I am now approaching the town of Jasper, AB from the south and have started to see damage caused by the massive wildfire which started a little over a year before I arrived in early August, 2025. You won’t see much evidence of it in my photos but I would be remiss if I didn’t explain what happened.
Jasper National Park is the largest of the six National Parks I would visit over the next few days from my base in Golden, BC. At 4,335 square miles it is larger than Yellowstone National Park (3,472 square miles). Comprised mainly of mountains, forests, lakes and rivers, it is a popular tourist destination.
The town of Jasper has a population of around 4,800 permanent residents according to the 2021 Census. That population swells significantly over the summer months.
Around 700pm the evening of July 22, 2024, a fire was detected northeast of town. A short time later, other fires were discovered well south of town. All of the fires are believed to have been started by lightning, and spread rapidly.
Within several hours, authorities made the decision to evacuate the entire Park! This was done due to the weather and ground conditions, as well as the forecast for the coming days. There are not many escape options, and it was the middle of summer so there were thousands of people visiting the area, in hotels, camping or staying in their RV’s. It is estimated that 25,000 residents, employees and visitors were told to immediately evacuate the town and Park.
Here is a map of the area eventually consumed by the fire.
(Photo credit: Parks Canada)
As I stated, the fire started July 22, 2024 and wasn’t considered “under control” until September 7, more than a month later. Due to the remote wooded areas within the Park it wasn’t actually considered “extinguished” until April 1, 2025! In all, the fire consumed 156 square miles.
I am approaching the town on Route 93 and started seeing burnt out areas on both sides of the road after I drove around Mount Kerkeslin and Mount Hardisty at the bottom of the photo. Everyone south of town was probably encouraged to drive south on 93. People in and around the town of Jasper could go either east or west on Route 16. Due to the fact that some of the fires were northeast of town, most people probably went west and eventually ended up in Valemount, which quickly became overrun with evacuees.
Only one death was attributed to the fire. A 24-year old trained firefighter died northeast of town when a tree fell on him. He had come up from Calgary to assist in fighting the blaze. No doubt that quick action by authorities, mere hours after the small fires were first discovered, saved countless other lives.
I will discuss the impact on the town of Jasper in my next post.
I know, it has been a week since I posted anything substantial, and that was from way back near Vancouver. As usual, I am way behind but can assure you I am accumulating LOTS of photos.
Driving across southern Alberta province a few days ago, on my way to Moose Jaw, I decided I would post a few photos from each city I have stayed in since leaving Vancouver Island to whet your appetite for what is still to come.
HOPE, BC – I didn’t stay there but it provided some excitement early in my loooong drive to Cranbrook from east of Vancouver. There was an electronic sign next to the Trans Canada Highway warning of a wildfire ahead and telling drivers NOT to stop along the roadway. Well, it turns out the fire was on a hillside above a gas station I was already planning to stop at, where Route 3 branches off from the TCH to take me east across southern British Columbia, very close to the US/Canadian border. So I didn’t stop along the roadway, I stopped at a gas station off the exit.
This fire had been burning for about a month (and still is as I write this). It is quite small by wildfire standards but is stubborn due to the steep terrain on the hillside. While I was getting gas, a helicopter arrived about every 4 minutes to dump a large bucket of water on the hotspots, then flew off to a nearby water source to bring more. Imagine the pilot(s), doing that all day, every day.
That particular drop hit right on the “sweet spot” where I could see visible flames.
This was as close as I ever need to get to a wildfire.
CRANBROOK – After 12 hours in the car (with stops) I approached Cranbrook and got my first look at the southernmost Canadian Rockies. The sun was just setting as I could see the very impressive mountains in the distance. By the time I found a place to stop with a fairly clear view only one set of mountains were still getting sunlight and the others were now in full shade.
There was a third set of mountains further north that I could see but I couldn’t get a clear shot at them from this vantage point.
GOLDEN, BC – After spending two nights in Cranbrook I headed north to spend 6 nights in Golden, from which I would visit 6 National Parks.
This was from the drive towards Jasper NP, a huge Park which suffered considerable damage from a large wildfire last year. I drove over 3 hours north on the Icefield Parkway, and stopped at these two lakes and saw LOTS of mountains along the way:
The next day I drove west from Golden through (the Canadian) Glacier NP.
I would also go through Kootenay, Yoho, Mount Revelstoke and Banff National Parks from my base in Golden.
CANMORE, BC – Rather than staying in Banff proper I went 22 kilometers south to spend 4 nights in Canmore which is a very nice little town without the massive crowds that Banff experiences. I did make two early morning stops in Banff before the tour buses and RV’s started to arrive in the late mornings, and will post those photos later.
From Canmore I drove a long way south one day in an area known as Kananaskis Country (pronounced can-a-NASS-kiss):
As I was driving home, there were two full grown Bighorn Sheep in the road and traffic was stopped. Note the Park Ranger’s truck approaching behind the black car which was stopped.
The Ranger lit up the emergency lights and started honking the horn as the truck swerved around the stopped car, scaring the sheep over the guardrail and off the road.
CALGARY, AB – After 10 nights total in the Canadian Rockies I went west from Canmore to Calgary, the provincial capital of Alberta. There I found the huge Wonderland sculpture in front of a building on a busy city street:
And the Calgary Tower, similar to the CN Tower in Toronto, but shorter and designed to look like the Olympic torch (Calgary is another Canadian city which has hosted the Winter Olympics):
The tower used to dominate the skyline but is now dwarfed by many of the new skyscrapers downtown.
I apparently haven’t downloaded some of the other photos I took in Calgary which I had planned to include here but will post them later.
MOOSE JAW, SK – Three days ago I drove due east from Calgary for about 7 hours, across southern Alberta and into western Saskatchewan, to a town I have wanted to visit for a very long time.
I give you Mac the Moose:
He stands proudly outside the Visitor Centre in Moose Jaw. Inside the Visitor Centre I found his sidekick, Cheese the cat:
Get it? Mac and Cheese?
Next to Mac there was a replica of one of the Canadian Snowbirds jets.
The Snowbirds are Canada’s precision flying team and are based at the military airfield just outside of Moose Jaw. I saw their support truck twice on the highways as I went from town to town, and they just recently put on an airshow in Nanaimo, where I took the ferry from when I sailed from Vancouver Island to Vancouver city at the beginning of this trip.
REGINA, SK – Which brings me to where I am tonight. I didn’t get into town until noon, and stopped at the Visitor Centre for maps and brochures to add to what I had already found elsewhere. I went to a series of sports arenas, all gathered on one part of town, and drove to several nice city parks to enjoy the cooler weather. In one of them I found this rabbit, casually eating grass:
It’s hard to tell from the photo but he is huge – every bit as large as my 16-pound cat (Bigfoot) that I had when I lived in Pennsylvania.
Unfortunately I scared him as I tried to get closer and he used his long legs to run off.
I haven’t had a chance to really explore the city but I will review my notes when I get up in the morning and make a full day of it.
I hope this will hold you over until I have time to review, crop and organize more photos from all of these places.
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