Hiking is Jasper - Need suggestions!

[SupersonicMax]

I need suggestions as to where to hike in Jasper.  My loved one, the dog and I are going in Jasper for 4 days (14-18 Aug) and we'd like to have tips on where to hike in or around Jasper (an hour - hours and a half drive is okay).  We want to do 3 X 1-day hike.  It can be challenging, not a problem.

So far, we looked at the Wilcox Pass, The Whistlers and Pyramid Lake trail (easy stroll)

So, if you've hiked the Jasper area, please advise!!

Max

 

[SARgirl]

Here are a handful of ideas.


Using google, I found these links:

Hike Jasper
http://hikejasper.com/Hiking-Maligne-Canyon-in-Jasper.html
Going through the menu' on the right, looks like there are some really nice options.

Explore Jasper - Hiking
http://www.explorejasper.com/recreation/hiking.htm
There are several stories to choose from; the first story, "Jasper to Hamber", certainly sounds like a great time... you could always go out for part of the day, then hike back and not go out the entire route mentioned.

Jasper National Park
Day Hiking in the Rocky Mountains
http://www.outdooradventurecanada.com/dayhiking-v1-2.htm
Check out Old Fort Point to the Maligne Canyon and Maligne Canyon Trail.

Hiking the Canadian Rockies, Jasper, Columbia Icefield
http://www.canadianrockies.net/jasper/hiking-jasper/hiking-the-canadian-rockies-jasper-columbia-icefield.html

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I went to:
http://www.localsknow.ca/
and did a search for, 'Jasper', which brought me to this page:
http://www.localsknow.ca/search-page/?keywords=jasper .
There are 3 pages of suggestions for the Jasper area.

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I really enjoy hiking and I espeically love the mountains.  I'm looking forward to seeing the photos you post from your journey.  Happy Hiking! 

 

[Roy Harding]

It's been years since I hiked Jasper.  I spent a LOT of time somewhat east of there, in the Wilmar Forestry District (north of Hinton).

I cannot give you accurate trail accounts - but I can say this:

It doesn't matter which trail you take there - the views are breathtaking - and the experience is life affirming. 

One thing - the further your trail starts from the townsite - the less you are likely to run into Granny walking her toy poodle.  There's nothing wrong with Granny and Fluffy - but it's not likely that they will be around underfoot if your trail starts a fair distance from the townsite.

I'll see if I can dig up old maps before your trip - those'll twig me to trail names worth exploring.

Whether I do find those maps or not - you can't go wrong, Jasper is truly a jewel (how it escaped Banff's fate I'll never know).

Have a good time.


Roy

 

[Crimmsy]

So far, we looked at the Wilcox Pass, The Whistlers and Pyramid Lake trail (easy stroll)

I heartily recommend the book "Don't Waste Your Time in the Canadian Rockies" by Kathy and Craig Copeland. Should be able to find a copy at Chapters, MEC, or any of the outfitters in Jasper. It has great descriptions of many outstanding hikes in Jasper (as well as Banff, Yoho, and Kootenay NP's). It rates hikes as Premier, Outstanding, Worthwhile, and Don't Do. Of the ones you've listed, it rates Wilcox as premier and the writeup starts thusly:

Hike to Wilcox Pass and you'll be disappointed - in subsequent hikes. This will become the benchmark. Few trails anywhere in the world are so instantly and extravigantly gratifying.

Conversely, The Whistlers gets a Don't Do rating:

Climb like a yak for three hours. Endure an ascent as severe as any in the range. See little but trees. Only to reach a gondola terminal where gawking tourists are constantly disgorged? That's not hiking. That's masochism.

The day hikes in Jasper that the book lists Worthwhile or higher are:
Wilcox Pass
Verdant Pass
Bald Hills
Geraldine Lakes
Cavell Meadows
Indian Ridge
Opal Hills
Sulphur Skyline.

It also has a bunch of highly rated multi-day hikes if that interests you. Seriously, get the book! My one trip to Jasper was before I read it and I spent a lot of time slogging through dense forest and not seeing much. Later trips to Banff and Yoho, I benefitted a lot from its advice.

 

[SupersonicMax]

I heartily recommend the book "Don't Waste Your Time in the Canadian Rockies" by Kathy and Craig Copeland. Should be able to find a copy at Chapters, MEC, or any of the outfitters in Jasper.

