The beautiful town and national park is named after a Hudson Bay Company trading post manager and postmaster Jasper Hawes who served in his post from 1817 to 1821.During his tenure it became known as Jasper’s House. The park was officially named after the forementioned Jasper in 1907 and the town officially became Jasper in 1913.

Two years ago a devastating forest fire roared through the area, destroying many buildings in the town itself. It also burned the two nearby campsites, Whistler’s and Wapiti. We are camped in Whistler’s campground, run by Parks Canada. Brand new washroom buildings have risen among the bare, blackened remnants of the aspen and spruce trees. This campsite holds about 700 sites. This night we were able to secure one of the last 50.

The town is a hive of building activity as the rebuild continues. New housing and commercial areas are springing up. Fortunately many of the town’s heritage buildings were spared as was the famous Jasper Park Lodge. We took a drive up to the Jasper Skytram for a look. It looked inviting so up we went to the top station at 7,425 feet above sea level. It affords incredible views up and down the Athabasca River valley and of the town site itself. We were in luck as Mt Robson was visible poking it’s head up between the peaks to the west, apparently a rare occurrance.

Back to the parking lot it was time to head further east. As it was “Game Day” we decided to stop in Hinton for lunch. We found a sports bar and settled in. Not too busy and the hostess had to tune the game in. Unfortunately as we know, Canada was unsuccessful. At 1-0 early in the second half I said “if Switzerland scores again, lets go”. Not long after that we were on the road again. We rolled St Albert and a really nice campground run by the Kinsmen Club of St Albert. Beautiful facility but unfortunately it is beside the Sturgeon River and with all the rain lately in this part of the country, we were eaten alive by mosquitos. Ouch! Tomorrow is a big family visiting day so off to bed for a good rest. ZZZZZZZZ!