[Saturday, 23 March]
I had been hoping for a winter trip to Jasper since sometime in January, but the timing never worked out. But I found myself in the second half of March — technically spring, but still wintery — with a week of free time after the annual SCaLE conference in L.A. Last minute hostel booking was easy, loading up the car was simple, and while I realized that Maligne Canyon — typically the highlight of a winter trip — had flooded and couldn’t be hiked, I decided to go anyway.
I drove up to Hope BC from Seattle the night before my trip “officially” started. There’s enough daylight in March to make it in one day, but you do lose an hour when you cross the Alberta border, and the forecast for at least part of the drive was “not great” so I decided 2-3 hours of head start was a good idea. In the end, it made the day far more relaxing with time for stops and a bit of goofing off along the road.
Hope would be my starting point, also mile zero on the old Hope to Princeton highway that roughly mirrors today’s Crowsnest and was the first useful road directly to the interior from the Vancouver area. I also found out that Hope was the setting for the first “Rambo” movie (“First Blood,” aka “Rambo: First Blood”) though the most notable structure (the old road bridge) no longer exists. I got a decent enough motel, though it seems obvious that like many other places along this route, much of the local accommodation has been taken up by workers on the soon-to-complete Transmountain Pipeline project. It wasn’t great, but I slept, got up, found a Timmy’s for a couple of donuts, and got on my way.
The “not great” part of the forecast hit pretty quick on the Coquihalla highway north. Rain, then snow towards the summit. But it was short-lived. By the time I got to Merrit it was mostly clear. By Kamloops, where I stopped for a full breakfast, it was completely clear.
The rest of the day was wonderful driving. Not much to say that isn’t captured in my video, but the North Thompson River valley is beautiful in sunny weather, Blue River offered a decent stop for lunch, and by the time I got to the serious uphill north of Valemount, I was ready for the mountains.
Mt. Robson obliged. Then the mountains near Moose Lake and around the Continental Divide. This is familiar turf for me as I came through in the opposite direction last summer on my motorcycle. By the time I arrived at my favorite hostel on the outskirts of Jasper, I was ready to get the food out of the car and make dinner.
I made some new friends at games night and enjoyed a few glasses of wine from the cafe. I enjoy talking to non-Americans on the road. Somehow, you manage to spend a whole conversation — in this case several days of conversations — without every bringing up work, professional activities, or anything related, which is exactly what I needed!