Leg #: 8 (Day 20-23)

Location: Jasper National Park (Alberta, Canada)

Mileage Driven leg/total: 583 / 3111 miles (we have several more big mileage legs planned in the coming weeks as we have quite a distance to cover to get to Alaska)

Weather: 85 high / 52 low. Unusually hot weather for this region especially since last week Jasper received 14″ of snow, all of which melted prior to our arrival.

Tofu Status:
• All systems working.
• Tofu (the van) passed her 40,000 mile anniversary on this leg. In the 30 months since she was DIY converted to an campervan from a empty cargo van, we have been to 37 US States, 4 Canadian Provinces and slept in the van for 249 nights. Average mpg is 18.0. Tofu isn’t a sleek, professional build, but she’s lightweight, solid and functional and this design allows us to do long-term travel in relative comfort.

Highlights:
• Wildlife Sightings: black bears 🐻, wapiti🦌 & big horn sheep 🐑 including baby big horns!
• So many hiking options, but our favorite was the Valley of the Five Lakes hike. We arrived early so we beat the crowds as this is a very popular trail. Lovely 3 mile hike with each of the 5 lakes being a slightly different shade of blue or green-blue but all with stunning views of the mountains. Water was crystal clear and tempted us to take a swim but it was just a wee bit too cold to actually do it.
• Tony got several epic bikes rides in on this leg all with expansive mountain views, hill climbing and empty roads. We also got a Brompton bike ride in around downtown Jasper.
• Jasper National Park is an extra special place and it is our #1 favorite national park in both the US or Canada. The views don’t even seem real and we had to remind ourselves this is not a computer generated image or a painting. #breathtaking

Lowlights:
• We didn’t plan enough time here. This is our 2nd trip to Jasper NP and there is so much to do and see. Next time we will give ourselves a full week.
• Our previous visit was immediately after the US-Canada border re-opened in 2021. There were < 1/3 the number of people here in 2021 as there were was on this trip.

Tiger (Provan) Sightings: Tony = 2, Tracey = 0

Next: Charlie Lake Provincial Park in British Columbia, Canada (via Dawson’s Creek which is the start of the Alcan [Alaska Canada] Highway)