Aug. 4th, Edmonton to Kamloops via Car

We arrived a bit ahead of schedule in Edmonton about 6:15am in the morning. I was up the skyline car again from about 5am onwards. My initial impressions of Edmonton: Somewhere an hour from the estimated train arrival time there are suddenly green-field and expansion construction projects going on everywhere. And this type of activity continuous until the huge freight train yard is reached. Oil refineries burning off gas can also be seen. While the oil prices have come down in the last 12 month the ongoing construction projects are continuing. The ViaRail station in Edmonton is by comparison tiny. Fallowfield train station in the outskirts of Ottawa is probably larger and offers more amenities compared to Edmonton. Edmonton did have WiFi, which does help.

Driving to Jasper

Our drive to Jasper was smooth. The ViaRail train station and rental car company were all located on the main highway going out of town towards the Rocky Mountains. I had to add pressure to a tire. The rental car folks certainly appeared a bit in a conundrum in the morning because most of their cars were returned the holiday before and were not serviced yet. Someone clearly did not check the tire pressure before passing us the car.

The first 100 to 150km are mostly uneventfull driving through forested areas. However between Edson and Hinton the scenery gets more interesting and the Rocky Mountains start to show of their beauty after Hinton.

We decided to go for lunch in Jasper at Kimchi House which turned out to be a decent Korean restaurant.

My very good Cold Korean Noodles

Also favorable mentioning to Patricia's Deli where we picked up some very delicious subs for a later road side snack. When looking for our lunch place we walked through most of the touristy parts of Jasper. Jasper draws an obvious comparison with Banff: It is maybe not as upscale in terms of shops and brand outlet shops but everything looked clean, relatively new and a decent amount of "cool" shopping places for gear, food and restaurants exist. There were plenty of people in town as well. Maybe one difference between Jasper is that the CN/ViaRail train station is an integral part of the town center while in Banff the CP train station is about a 1 to 2km away from the town center and a bit more out of sight.

After lunch we drove onwards with the goal ultimately to camp overnight in Clearwater BC. On the way we had a longer break at the Mt. Robson Provincial Park visitor center. I was interested to inquire about the Berg Lake trail details and campground reservations. The weather at this particular time was very good and Mt. Robson was fully visible and staggering. If we did not have already a firm reservation for the WCT and with my sisters I would have decided right then and there to do the Berg Lake trail (4 or 5 day trip). We will have time for the trail after the WCT or during another trip to the Rockies. My appetite for this trail is definitely wetted ...

View of Mt. Robson from Visitor Center

View of Mt. Robson from Visitor Center

Afterwards we continued our drive. The weather worsened and by the time we arrived in Clearwater BC we opted to continue to Kamloops and stay overnight in a motel and stay dry. Some impressions from the drive:

• The section from Valemount to Clearwater with its narrow valleys/gorges feels more mountainous compared to the wide Rocky Mountain valley around Jasper.
• Clearwater and its associated provincial park feels like an interesting place to have a closer look when plenty of time on hand. There are canoeing and hiking options galore. Clearwater is the local hub in that area. Valemount also has some infrastructure.
• The towns at the North Thompson river are relatively small.
• The scenery completely changes when approaching Kamloops. The river valley widens and irrigated agriculture reigns: Plenty fruits and vegetable. The hilly parts look like Silicon Valley to me: Dry and arid. Everything relatively brownish and similar plants like in California. A number of sections experienced forest fires. Also several areas were ravaged by mountain pine beetle

Some Forest Fire or Mountain Pine Beetle affected Areas between Clearwater and Kamloops.

View from the Car between Clearwater and Kamloops