Jaspre Trip Diary

Picture Pages: Glacier & Lake | Mountains | Sunwapta Waterfall

Driving north towards Jasper we stopped a few times to see the gorgeous scenery. Most of the mountains were over 10,000 feet with snow or glaciers, making numerous rivers and waterfalls. The town of Jasper developed inside the national park as a place for workers to live and a supply depot when building the roads and railway. Jasper National Park is the largest park in Alberta. There was not much to see in town. So after lunch we were now headed northeast towards Whitecourt. This is a junction on the Alaska Highway as it heads northwest to Grande Prairie and then Dawson Creek in British Columbia.

We stayed overnight in Whitecourt. The desk clerk says she gets many people traveling to Alaska. I asked how long a drive and she said about 3 days. Maybe another time.

The next day we headed out on the Alaska Highway for about 160 km. At Valleyview we headed due north. At the stop in Valleyview I reviewed the maps and discovered that our AAA map and another Alberta map cut off the entire northern third of Alberta. We figured the Northwest Territory was only a short distance north of Peace River. Wrong! Most maps don't have the northern third of the province since there is nothing there. I figured the NW Territory was at least 500 km further then we thought. Oh well!

There was nothing much to see driving north - some rolling hills and lots of prairie. In High Level (town name) we stopped in the local visitor's center. The lady told us there are some great waterfalls and a bison sanctuary not too far over the border. We decided to stay overnight in High Level - only $30 US for a great room with refrigerator, microwave, utensils and a free breakfast. The place was the Four Winds Motel on the MacKenzie Highway. We saw the whole town in 5 minutes.

We finally make it to the 60th parallel - the Northwest Territory.