More Saskatoon, Edmonton, and into the Canadian Rockies (posted from Jasper, Alberta hospital parking lot)
(this post covers 20-24 August)

Thursday, 24 August-
After a dead-quiet night in the campground we awoke to a 42-degree morning. We didn’t use our little propane buddy-heater but did use the butane cook stove to heat up the water for morning wash-up — quite luxurious, eh wot? As we prepared to leave the campground, I asked the attendant whether there was an ‘upgrade policy’ for park admissions. I asked this because I had been thinking that we still have a lot of Canadian National Parks to see and the daily per-person admission fees are already adding up quickly. We had already paid for a day at Prince Albert National Park, one at Elk Island National Park, and so far one day at Jasper National Park. Given the amount of days we will still be in the Rockies, I should have bought an annual pass. The attendant said there is indeed an upgrade policy— all you have to do is keep your receipts and the amounts you’ve already paid will apply toward the $125 fee of the annual pass. That’s when I realized I had thrown out the Elk Island receipt with last night’s trash! Rats! But I also realized that the dumpster was almost empty when I threw my little Wal-mart bag of trash into it—I could probably find it. At least it was worth a shot. And find it we did. My little Wal-mart bag was indeed lying there separate from the other trash and I could just barely reach it. With a little bit of gingerly digging, I saw a receipt—the Prince Albert receipt. And with a little more digging, the Elk Island receipt. Success! We laughed and laughed about dumpster diving for park receipts but those two receipts plus our receipt for Jasper gave us a $45 discount on the annual pass. Good deal!
As we drove out of the campground we were wonderfully surprised by the morning light on the peaks around us… it was spectacular. We had arrived in cloudy weather and in fact many of the peaks were completely in the clouds yesterday. But this morning was a fresh-sunny day and the sunshine washed the peaks all around us.
We drove south toward Jasper and stayed well under the 45 mile-per-hour speed limit. I kept an eye on the mirror and pulled over for approaching vehicles. We were just astounded by the views of the mountains. And when we saw water it was the milky color of glacier-melt on the right side of the road and ultra-clear on the left. Where the stream fed a lake on the left side, the ultra-clear water reflected the emerald green of the lodgepole pines covering the lower mountainsides. Absolutely stunning.
Continuing south for forty miles or so, we soon saw a dozen elk, including one with a trophy-class rack, lying in the grass only 20 yards off the highway. Approaching Jasper we saw the turnoff for the fancy Jasper Lodge and took a drive through there—it was crowded with oilmen attending the Oilmen’s Golf Tournament. We stopped in a nearby picnic area and had a nice lunch in the van as the sun warmed it (and us). Afterwards we went into Jasper to the Visitor’s Center. In reviewing the brochures, we saw that a number of tours are offered into the Maligne Valley so we did that on our own. We drove the 40 kilometers to Lake Maligne and parked at a trailhead for five trails. We took Bald Mountain Trail, which had a 500-meter rise but offered the chance to possibly see caribou. We climbed for an hour and then the trail steepened to the point that we realized it was going to be another hour and a half of huff-and-puff to get to views of the lake. We spoke to several people coming down and they hadn’t seen any wildlife at all up there, much less caribou, so we threw in the towel. And the trip down was great. Not only were we going downhill, we were also getting great views. As our trail turned we’d get a view of one snow-covered peak, then we’d go a little more and a completely different one would come into view.
We got back to the van in another 45 minutes after turning around at the hour-mark of the climb so we had a nice workout. We had supper in the trailhead parking lot and recovered a bit. Then we walked the Lakeside Trail. Along the way we saw a loon which just ignored us entirely. We’ve never been so close to one as this one— it was only about ten yards from us (and of course we had not brought the good camera). Continuing along the lakeshore in the late evening, we soon saw a cow elk and a little one easing along the shoreline. We were afraid of disturbing it and it was getting pretty close to dark anyway so we turned back for the van.
We took our time driving out of the Maligne Valley. We didn’t see any of the larger wildlife but did see a weasel or a mink. I had pulled off the road so we could search the opposite side of Medicine Lake for wildlife when this little guy popped up over the bank and walked out in front of us. As soon as he saw us he took off, bounding away.
We headed for nearby Snaring campground but when we got to the turnoff, a sign said the campground was full. Uh-oh. I thought we’d have to drive the forty miles back to Pocahontas but Labashi found another one much closer but south of Jasper. We found it easily and they had plenty of space. Cost for tonight’s camping is $18 but no showers.


