Tracks of the StoneBear BNF = Banff, BC/ Alberta journey
ROF = Ring of Fire journey
British Columbia/ Alberta, Canada
Saturday August 23, 2014 BNF 8
Jasper, AL 1
... that's Jasper, ALBERTA... NOT Jasper, Alabama; Big difference.
Driving the Icefields Parkway the 1st time.... can't take pix fast enough... the Canadian Rockies... beyond description.
We had been wrongly told that finding lodging in Jasper, Alberta was impossible.
Jasper is one of the main entrance lanes to points north of Northern British Columbia, Yukon, Klondike, Dawson, Whitehorse and on to Alaska. Jasper may be one of the last good supply points before jumping off into the frontier.
Yes, there are some major chain motels there and most rooms are booked so do call ahead.
What we, and most don't know is that Jasper has a good number of homeowners that have registered with the city as Bed and Breakfast units. They are licensed, inspected by the city, legitimate lodging for tourists. And the prices for overnight stay is about half of the motels. We stayed in a basement unit, all basic amenities, perfectly comfortable for $80/night. A very decent price considering we'd stayed at "The Crossing" the night before for $200/ night.
Across from the train station, the ViaRail station is the Jasper visitors/ tourism center. the street behind the visitors center is Patricia Street. Drive west several blocks... past the commercial businesses, and you'll see plenty of decent residences with B&B signs.
The visitors center has a daily available units list with the owners phone#. ...on a bulletin board list in the lobby. Phoning ahead we got the motels list. Standing in the visitors center we saw the posted B&B available -- for that day-- list. ... called and in 5 minutes were there and booked.
Good planning for tourists & peak season Jasper city council; It's not often that you see cities with well thought out inexpensive lodging for tourists.
