On 7-28-13, Day 19 of her 2013 Dingo Vacation, Lupe visited Sunwapta Falls and Athabasca Falls in Jasper National Park. After seeing both of these impressive waterfalls, it was still early afternoon, so there was plenty of time for Lupe to look for more adventures. From Athabasca Falls, SPHP drove N on Hwy 93A instead of returning to the main Icefields Parkway Hwy 93. Although paved, Hwy 93A proved to be much more of a back woods road than the main highway. It was bumpy and patchy, and didn’t have much traffic on it.
A paved side road leading W to Moab Lake (7 km) looked interesting, but shortly after getting on it, the pavement ended. The gravel road that continued onward was full of stones and potholes. It wasn’t long before SPHP gave up on the Moab Lake idea, and turned the G6 around to return to Hwy 93A and continue N. Eventually Lupe & SPHP reached the side road to Mount Edith Cavell (11,033 ft.) the main attraction SPHP was aware of accessible from Hwy 93A.
The road to Mt. Edith Cavell was 14 km long, very narrow and windy, but all paved and in beautiful, almost new condition. It started raining lightly as the G6 wound its way up the mountain. After quite a distance, Lupe and SPHP arrived at a very small pullout with an overview of a cloudy, but gorgeous mountain valley with a river running through it far below. Snowy peaks were visible at the upper end miles to the NW.
A sign a bit farther along the road indicated that Lupe and SPHP had just seen a portion of the famous Tonquin Valley. Unfortunately for Lupe, Tonquin Valley is closed to dogs. It looked like a beautiful place to explore.
After winding around on the road a bit longer, Lupe and SPHP were getting quite close to Mount Edith Cavell. The place was so busy, it wasn’t even possible to get to the large parking lot. There were cars parked along the road well before the parking lot was reached. SPHP parked the G6 by the side of the road, too. By now the weather had closed in enough so clouds hid the top of Mount Edith Cavell, while it continued to sprinkle rain. It was still only about 2:30 PM. Lupe and SPHP stayed in the G6 and took a nap in the hope that the weather would eventually clear.
SPHP awoke a bit after 5:00 PM to find that it was raining harder, not less. Quite a few cars had left, but Mt. Edith Cavell must be a very popular destination as cars continued to come and go despite the rain. SPHP moved the G6 forward to the main paved parking lot, which was now less than 1/2 full. Lupe stared out the window and watched people, while SPHP wrote in the trip journal.
By 6:45 PM, the rain had stopped. There were only 5 or 6 other cars left in the parking lot. The sky was still completely overcast and it was a chilly 45°F out. Lupe and SPHP hopped out of the G6 and took the not very long trek (about 20 minutes one way) up the trail to see Mount Edith Cavell. There was a clear view of much of the mountain, including the Angel Glacier, but the top of the mountain remained shrouded in clouds. There was more trail to explore, but signs said the rest of it was closed to Dingoes. Since everything was still wet and gloomy, Lupe and SPHP returned to the G6.
The next morning (7-29-13 and Day 20 of Lupe’s 2013 Dingo Vacation), everything had changed. At 6:30 AM, Lupe and SPHP headed back up the trail to Mount Edith Cavell as far as Lupe was allowed to go. It was a brisk morning (32°F according to the G6), but the skies were clear and the sun was shining on the mountain. No one else was around yet. Lupe and SPHP enjoyed the silent majesty of the scene.
SPHP knew that it wouldn’t be long before people would start coming. Since Lupe wasn’t permitted to explore any of the additional trails, all too soon it was time for Lupe and SPHP to start back down the valley to the G6.
From Mount Edith Cavell, Lupe and SPHP went on to Jasper, a pretty and busy little tourist town. Coming into town, Lupe was very interested in 2 female elk with fawns standing right on the road!
Since Lupe had been cooped up in the G6 much of the previous afternoon and all of the evening, SPHP knew she really needed a longer walk than she had at Edith Cavell. Along the road to Pyramid Lake, SPHP found a trailhead on the edge of town. Lupe and SPHP spent a couple of hours hiking trails No. 8, 6 & 6A. The trails made a loop past a swamp and through the forest, eventually going past Patricia Lake. Best of all there were lots of squirrels in the trees to bark at! Lupe had an exciting time of it, although SPHP was a bit concerned about how noisy the Dingo was this close to town.
Although there wasn’t much elevation change on this loop, near the end on trail No. 6A, the trail climbed a small hill with a clearing from which there was a nice view of Mount Edith Cavell off in the distance. After having just been there, SPHP now recognized Mount Edith Cavell as the mountain frequently featured on postcards of the town of Jasper.
During the rest of the day, Lupe got to spent a little time at the beach at Pyramid Lake near Jasper and then enjoyed a scenic drive to Miette Hot Springs. At the picnic ground there, Lupe endured an hour of temptation, while a herd of 6 or 7 bighorn sheep panhandled from all the picnickers and bold squirrels did the same. Despite ineffective signs everywhere insisting that people shouldn’t feed the bighorn sheep, they were so tame and used to getting their way, people could pat them without them even backing away.
However, when the bighorn sheep got too close to an excitable Dingo which barked furiously and lunged at them (restrained by a leash, of course), the bighorns did seem to think that was a bit rude. They gave the foamy-mouthed Dingo a wider berth for a little while, but kept forgetting the experience. The bighorn sheep had to be repeatedly reminded by the Dingo that they looked like Dingo food. The squirrels only had to be told once, but chattered taunts and insults back from the safety of the trees. It was almost more than an American Dingo could bear.
The picnic finally done, Lupe was relegated to the G6 for a while, during which time SPHP had a marvelous alternately relaxing, soothing and invigorating time at the Miette Hot Springs, which features a big hot pool, a big warm pool, and much smaller cool and frigid pools. All-day admission was only $6.05 Canadian for as long as one wanted to stay, an absolute bargain compared to anything else in the Canadian Rockies! Miette Hot Springs was fabulous! If Carolina Dogs could have gone in the hot springs, Lupe and SPHP would have stayed there a couple of days.
By evening Lupe and a much cleaner SPHP were back at Jasper again. Across a bridge over the Athabasca River from Jasper, Lupe and SPHP found a trail around nearby Lake Annette for an evening stroll. About 1/4 of the way around the lake though, a couple with a baby in a stroller and a dog approached from the opposite direction. They said their dog had found and treed a bear cub just a few minutes earlier. Since momma bear was likely still around somewhere close at hand, and not likely to be entirely pleased with the situation, they were beating a hasty retreat to their vehicle.
Bear hunting in the Canadian Rockies sounded even more exciting than bighorn sheep hunting to Lupe. SPHP had to admit it would sound impressive to the folks back home. But the cowardly SPHP quickly overruled and headed for the G6 to end all possibility of a truly exciting end to the day and a most memorable blog post.
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