Canada Guide
Alberta and the Rockies
Jasper National Park
Although traditionally viewed as the second-ranking of the Rockies' big-four parks after Banff, JASPER NATIONAL PARK covers an area greater than Banff, Yoho and Kootenay combined, and looks and feels far wilder and less commercialized than its southern counterparts. Its backcountry is more extensive and less travelled, and Jasper Townsite, p.750 (or Jasper), the only settlement, is more relaxed and far less of a resort than Banff and has just half Banff's population. Most pursuits centre on Jasper and the Maligne Lake area about 50km southeast of the townsite. Other key zones are Maligne Canyon, on the way to the lake; the Icefields Parkway; and the Miette Hot Springs region, an area well to the east of Jasper and visited for its springs and trails.
The park's backcountry is a vast hinterland scattered with countless rough campsites and a thousand-kilometre trail system considered among the best in the world for backpackers. Opportunities for day and half-day-hikes are more limited and scattered than in other parks. Most of the shorter strolls from the townsite are just low-level walks to forest-circled lakes; the best of the more exciting day-hikes start from more remote points off the Maligne Lake road, Icefields Parkway (Hwy 93) and Yellowhead Hwy (Hwy 16).
Hiking in Jasper National Park
If you haven't travelled to Jasper on the Icefields Parkway, remember that several of the national park's top trails can be accessed from this road: the Wilcox Pass Trail in particular is one of the finest half-day-hikes anywhere in the Rockies. If you just want a simple stroll closer to town, then think about walking the Old Fort Point Loop, the Maligne Canyon and the easy path on the eastern shore of Maligne Lake. If you're at Maligne Lake and want a longer walk, one of Jasper's best day-hikes, the Opal Hills Circuit (8.2km round trip; 460m vertical ascent), starts from the picnic area to the left of the uppermost Maligne Lake car park, 48km east of Jasper. The Bald Hills Trail (5.2km one-way; 480m ascent) starts with a monotonous plod along a fire road from the same car park, but ends with what Mary Schaffer, one of the area's first white explorers, described as "the finest view any of us had ever beheld in the Rockies"; allow four hours for the round trip, which goes as high as 2170m.
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