wess

Our family visited Banff a few years ago. We visited Lake Louise, did the Teahouse Hike, did the Athabasca Glacier walk, visited Johnson Canyon, ate at Cilantros on Emerald Lake and visited Moraine Lake and saw Takakkaw Falls. One of my daughters just moved to Edmonton and is attending the University of Alberta for her masters. Her sister is visiting in early August and they want to hike a few days. The want to see Jasper this time and I wondered if anyone has suggestions on things to see and scenic day hikes. I used this forum before visiting Banff the first time and it was very very helpful. Thank You for any suggestions. Amanda

ltt

some of the jasper experts will see this and give you hike suggestions. my suggestion is start looking and booking accommodations for your dates. the town is almost totally full for july. not sure about august. hopefully you aren't going over the august long weekend. hope your daughter enjoys the U of A. it's a relatively uneventful drive from edmonton to jasper so i always recommend leaving very early (even in darkness) so you can make the most of your time in the mountains.

wess

I looked briefly at accommodations and they seem full with some vacancies here and there. They will try to spend a few days there the week 10-14 so not a weekend. We are from Indiana so she is adjusting to being far away from home. She has been there only a month and I think she is still getting used to the long daylight hours.

kgsneds

Welcome!

Will you daughters have a car? There are some summer shuttle to Jasper, but getting to most of the hiking trails and sights without a car is very challenging.

From all accounts, Jasper is very full this summer - much more so than in previous summers. They should book accommodations ASAP - August is peak season, even mid week. The later they wait, the more likely the options will be the most expensive and/or least desirable.

There are a few hostels, none of which are in Jasper, so they would need a car. The Hi Hostels at Maligne Canyon, Edith Cavell and Athabasca Falls are wilderness hostels, so have kitchen facilities and potable water for cooking, but no showers, and have outhouses. The Hi Hostel at Whistlers is 'full services', but only has large dorm rooms with aging facilities. For cheaper (but not cheap) lodging, the best bet is to find a private home accommodation (PHA). They will need to look on stayinjasper and just call/e-mail places until they find one that is available. Do that ASAP, and note that most will have a 2 or 3 night minimum stay.

The main attractions around Jasper are Maligne Canyon and Maligne Lake. Best visited via car, but you can book a day packaged tour if needed. Both can be done with short walks, but also have great hikes (Opal or Bald Bills around the lake, network of trails along the canyon). The Edith Cavell area along 93A is also a don't miss. Lots of trails just around the townsite. The Miette Hot Springs are between Jasper townsite and the park gates - probably best visited on a cool day or in the evening - both to avoid the crowds, and to be more pleasant The Sulphur Skyline hike up there is excellent.

There's also the gondola/tram just outside of town. Great on a clear day, but not worth the $$ if you won't have any views from the top.

If they want to drive a bit farther, they can check out sites along the Icefields Parkway and do a glacier tour. For the latter, you can do the packaged, tourist tour which gives you a quick walk in a tiny roped off area. Or do a longer, more expensive IceWalk with a certified guide where you walk for a couple of hours on the glacier (equipment provided).

If they have a car, and would like to make a loop of it - and I'd suggest spending as many days as they can - they could do some nights in Jasper, then drive along the Icefields Parkway to Sask River Crossing. From there, drive through the David Thompson area to Nordegg. There's a great Hi Hostel there (Shunda Creek). It's technically a wilderness hostel, but has showers, full kitchen, running water and nice small dorm rooms.

wess

Thank you for the reply. Yes they have a car. They will leave Edmonton and drive towards Jasper to spend a few days exploring and hiking. They are poor college students so they will spend most of their time seeing the "free" sights ��. I looked on the internet and I see Hinton has hotels that seem cheaper they can use for a home base. They offer free breakfast which will help. It looks to be about an hours drive from the park. Does this sound doable. We did as a family do the glacier walk and I think that actually made my one daughter take an interest glaciers in her geological studies at her university in Indiana. They will then drive to Banff and spend a day seeing some of the lakes or maybe so the hike plain of 6 glaciers. I welcome all advice and suggestions to help them make their 2 days there memorable. Thanks you

kgsneds

I would strongly suggest against staying in Hinton. Hinton is a stinky (literally) mill town outside the mountains and the park which is really not much more than a series of chain hotels & fast food on the highway. For the amount of extra driving (1 hr or so to Jasper townsite, further to anything else), you'd probably be spending enough on gas to make up the difference hotel/PHA cost.

As I said, if cost is an issue, stay in the hostels. With a car, the wilderness hostels are a nice option and you can shower at the rec centre in Jasper.

Another option would be to either do a quick night in Jasper (hostel it) or to skip Jasper and focus on Banff NP where there are more options for cheap accommodation. They could drive to the parks via Highway 11 and stay a night at Shunda Creek Hostel (3-3.5 hrs from Edmonton), then drive south on the Icefields Parkway. There are plenty of great hikes there.

Around Canmore/Banff/Lake Louise, there are a number of excellent hostels and some budget places. Again they need to book ASAP. The Hi Hostels in Lake Louise, Canmore and Banff are all great, and the Hostel Bear in Canmore is fine. All offer private rooms. In Banff, the YWCA and the Banff Y Lodge (?) offer budget rooms.

An advantage of the hostels is that they often offer discounts or deals on tours and tourists sites. I know that the Canmore hostel offers $10 passes to the local rec centre (pool, hot tub, climbing wall, weigh room etc), while in Lake Louise yuo can discounts on local tours. Some have free or cheap gear rentals (bikes).

