Jasper

I spy mountains!!! 

This was right about the moment that both Justin and I got super excited and high-fived that we made it to the mountains. I frequently joke that I was born in the wrong province- usually during ski season. I was still quite excited to visit the Rockies in the summer. 

We made it to Jasper National Park in the early evening. There are two options- to drive through the park, or pay to "use" the park. We paid for a park pass, and set out to find a campsite. Many of the campgrounds were already full, so we "settled" for Pocahontas Campground. It turned out to be a great site, where we had our first campfire of the trip. 

I had never been to Jasper, and was excited to explore and be a bit of a tourist. We started with an AMAZING drive down the road to the Miette Hot Springs. This road was super fun and left both of us wishing we had our cars (manual transmission, much sportier than the van)!

View while driving up to Miette Hot Springs

We thought we'd hike around and check out the hot springs, but it turns out that the drive up and down the road was the highlight of this little detour. The actual hike would have taken more time than we could sacrifice and the hot springs were a disappointment in our opinion- they look like a regular swimming pool which we found unappealing. However, the scenery is quite spectacular. With some time to spare, we headed into the town of Jasper.

Jasper is essentially a smaller, quieter, slightly less busy version of Banff. We walked around, bought a few souvenirs, and then checked out the local brewery. Jasper Brewing Company has a great brewpub; we sampled a couple beers and ultimately bought a growler to take with us.

Jasper Brewing Company

Jasper was hands-down worth the drive. I absolutely wish 

we could have spent longer there! I'm pretty sure we will

be back one day! If you're looking for more detailed shots of

Jasper and you're on Instagram, check out "nonstoptravelling".

They're roadtripping in their van from Florida to Alaska and 

have been exploring Jasper recently and have some beautiful

pictures!

Up next, interior B.C.!

J & S

Athabasca River outside Jasper