Thanks!  I will try to find it in Cold Lake before we go in the mountains.  If that fails, I'll pick it up at MEC in Edmonton on the way to Jasper!

It also has a bunch of highly rated multi-day hikes if that interests you. Seriously, get the book! My one trip to Jasper was before I read it and I spent a lot of time slogging through dense forest and not seeing much. Later trips to Banff and Yoho, I benefitted a lot from its advice.

I'd like to go for a multi-day hike, however the loved one doesn't like the idea of sleeping in a tent so much, and I'm not sure if bringing the dog overnight is a great idea, with the grizzly bears and black bears running around!

We hiked in Lake Louise last year and we had a blast, it was our first time in the Rockies.  We are taking 4 days this year in Jasper.

egy:  thanks for the links, but I visited most of them already, trying to plan what we're going to do.  I wanted some 1st hand experience!

 

[rod_barolo]

I lived for many years a couple hours south of Jasper in Invermere BC
Without a doubt the Columbia icefields was one of my favorite places in all of the Rockies.
It is truly magical.  Wilcox pass allows you great views of this area.  The icefields have the
highest concentration of 11000 foot peaks in the Rockies.

The hike into Sask glacier is neat in that the Sask is a very "safe" to hike on if you have some
idea of what  you are doing. While I have never done Gerdine myself I have heard lots of great things about this hike.

It might be a little to far south of Jasper but the hike to Helen and Katherine lake is great.  There used to be lots of scrappy cutthroat trout in Katherine.


I could not agree more with Roy about Jasper and Banff (aka Rodeo Drive stuck in the mountains)  I think Jasper was lucky to be far away from a major city and the trans Canada

 

[j0hn_r1]

A good day trip for a family spending a few days in Jasper would be to visit the Athabasca Glacier in the Columbia Icefield... Its an hour away, you can spend 1-8hrs there walking around the glacier, its huge...! And check out all the markers going down the road to show where the glacier was at any given year (its receeding)...

http://www.pc.gc.ca/pn-np/ab/jasper/visit/visit32_E.asp

http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=Jasper,+AB&daddr=Athabasca+Glacier&hl=en&geocode=FUPfJgMdvkD2-A%3BFUCCHAMdMOgC-SkBwPTxTv93UzHPQQZO9YEbug&mra=pe&mrcr=0&sll=52.539614,-117.663574&sspn=1.257885,3.556824&ie=UTF8&ll=52.581357,-117.333984&spn=1.256689,3.556824&z=9

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athabasca_Glacier

http://www.explorerockies.com/columbia-icefield/




* Just saw your post Rod, I live in Calgary & goto Invermere 3-4 times a year on my bike... This pic is somewhere in Jasper National Park...

 

[stukirkpatrick]

Just don't speed on Highway 16 on the way there  ;D

seriously, there is lots of wildlife to be wary of as well, en route.

 

[SupersonicMax]

Just don't speed on Highway 16 on the way there  ;D

I know... I was caught last year driving back to Cold Lake after a ski trip to Marmot Bassin by one of these photo-radars, coming into Hinton.....

seriously, there is lots of wildlife to be wary of as well, en route.

Yup, saw lots of Elks and Mountain Goats once in the park!!

 

[1feral1]

Take your bear spray, ha!

Cheers,

OWDU

 

[stukirkpatrick]

Bear spray is also good advice, we had at least one grizzly strike last year in the Hinton backcountry area...  and heading out with the bear team looking for further victims is not fun!

 

[SARgirl]

SupersonicMax,

How did your trip go?  Do you have any photos to share?

 

[SupersonicMax]

SupersonicMax,

How did your trip go?  Do you have any photos to share?

We had to postpone the trip, the wife was called early to go back to work in Africa.  We should be going late October if the weather is good enough!  Otherwise, Greece, here we come!

I did buy the book though and it's good gouge!!

 

[SARgirl]

We had to postpone the trip, the wife was called early to go back to work in Africa.  We should be going late October if the weather is good enough!  Otherwise, Greece, here we come!

I did buy the book though and it's good gouge!!

I'm sure the book will come in handy down the road.

Does this mean we get to look forward to seeing some photos taken in Greece?

 

[Fishbone Jones]

Not Jasper, but the premise applies.