Western Canadian Rockies – Day 6 – To Jasper

Today we head to our most northern destination, Jasper.  This morning, our balcony says good morning from Sun Peaks. 

 

Just shortly after leaving, we see a deer just off of the road.  The antlers still have the velvet on and are still growing.  Adrian stopped the bus next to the deer and it stayed around for about a minute or so until we began to leave.  So although some people have seen deer, this is the first everyone has seen the deer and able to take pictures.

Once we got going, two more deer came running across the road.  When we crawled by in the bus, one of the deer had made its way up the bank, but this one remained close so we could take its picture.  Then deer are very accommodating here in Canada.  Two views of deer in five minutes.  So far 1 otter, 2 bear and 2 deer sightings (later today we also saw a moose in water, but no pictures.)

After driving back along the access road to Sun Peaks, we turned north on CA 5 again.  We continue along the Fraser River and find that the mountains here are more worn with the peaks not as jagged as the mountain range earlier in the trip.   Also, many of the peaks no longer have snow on them.

We are in an area where there are more farm lands then we have seen.  One such farm has the field completely covered in breathable dark cover.  This is to keep the plants in shade, but also to keep the plants warm.  We find out that the plants growing in these fields are Jing Sing.  That is $200,000 US for a 10 acre lot.

When we stopped for a break around mid morning, and next door was a junk joint.  I took a picture of the old battered car that was in the woods.

 

Leaving our rest stop, we drove up a side road to Spahats Creek Falls where we were able to take the short hike to the waterfalls.  As you can see, the falls is quite high with a spectacular crash at the bottom.

The stream continued down from the falls through twists and turns to another larger river at the bottom (top of the photo).  Just before I took this photo, you could see a rainbow from the spray caused by the falls in the lower left portion of the picture.  Now though is looks more like a light smug.

We returned to our regular road, continued along river, and began entering the valley between the Caribou mountain range on our left and the Canadian Rocky Mountain range on our right.  We are beginning to see more jagged peaks and snow again.

The scenery is again becoming more dramatic and many people finish their nap to catch glimpses of the snow capped mountains.

As we get closer to our turn off of CA5 to CA 16 east to head to Mt. Robson and Jasper, we pass this mountain which has glacial ice.  (Sorry I do not remember the name of the glacier.  When our tour guide mentioned the name, I was too busy taking pictures to pay attention.)

 

I especially like the snow covered mountains with rock surfaces that are in the clouds.  I think they are so fascinating.  I could stay in one place and take a full series of photos just to put them together in a time lapsed movie to see the clouds move.  Oh well this will have to be the best I can do for now.

We arrive in Alberta (times move ahead one hour) and soon are at Mt Robson Park.  Mt Robson (12,972 feet) is the highest in the  Canadian Rockies.  Here are several pictures of the mountain.  Remember, the top of the mountain has a cloud cover.

Behind the information building, there was a field with lupines.  So I had to get a little artsy and take a picture.

 

Then I had to take a picture of the full field and Mt Robson in the back ground.

Looking over my shoulder on the opposite side of the street (looking south) is Klapperhorn Mountain (I think that is the name).  Since I’m next to the lupines guess what, yes a picture of both.

And, lest we forget, we have Cinnamon Peak to the west of Mt Robson.  It has little snow on it, but it is still striking. 

We have one last fleeting view of Mt Robson as we leave and the striking view with the clouds. 

Too soon, we are in Jasper and begin to bed down for the evening.  Tomorrow is a big day filled with a cruise on Maligne Lake, then a stop at Maligne canyon.  Some of us are then going on a helicopter ride and afterwards on a hike and dinner near some glaciers. 

Until tomorrow, Bob and Carmen.