out that my campsite was right next to a beautiful river. I’m not sure if I was aware of that when I booked the site, but if so I’d forgotten. It was a nice surprise. You couldn’t see it from the campsite, but a short walk came to the banks. What I could see from the campsite, which greeted me when I looked out the back window of the van from my bed, was a majestic snow-capped mountain in the distance, probably Mount Robson.
I had planned to do the Edith Cavell Meadows Trail in the morning, which was an amazing hike by all accounts, but it would have been a half hour drive or more each way in the van, probably up hills, and I didn’t want to risk it. So instead I hiked along the river behind my campsite for a couple of hours, with some lovely views. This was definitely less strenuous than the other hike, which may have been a good thing – I had been doing a lot of hiking.
Along the banks of the river I found a resort with pretty wooden cottages, and seats by the river to enjoy the view. Once back, I headed into the town of Jasper, a few minutes drive away, to get the van looked at. On the way I checked out Pyramid Lake with beautiful reflections, just out of town. The repair place was just across the tracks from the town centre, but I had to wait about 15 minutes for a huge train to go by before I could get there.
Once I arrived, I found that all the mechanics were away, attending an accident, apparently involving a garbage truck in the national park somewhere. But there was a guy there who knew enough to have a look, and found coolant squirting out of the reservoir. I hadn’t suspected the reservoir, because I had been losing coolant even when the level was below the reservoir, but apparently the pressure still made it squirt out. The man rang around, but couldn’t get the part before I was due to leave again. It was in an awkward spot, on a little spigot that came out of the reservoir, so it was difficult to put tape around it or anything like that. In the end he put some glue on it, and hoped it would hold.
There was a repair place in Heather’s town of Carseland, and the van had already been booked in there for an oil change – since I was driving such a long distance, it needed to be done during the trip, and this was a convenient place. So I was on the phone to the mechanic to book in for a replacement of the reservoir too, and the mechanic said to leave the radiator cap loose, to avoid pressure build up. Though this would make the cooling less efficient (and I was to keep an eye on the temperature), and some coolant might boil off, I’d lose less than if it was under pressure. He said to make sure I had coolant on hand to top it up if it was boiling off. The glue stopped most of the leaking thank the Lord, and I bought some more coolant at a service station in Jasper in case I needed it.
Once I was done, it was getting on for 3, and I had time to take the Jasper Skytram, a cable car that went up a tall mountain, with views of Jasper below. I had planned to do that right after I got back from the other hike. From the top of the Skytram terminal, you could then hike to a higher summit, and then a longer hike to a summit and ridge above that again. I’d been thinking of trying the longer hike, but with the time available, I needed to restrict myself to just getting to the first summit, which was something like 45 minutes hike. The last tram was scheduled to come down at 6pm, so it was important not to miss it!
Going up in the cable car, there was an English guy pointing things out, during the trip of about 10 minutes. The views really were spectacular at the top, and I did the hike up to the next summit. I could see the track from there up to the ridge. It was a big climb, and apparently a bit treacherous sometimes too. I’m not sure if I would have had the energy to do both the morning and afternoon hikes I’d planned in the day even if I’d had time. It was impressive being up so high and looking at the mountains up still higher.
There was very little vegetation up there, just some mosses and patches of grass. You could see a long way, with Jasper, and the valley it was in, and way along, probably towards Banff. I walked to another vantage point a bit further along. There was a long train snaking its way through the valley. Seeing it from above emphasised just how long it was! I had a man ask me if I would take his photo, and I recognised his accent, and how he said, “no worries”. He was from Sydney I think, and we had a little chat.
I got the tram back down again. I was booked on the last tram, but they were running late, and when I got there, they put me on the one that left a little earlier than when I was booked in, which was probably the second or third last tram. The last tram would probably have been quite a bit later than when it had been scheduled.
There was still quite a bit of daylight left, so I visited Maligne Canyon, which is a narrow – sometimes very narrow and deep – canyon with a stream running through it, and waterfalls. There was a trail with a number of bridges over the canyon, and I spent a while hiking through there enjoying the views. There weren’t too many people there at 7pm when I was there. I took a look at the river behind my campsite again as the sun went down. Such a blessing to be so close to an amazing river like that!
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