Length of stay: 3 days
Visited: September 2023

Jasper National Park is the largest national park in the Canadian Rockies. It contains majestic mountains, glaciers, turquoise lakes, dense forests and an abundance of wildlife. There are a variety of trails and viewpoints to enjoy the scenery and natural beauty of the mountainous landscape.

Day 1: Valley of the Five Lakes

We spent the past two weeks driving along the Alaska Highway and exploring the Yukon. On the drive back to Edmonton, we decided to hit up Jasper. Sure, it involves more driving, but what’s another few hundred kilometres when you’ve already driven well over 5,000km at this point. We spent the night in Dawson Creek, which is about a five and a half hour’s drive from Jasper. After eating a very early breakfast, we left our hotel at 7:30am. The sky was hazy from the nearby wildfires and we hoped the conditions would improve as we made our way further south to the Canadian Rockies.

It was a rather uneventful drive, especially in comparison to the Alaska Highway. And there were an insane amount of trucks on the road. Something we weren’t too pleased with, especially after one flung up a rock that left a huge crack in our windshield the day before while we were driving from Fort Nelson to Dawson Creek. By the time we arrived at the northern entrance of Jasper, it was just after 2pm. The sun was shining and the sky was clear. And we spotted some thinhorn sheep by the side of the road. We were off to a good start.

We passed by a few overlooks and viewpoints. It looked like the landscape was already starting to change colour.

After spending the past few days in the car, we were eager to stretch our legs. We opted for the Valley of the Five Lakes (4.6km loop, rated moderate). The trailhead is located 5km south of the Wapiti Campground where we’d be spending the next couple of nights. So we figured we’d go for a hike and then check into our campsite.

The first part of the trail weaves through the forest. After crossing a wooden boardwalk over a stream, the trail branches off to form a loop, passing by five colourful lakes along the way. We hiked clockwise around the loop, starting with First Lake. There is an option to hike around this entire lake for a longer excursion, but we continued along the main path to check out the other lakes.

The next few lakes are clustered together, each showcasing a different set of blue and green hues. There’s a pair of Parks Canada Red Chairs overlooking Third Lake and Fifth Lake contains a dock. Once we looped back to the boardwalk, it’s a short walk through the forest to the parking lot.

We then headed to the Wapiti Campground to check in. Our site, as with most of the others sites, was located in full sun. And it was still hot outside (22°C). Instead of putting up our tent, we decided to just go for a short excursion to Pyramid Lake while we waited for the sun to become less intense. The lake is located near the town of Jasper. There are a few hiking trails here. We were looking for something short and sweet to admire the views and opted for the Pyramid Island Trail (0.6km loop, rated easy).

We returned to our campsite just before 7pm to finally set up our tent. We made dinner and watched the sun dip below the mountains. After washing our dishes, we got ready to hit the hay. We wanted to squeeze in as much hiking as we could the next day.

Day 2: Edith Cavell Meadows

It dropped below freezing overnight, but we woke up early the next morning to bright blue skies. The sun was just starting to come up over the mountains. After making a hot breakfast, we were eager to get to the Mount Edith Cavell area in an effort to beat the crowds. The trailhead is located just off the Icefields Parkway along Cavell Road, which is only open from mid June to early October, depending on the weather and amount of snow.

Cavell Road is a long, narrow and winding road that ends at a large parking lot that provides access to two trails that connect to form a longer route. We arrived at the parking lot just after 9am and most of the spots were empty (for now). We started with the Path of the Glacier (1.6km round trip, rated easy), which follows a paved path to the north face of Mount Edith Cavell. The trail ends at a viewpoint of the mountain, Cavell Pond and Angel Glacier.

After checking out the views, we turned around and hiked a couple hundred metres back to the junction where there’s a turnoff for the Cavell Meadows Trail (6-7km round trip, rated moderate). The path winds up a few switchbacks and follows a large rock pile, or moraine, providing more magnificent views of Mount Edith Cavell. This portion of the trail was mostly shaded, which would soon disappear with the rising sun.

The trail then weaves through the dense forest. It’s a gradual incline with a few switchbacks. There’s also a scenic viewpoint of Cavell Pond along the way. We heard a few cracks from the glacier, but didn’t see any avalanches or chunks of ice fall.

