Lake Louise, Banff National Park to Whistlers Campgrounds, Jasper National Park, Alberta

It was cold this morning when we walked. I think the temp was about 40 F. The sky was heavy with clouds and low enough that you could not see the mountains around us at Lake Louise Campgrounds. We got on the road about 9:45 for what was to be approximate 2 hours and 30 minutes. We were getting spotty percipitation, but the roads were mostly dry.

There was a backup to the toll booths for Jasper National Park that is on Hwy 93 that runs North-Northwest to Jasper Alberta, about 143 miles. The Toll taker asked where I was going and I told her I had reservations at Whistlers Campground near Jasper. She said with the weather the way it is, they they are not recommending that drive today. I asked her why and she said the road conditions were not good. Since this was not a road closure I decided to go ahead with my plans and thanked her. She did give Kelso a treat.

The outside temp at the time was 42 F and as I moved North we gained elevation and after about 40 miles the temp was 31 F, some of the sprinkles on the windshield were snow and it was doing a partial icing to the wipers. All the mountains were snowcapped and there was a gradual build-up of the snow on the ground as we moved North. This spot where it was 31 F, the clouds were very low and the mountain tops were not visible. This lasted maybe 10 miles and then were started down and eventually the temp went back to 40 F. The temp was up and down for the rest of the trip depending if we were going up or down but it never got below 34 F.

The scenery was absolutely stunning. The snow capped mountains with snow along the side the road. Maybe it is meant to be Christmas in June. I stopped a couple of times and took some photos and also took a couple while I was driving. Not a lot of places to pull off. I think the snow all around and the low clouds just added to the beauty of the landscape. A lot of cars and RVs pulling off to take pictures. The road was not crowded and I think that was because of the weather. I do not remember the US Rockies being this dramatic but that was 57 years ago, with two 20 year old college kids taking 2 1/2 weeks to go to Calironia and back before school restarted.

They had some reduces speed limits for road construction but there was no work going on, I suppose because of the weather. A few trees were down from the winds yesterday but the maintenance people had cut enough so they did not encroach on the shoulder or the road. I saw a municipal type plow go by about 1/2 way thru the drive. The roads must have been plowed last night because you could see the piles on the side of the road. It looks like they had a couple of inches or so of snow.

I went past the Campgrounds to go into the town of Jasper for gas. From what I saw of the town, it is well kept and no buildings that looked like they needed repair. The Campground is very nice and run by Parks Canada. They do a great job as you can see in the photos.

Tomorrow is onto Dawson Creek British Columbia and the 1st leg of the Alcan Highway.

One of the Scenic Turnouts looking South, from where we came from.

Just a magnificent view of the snow capped mountain (South end).

Another magnificent view of the same snow capped Mountain (North end).

Driving North-Northwest to the campsite. Lot of low clouds in the sky that hide the mountains.

Gives you a good idea of the snow. And this was not the most snow we saw.

Looking out from our Campsite toward the East.

Looking from our Campsite to the Northeast.

That is our RV at the Campsite and I am looking South.

This is the entrance road to the Campsite. Our camp site is to the right.