Wednesday, 23 August-
Today we headed west from Edmonton, bound for the Canadian Rockies! The land slowly changed from plains to gently-rolling hills to mountains. We made it to the Jasper National Park entry station by 1530 or so. Soon thereafter I saw the turnoff for Miete Hot Springs and that sounded perfect—a soak in the hot springs would cure what ails us. The 18 kilometer drive up into the mountains was a wonderful intro to the Rockies—the mountains are fantastic! At the end of the drive was the sulfur spring. We didn’t know quite what to expect and were a bit surprised when the springs turned out to be two rather normal-looking outdoor swimming-pools of 104-degree water, one few inches to a meter deep, the other up to almost two meters in depth. The day had turned cloudy and cool and it was spritzing rain a bit but the waters were very, very nice. We spent about an hour and a half lazing around there. It was odd to see the lifeguards bundled up in sweatpants and fleece jackets up on their lifeguard stands while the rest of us were in swimsuits, many of us sitting out poolside with just our legs in the hot water to cool off a bit after over-heating in the water. We did have to be a little careful in the hot water—it could make you light-headed. We did see the immediate aftermath of one guy’s rescue. We saw a bit of commotion across the pool and then saw a fellow holding up the head of another guy and signaling to the lifeguards and dragging him toward the lifeguards. One of the lifeguards jumped in, fleece and all, to get to him quickly. He wasn’t looking good at all—he seemed to be staring off into the distance and not responding—at first I thought he must be disabled. They pulled him to the poolside lifeguard station and pulled him out and he still wasn’t responding. But after a bit he seemed to start snapping out of it and started reacting more normally. Apparently he had been sitting or standing along the concrete poolside wall and had fainted, struck his forehead, then fallen under and had taken in some water. Luckily, the other guy saw it happen and got to him right away.
After our soak we showered and then drove down the mountain to Pocahontas campground and had supper. Cost is $18.80 tonight plus the $17.80 daily entry fee to the park. Too much!

Tuesday, 22 August-
After a quiet night we took our showers and cleaned up the van. As we drove out we decided to take another turn through ‘Bison Drive’ even though we hadn’t seen any bison there yesterday. Right off the hard road we found a small group and stayed with them for a half-hour or so, listening to their primordial-sounding grunts as they fed. We continued around the one-way drive and paused to look closely for more bison and there down the road was another coyote, staring curiously at us. He too seemed to evaporate into the woods.
We drove on to Edmonton and arrived there before lunch time. We found the west-side Wal-mart (there are four of them in Edmonton) which was far enough out of town and bounded by an open field; that looked good for tonight. We drove on the West Edmonton Mall, the world’s largest shopping mall. Like Mall of America, it was a big, BIG mall. This one outdoes the Mall of America in that the amusement rides are bigger and nicer and they also have a waterpark with a very large wave pool. We spent the afternoon at the Mall and then drove downtown to a city park for the rest of the day. At the park we had supper in the van and then later I set up the laptop’s television receiver and antenna so we could watch local television news. We only had four channels but that was enough.
Late in the evening we drove to the art-walk part of town and took a stroll. Most shops were closed but we checked out the menus of the restaurants and shared a to-die-for chocolate-hazelnut gelato at an Italian specialty shop while we browsed the newspaper. We then took Mocha Joe back out to the Wal-mart we had seen earlier and parked for the night. Shortly thereafter a thunderstorm came through and rocked us for a good two hours before settling down after midnight.

Monday, 21 August-
Today we headed west for Edmonton. The drive was a long one and we were happy to reach Elk Island National Park east of the city as our stopping place for the day. Once we rested a bit, we got out the bicycles and rode down to the lake and toured the nature trail. Then we rode some of the Lakeside Trail. We rode slowly so we didn’t surprise any of the big animals—the park’s bison, moose, and elk. The park is mostly known for its bison and this is the first time I’ve seen the distinction made between the plains bison and the woods bison. The park serves as a very large fenced reserve and keeps the two species apart by keeping the plains bison north and the woods bison south of the highway bisecting the park. Historically, this park played a significant role in the restoration of the bison. At a crucial point the Canadian government stepped in and bought the largest herd of bison remaining in Montana and established them as breeding stock. Rescuing the wood bison from extinction took a stroke of luck. Wood bison had retreated to Wood Buffalo National Park in northern Saskatchewan and were thought to have all been inter-bred with plains bison by the 1950’s, thereby ending the line of pure-bred wood bison. But in 1957 a small group of pure wood-bison were found in the remotest sections of Wood Buffalo National Park. Twenty-three of them were brought to Elk Island National Park and the separate range area established for them. To understand the importance of the park, consider this: most of today’s bison throughout North America descended from the historic Elk Island herds.
Our bicycle ride around the lake soon took us to a large pond where we saw beaver happily mucking about in a pond so totally covered in green algae that the surface looked like you could walk on it. But the beavers didn’t seem to mind swimming around through it. Further along we came to a lone bison bull blocking the path. Labashi shot off some pictures and we then retreated; it was getting late and buggy by then anyway. And on the way back we were stopped at a side trail to consider walking out to Beaver Bay but there on the side trail was another bison staring us down. We kept moving.
We camped that night at the Sandy Beach campground in the park and were a bit unhappy about prices. The campground was $22.80 for the night and that’s bad enough but we also had to pay $13.80 in entry fees to get into the park. That’s too much, bison or no.