After 1.5km we reached a junction which had a map of the trail system and an arrow to indicate that the easier route was to the right and the steeper route to the left. We opted for the easier route which is longer, but the hike up the ridge is more gradual. The trail climbs above the tree line and through the open meadows.

We reached another junction where there’s a short detour to the second scenic viewpoint of Angel Glacier and Cavell Pond. There was a group of hikers in front of us who let us know that there was a grizzly bear near the trail, but it was heading over the ridge. We followed closely behind the group to the second viewpoint.

We backtracked to the junction and continued hiking through the open meadows along the upper loop. There’s another detour to reach the third scenic viewpoint. But the path was pretty narrow, steep and covered with loose rocks. I probably could have made it up, but was more concerned about getting down. I didn’t want to risk falling since at the time I was six months pregnant. And so we decided to skip the last scenic viewpoint and head back to the junction to complete the rest of the loop.

This portion of the path is steeper, but more direct. Once we looped back to the forest, it was a short stretch to get back to the rocky moraine.

Overall it took us three hours to mostly complete the trail. We had successfully avoided the worst of the crowds, except on the return journey back to the trailhead. The parking lot was completely full and there were even cars parked along the side of the road.

We headed back to our campsite to eat a late lunch and take a break. We headed out later in the afternoon to Maligne Valley. Along the way we stopped at an overlook of Medicine Lake. It is famous for its disappearing water. During the summer, the shallow lake fills up with all the melt water from the mountains, however, during the fall and winter, it’s often dry. The water actually drains out through sinkholes in the bottom and travels through an underground cave system and resurfaces downstream.

We drove to the end of the paved road where Maligne Lake is located. There are a few different options for trails here. We were looking for something easy and settled on hiking part of the Skyline Trail to Lorraine Lake and Mona Lake (4.8km round trip, rated easy). We parked near the boat launch and found the trailhead. The path weaves through the shaded forest and is relatively flat. After a couple of kilometers there’s a signpost for a short detour to Loraine Lake.

Shortly after being back on the main path, there’s another detour to Mona Lake. The trail was a bit muddy close to the shoreline, but was worth exploring to check out the views of the lake.

The Skyline Trail continues onward for another 40km or so. We turned around and hiked back to the parking lot. By the time we returned to our campsite it was later in the evening and sun was starting to set below the mountains. We made dinner and quickly retreated to our tent to crawl into our warm sleeping bags.

Day 3: Maligne Canyon

The temperature dropped to around freezing overnight. After eating breakfast, we were eager to hit the trails to warm up. We needed to leave our campsite by 11am. Due to all the condensation on our tent, we wanted to let it dry off a bit before packing it up. So we opted to hike the Maligne Canyon Trail (4.4km round trip to the Fourth bridge, rated moderate) which is located close to our campground and the town of Jasper. Along the drive we spotted a few elk by the side of the road.

There are a few different access points to the trail. We started at the main parking lot by the first and second bridges. When we rolled into the parking lot it was mostly empty, so we snagged a spot in the shade. The trail follows the edge of the canyon and crosses up to six bridges. There are also several connecting trails so it’s a bit of a choose your own adventure depending on how much time you want to spend hiking.

We started from the second bridge, the highest point in the canyon, and made our way over to the fifth bridge. Along the way there’s a series of waterfalls and cascades. The views just kept getting better and better.

Once we reached the fifth bridge, we turned around and took one of the connector paths, which doubles as a horse path, back to the parking lot for a change of scenery. We then walked to the first bridge, which is located near the restaurant.

We returned to our campsite to pack up our tent. It was still a bit damp so we moved it over to a sunny patch. While we were waiting, we figured we might as well eat an early lunch and start organizing our suitcases. On the drive out of the park, we stopped in Jasper the town to go for one last hike along the Lake Annette Loop (2.4km loop, rated easy). We followed the paved path along the shoreline, admiring the views of the turquoise coloured lake and mountains in the background.

And with that, it was time to head to Edmonton. We planned to spend our last night in a hotel before flying back home early the next morning.

L