Day 4, The Crossing to Jasper, Via Columbia Icefields

Early morning we headed for breakfast at the Crossing's restaurant. They have an all you can eat package, quite expensive (around $25/$30 for adults), or you can order individual items. We ended up choosing a good combination: the kids got the all-you-can eat buffet at a lower price, and the adults order a couple of items. It worked out quite nicely as the kids could not eat all their food.

Sunwapta Pass

The road goes up through Sunwapta pass. There are actually a few stops along the way, with great views. The weather was not the best for us.

Columbia Icefields

A must stop for sure. You can drive nearly all the way there on the left side of the road, or you an go to toe Visitor centre and go on a bus that actually goes on top of the ice. We did not take the bus, but chose to to walk. Again, you are quite high here, so you will get out of breath, it is not for the not too fit. Also, it is quite cold and windy. Temperature was around 8C, with hard bone chilling wind.

After going near the ice, we went t the visitor centre to eat our snacks, in a heated place, as well as to use the washrooms. Had a nice espresso there.

Athabasca Falls and Sunwapta Falls are very nice stops too:

Jasper

We arrived in Jasper around 2PM and headed straight for our accomodations.

Accomodation: Pine Bungalows

We stayed at the Pine bungalows for 2 nights. This was the most expensive accommodation at $220 per night for a 2 room cabin with 2 Queen beds, plus kitchen and dining area, and bathroom of course. Kitchen is great, but it does not have a microwave, which was sorely missed. I commented about this at checkout and was told that they wanted to keep the "rustic" style, or something to that effect, which is non sense as the place is really nice. There are several types of cabins, some bigger, some smaller. Ours was number 69, close to the water. We met a nice family vacationing from England next door, they were staying there for a full week.

Check in and checkout were a breeze, no surprises. Staff was pleasant and helpful. Note: the coffee they give you has a built-in filter!

View from the Athabasca river at Pine Bungalows

Food market

Jasper has a couple of  food markets. We only went to Robinson's, right on Jasper's main street (you can't get lost in Jasper!). It has pretty much everything you need, including a deli counter,  a good (but not the best) variety of frozen foods.

Jasper is a nice little town. It does not have the tourist and fashionable feel of Banff, but neither does it have hoards of people that Banff has.

Patricia Lake

This is a small drive from downtown. There is a nice little island to walk to and around.

 Patricia Lake island