Your daughter should make sure to join AMA (CAA in Alberta) if she hasn't already. Not only is having the breakdown coverage a good thing in the mountains, but AMA offers lots of discounts for places in the parks - the hotsprings for one.

Also they should note for their budget that they will need to purchase a parks pass for each day they are in the parks. It's $19.60 per car and each pass is good until 4pm the next day. So they will need to factor that into the budget.

wess

I booked them 2 nights in Hi alpine hostel in Banff. I am still struggling with Jasper. I booked them in Hinton to at least have a place secured in case I can not find something. Will continue my search in the morning. I can not find anything in Jasper that is not already booked or extremely costly. Wish me luck.

kgsneds

Try Athabasca Falls Hostel, Maligne Hostel or Edith Cavell Hostel. There is also the tiny World Traveller's Hostel.

Unfortunately, Jasper accommodation has filled very fast this summer. I do think they'd be much happier going to the mountains via Nordegg and staying there rather than commuting from stinky Hinton.

wess

As of this morning they are still destined to be in stinky Hinton lol. I have my coffee in hand and will spend my morning searching for another option via internet. They are booked up more solid than The Smoky Mountains in Tennessee when the fall colors are in full force. Thanks again for the suggestions.

wess

Wouldn't Nordegg be a further commute?

kgsneds

I was suggesting Nordegg as an alternate to Jasper. They could stay there one night, then from there do the glacier and then on to Banff. Nordegg is an old mining town that used to be one of the largest cities in Alberta. Now you can tour the old 'ghost town'.

Have you tried the hostels? The wilderness hotels may not sound appealing at first, but they are a good alternative to Hinton. As I said, for one or two nights, they could shower at the Jasper Rec Centre if they wanted. Or even go up to the hot springs at Miette and shower after a soak.

Also, for the PHAs in Jasper, which is your most likely option, you need to be sending out lots of e-mails to any that might be available. www.stayinjasper.com

kgsneds

As note, there is now bridge construction on Hwy between Hinton and Jasper townsite. Traffic is one lane, alternating (i.e. only one direction at a time). Apparently though it's supposedly 20 minute delay, locals say it can be up to 40-60 minutes.

So, that really doubles commute time between Hinton and Jasper - think 1.5 to 2 hrs to get to any of the tourist sights. That's a lot of driving.

I would strongly suggest either finding beds in a hostel or PHA, or skipping Jasper and coming into the parks via Nordegg.

wess

Thank you for posting the website of the homeowner rentals. I was not aware of that particular site. I took your advice and e mailed them all this morning. Only one had all 3 days needed and only because they had a cancellation. It was actually cheaper than the hotel in Hinton. We tried the hostels but they are booked. I was a little leery of renting in a home but it seems legit. I feel better they are not going to be on the road so much traveling back and forth.

kgsneds

Great that you found a place for them to stay in Jasper!

Please be assured that the PHAs in Jasper are entirely legit. They are the equivalent of B&Bs for Jasper - though, because of the ins & outs of licensing, most don't provide breakfast (many have kitchenettes or at least kettle/fridge/micro). No different from someone running a B&B out of there house.

I've stayed at two PHAs and know of many others (I think there are 100+ in Jasper), and had great experiences. It helps to understand why they exist and why they exist as PHAs.

In the national parks, there are very strict regulations about development (i.e the townsites cannot expand). As a result, housing is extremely limited. Even now there is an acute housing shortage, especially for low wage workers, in Banff & Jasper. Canmore, just outside the parks, has a 0% rental vacancy rates, with rental rates being driven way up by the demand for weekend vacation rentals. There is a massive need for affordable housing, but almost all new housing is aimed at weekend rentals in terms of price/size, and yet local businesses are losing out on workers because there is no place for them to live. And any suggestion of building new affordable housing comes with a ton of debate.

Thus, in order to preserve housing in the national parks for those who actually need it - and to avoid it being bought up for weekend vacation places - there are strict rules about who can live in the townsites.

Only persons who have legit jobs in the national parks (or have retired after a number of years residency) can live in the townsites. Short or long term rentals to non-residents are not permitted. Theoretically anyone can own a house, but they cannot live in the house unless that have a legit job in the park.

Simply running a B&B is not sufficient reason alone to be permitted to live in Jasper. However, house prices in Jasper (and Banff/Field) are really high. Thus there are very, very few people can run full time proper B&Bs. Most are looking for extra income to looking to supplement 2 incomes, supplement their spouses's income or have a bit of income after retiring from a full time job. So they run PHAs on the side, or as one spouses' focus. PHAs are limited to 8 persons max, so most are 1-2 roms.

All PHAs must have business licenses and abide by licensing/inspection rules. Since they are all run by locals (not staffed by young Aussies or Brits on a year's visa like most hotels), the owners can be an excellent source of information on what to do/where to eat/what to see.
One note - because so many PHAs are run as a side business, it is worth being very respectful of check in/check out times. Your daughters will get a key or door code to use while they are there, but should confirm check in times so their host can be present.

wess

This one looks like a new remodel with kitchenette, private bathroom, living room area and according to the hosts website the husband is a park tour guide. They seem close to everything. Being from the states and only to Banff briefly we have no way of knowing these things. This site helped me then and it has greatly helped me now. Thank You