During a trip to the Rocky mountains last summer, we stayed in the stunning Mount Robson National Park for a few nights as a base for visiting the nearby sites including the Berg Lake Trail, Jasper. This stunning area of outstanding beauty and a world heritage site is definitely a must-see
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A Quick Glance At Jasper
As we came through Jasper National Park towards Mount Robson we were in complete awe by the sheer scale of the place, the smell of the air and brightly colour waters in contrast with the surrounding trees and slightly snow-peaked mountains. We stopped off briefly in Jasper on our way for some dinner before out first night at Mount Robson.
We headed to Jasper for some dinner before heading to Mt Robson. We chose to have food in Montana BBQ and Bar. It was really relaxed, had lots of comfort food, had sports playing on screen and had a pool table. Jasper is a really pretty town and peaceful.
When we were there, we didn’t take full advantage of this but compared to Banff. We soon realised what a gem Jasper was. Although it’s made for tourists it hasn’t become over run by them which unfortunately Banff has in the summer. The prices of accommodation and food in Jasper is more pricey than its southern rocky partner towns of Banff and Canmore. We popped in a couple of times during our stay for food.
In Hindsight, I wish we had spent more time here. We didn’t get chance to see as much of Jasper as we could have done and definitely underestimated all it had to offer.
I am already planning my trip for next summer here and plan to stay longer and possible do the white water rafting and helicopter ride should the budget allow (this is a little further south). There are wildlife tours which are great if you are a photographer, limited for time in the area or here in the peak season when its busy. There are lots of places to stop near by such as the Athabasca river runs alongside the town.
Mount Robson & Berg Lake Trail
In Mt Robson we stayed in a beautiful log cabin by the side of a creek that looked out to Mount Robson’s peak (See bottom of this page for video clip from the garden to Mt Robson). Our accommodation was beautiful, the hosts were lovely and the food was unbelievable. I’ve included more about our accommodations in my rocky mountain road trip article.
One highlight was upon arrival we saw our first-ever bear which was a grizzly. So we ran to the decking which was looking over the creek but at a safe distance with the garden and creek between us and the Bear with the other guests silently in aw. This was the only Grizzly we saw on the trip, as the rest were black bears. I have covered the accommodation in our article Rocky Mountain Road Trip, Canada if you would like more information.
We didn’t have specific plans for our stay here other than relaxing in the outdoors and doing a walk. When we spoke to owners of the ledge they advised us about the Berg Lake trail. Sometimes it is easy to get carried away and book up your holidays especially if you like to be active. I am really grateful I decided not to book up or plan most of this trip (other than a few bits). We drove round to the car park for the berg lake trail and immediately we were greeted with beautiful giant fir trees towering over the path and following a path along the river.
We followed the lake round to a large open shelter with picnic benches underneath. We stopped for about 10 minutes to have a snack before continuing on towards Whitehorn and Emperor falls for a steeper hike. We only made it a few more kilometres (to about 3969m of elevation above sea level) and were greeted by a very stressed young gentleman who was asking about a park warden, he told us a friend of his had broken her leg up near berg lake on the way down.
We didn’t feel right continuing on so we went to see if we could help. In the end, we found her led on the floor next to the trail in pain with a splint on her leg (made by a passing doctor). We decided to help her and her friends get her down to the campgrounds at Kinney lake. My fella carried her and I took her backpack and wore mine on my front. Her friends were already carrying camping gear and bags on both front and back between them. We waited at the shelter but there was no sign of a warden for over an hour. We then decided to continue and get her closer to the park entrance and clear of danger, with the temperature dropping, the rain on and off (but gradually getting heavier as the day went on) and a couple of stops for black bears in the tracks. We eventually got to a park warden near the bridge and first campsite at Kinney Lake.
Following this the rain was getting worse, visibility started to change and we realised we wouldn’t fit much more of a walk-in if we tried to head back. We headed back to the lodge, showered then rested in front of the fire before relaxing for dinner with the guests and owners. We definitely want to come back to this trail as it was just gorgeous.
Hopefully, we will make all the way up to berg lake and the glacier next time. But we loved everything we saw here and will definitely be heading back.
If you liked this post and are thinking about visiting the Rockies check out these articles:
- Via Ferrata Climb at Mt Norquay
- Rocky Mountain Road Trip, Canada
- Golden & The Southern Rockies, Canada
- Maligne Lake and Spirit Island
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