Jasper National Park: July 2 - 5, 2026
- Cecilia Clark
- Jul 26
- 4 min read
Updated: 6 days ago
Icefields Parkway (Highway 93) is a 232 km (144 mile) scenic mountain road that connects Lake Louise in Banff National Park to the Jasper townsite. When the drive begins a road sign alerts you that next gas is 85 km away.
We didn't stop at every viewpoint on the way to Jasper. We saw some on the way north and some others a few days later on the way south as we drove to Calgary. We saw the Big Horn Sheep group both directions. They frequent the area because of the minerals in the rocks. The first landscape was taken at the Howse Pass Viewpoint located near Saskatchewan River Crossing and the first gas on the Icefields parkway. The Saskatchewan River from this point flows 1200km/745mi east to Lake Winnipeg.
The first waterfall image is of the upper Sunwapta Falls. The second waterfall is Athabasca Falls and it was just before that stop that we began to see the damage done by the July 22, 2024 Jasper Fire that began from multiple lightning strikes.
One firefighter was killed in the Jasper Fire, and more than 25,000 people were evacuated. Within the Jasper townsite, approximately a third (358 out of 1,113) of all structures were destroyed. Rows and rows of temporary housing still exisit in the the outskirts of Jasper and within Jasper. Critical infrastructure was saved. One gas station was destroyed and has not yet been replaced. We noticed this as we were leaving and wanted to put more gas in our tank. Of the two remaining gas stations, one had no gas that day and the other had a very long line of people trying to refuel before heading down the Icefields Parkway. We decided we could make it to the Saskatchewan Crossing to refuel. That turned out to be a great stop. The employees pump your gas, then you pull forward to a small pay kiosk with a car lane on each side. The charge card machine is attached to a pole which is proffered into the car to the customer to tap or insert the credit card. They are very efficient.
The historical buildings of Jasper National Park Lodge were saved as was the golf course. The wildfire burned right up to the core area of the lodge.
Our first full day at the Jasper National Park Lodge, we drove first to Medicine Lake and then on to Maligne (pronounced May-leen). Medicine Lake has a breeding pair of bald eagles nesting there. The family of marmots living around the Medicine Lake shoreline are entertaining to watch.
At Maligne Lake, we walked a short lakeside trail. The weather alternated between sun and sprinkles. On the way back to Jasper we were fortunate to spot a young black bear and a young bull moose.
The day we left Jasper National Park lodge we spotted a group of elk foraging on the lodge's landscaping. As we stopped, a security person also stopped, grabbed his hockey stick with streamers on it and proceeded to shoo away the animals with his streaming hockey stick. Still in the lodge area, we stopped at Edith Lake and were rewarded with a family group of Common Mergansers. I stalked them until they were out of range.
Back on the Icefields Parkway headed south we stopped at the Colombia Icefield and the Athabasca Glacier. It was shocking to see the timelines of where the foot of the glacier was at each point in time. The forefield trail (the trail we walked) passes through an area that less than 100 years ago lay beneath the glacial ice. The lake that has formed from the glacial melt is Sunwapta Lake. We walked back to the car along the road that leads to the foot/toe of the glacier.
Continuing our Icefields Parkway drive toward Lake Louise Village, we stopped at Waterfowl Lake and didn't see any water birds of any kind. The last stop was at Peyto Lake where we hiked the .6km with a 26m/85ft elevation gain to the viewpoint. The shape of Peyto Lake looks like a fox head and neck. At 2070m/6791ft Peyto Lake is the highest point on the Icefields Parkway.
How did Peyto Lake (and other glacial lakes and streams) get its color? The movement of the Peyto Glacier grinds the rocks beneath it into a powdery silt, known as rock flour. Meltwater carries the rock flour into the lake, but it is so lightweight that it doesn't sink. As sunlight hits the lake, water absorbs the longest wavelengths of the spectrum (red, orange, and yellow). The shorter wavelengths (green and blue) reflect back. Due to their size, rock flour particles absorb some of the blue, so the more rock flour there is, the greener the water looks (sign at Peyto Lake).
Tonight we are staying at the Mountaineer Lodge at Lake Louise Village. Tomorrow we resume our drive to Calgary for our last few days in Canada.
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