Sunday, 20 August-
This morning we drove back to Wanuskewin to take a morning walk. We had started our visit too late yesterday and ran out of time. Today we had a nice, fresh, breezy morning and it promised to be a beautifully sunny day. We entered the trails via the same route as yesterday and remarked at how different the morning light looked in the little valley than it had in the evening light of yesterday. And as we walked along the Southern Saskatchewan River we saw something unexpected—a coyote walking in the river. He (or she) was headed toward us and hadn’t yet seen us. The breeze was blowing from the side and we were partially hidden by trees along our trail so it wasn’t until Labashi snapped the shutter that it saw us and froze for a second, then nonchalantly turned downstream and away from us, quartering to the riverbank and then he was hidden from sight by the riverside bushes. We waited and tried to ease along the riverbank to see him again but to no avail. We followed the winding trail up out of the valley and to the medicine wheel, one of less than a hundred such constructs in North America. This medicine wheel pre-dates Stonehenge by at least 500 years and, like Stonehenge, it’s purpose is unclear. It is said to mark positions of some stars. One remarkable thing about the site was the spectacular view all around--- it’s easy to believe a place like this has a spiritual purpose.
After leaving the wheel we continued on the path back toward the valley and came upon a small arroyo and there again (we think!) was our coyote. It’s possible this could have been another one but it was in the right place in approximately the right amount of time to have been our friend from the river. He was staring at us and watching intently. We thought we had caught him out in the open since the only cover around was the fairly-low prairie grass. But he fooled us once again. As Labashi tried to work her way around a large bush to position for a better photo, he appeared to turn--- and then was gone. We thought he had lain down in the grass. We had a clear view of all that area, and our pathway was winding right toward it. But we never saw him again. The ghost-dog had given us the slip again.
We walked a couple of miles and by lunchtime were very hungry. We again ate in the center’s restaurant, this time sharing a large bowl of bison chili with bannock. It was very well made, meaty and just enough chili spices to make it savory.
After lunch we headed to town to find a wi-fi connection so we could get our email and I could upload my blog entry. We found a coffee shop on Broadway and there was only one parking spot left in that area but one is enough! After getting the laptop hooked up to the internet, I went in and ordered a coffee while Labashi started some web queries she has been waiting to do.
After completing our email, blog, and web work, we decided to find a small park and relax for the afternoon—we’ve been working WAY too hard at this travel thing. We toured the riverside park in Saskatoon and then headed out of town for the Beaver Glen Conservation Area. We were hoping to find trees and shade but it turned out to be open prairie with some trails heading into a wooded valley or to the river. Since it was an airy day, we decided to take the two-mile prairie and riverside trail. That was a great walk; the grasses were waving in the wind and the trail took us to the wild-appearing river, again the Southern Saskatchewan. We had a light supper in the van when we finished our walk and headed out. When we had stopped at the visitor center upon arrival, the guy there had suggested we talk to shepherd if we had a chance. We had seen sheep off in the distance during our walk but they had been too far away and we hadn’t seen the shepherd at all. But as we drove out the lane we saw the shepherd driving the sheep into a fenced-in area. So we parked along the road and walked over to the pen across the prairie. As we came up to the pen, the shepherd and his dog were working the sheep and now driving them out of the pen. They had been brought in for a drink but since it was only five p.m. it was too early for them to bed down. After the sheep had been turned loose we met the shepherd, Jared, and his border-collie Kate. Jared and Kate are running sheep on the Conservation Area lands as part of an experiment to control invasive plants. Sheep, it turns out, prefer the invasive snowberries, chokecherries, and wood-willow plants to the native species. So Jared and his 231 sheep have been here since May 15th and Jared works sun-up to sun-down watching over the sheep. After our morning experience with a coyote, we asked Jared about them and he says there are many and they are getting a bit cheeky as they aren’t hunted on the Conservation Area. We walked the prairie with Jared as we talked. I asked if he sees snakes out here--- no, he replied, none in three years. We talked at length about Kate and about Jared’s days as a shepherd. Jared’s wife is a full-time student and he’s originally from the ranch country of southern Alberta, down near Waterton Lakes. We spent a delightful two hours with Jared and Kate and loved every minute of it. In the long light of evening, the prarie was a wonderfully-alive and gentle place. At one point I passed the van keys to Labashi and told her she’ll have to go on without me; I’m going to become a shepherd.
We spent that night at the Wal-Mart on the east side of Saskatoon, same as last night. And once again it was a nice, quiet night though after all our walking, sleep came easily.