Days 6-7 - Through the Rockies to Jasper National Park
We depart by coach along the world-famous Icefields Parkway, a
144-mile road that links Banff with Jasper and takes us through
some of the world's most spectacular mountain scenery. We travel
along a lake-lined valley past many of the highest and most rugged
peaks in the Rockies to the Icefields Center at the foot of the
vast Columbia Icefields. Here, we stop to marvel at the
breathtaking Athabasca Glacier.
We arrive in Jasper where we spend two nights surrounded by
majestic mountain scenery. The town of Jasper - and later the park
- was named after Jasper Hawes, who used the area as a trading post
in the late 19th century. The beautiful enclosure first became a
park in 1907 and was granted National Park status in 1930. In 1984,
it was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and now attracts
almost two million visitors every year, and with scenery like this,
it isn't hard to see why. Day 7 is spent at leisure to further
discover the beauty of Jasper. Days 6 & 7, overnight
Jasper.