Jasper National Park
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Jasper |
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In Jasper National Park, old spruce and Douglas
fir forests, hot springs, glacial lakes and rugged
mountain
slopes are home to thousands of
plant and animal
species. Most large animals - elk, bear and
deer - can be observed from the roadways and
show far too little fear of people. Backcountry
trails offer glimpses of glacier-draped summits
and green alpine meadows. Heritage rivers, waterfalls
and sand dunes along the Athabasca River Valley
are home to moose, bighorn sheep and rare wildflowers.
The park covers 10878 square kilometres, a larger
area than the combined territory of Kootenay, Banff,
Yoko and Waterton Lakes national parks, which lie
just to the south. It embraces two of the three
mountain ranges - Front and Main, as well as
the Maligne
Canyon and the Athabasca Glacier, located in
the Columbia Icefields on the park's southern border,
one of the largest and most accessible glaciers
in the Rockies and the largest glacier area anywhere
in the Northern Hemisphere below the Arctic Circle.
Early settlers and traders did not begin to disrupt
the culture of the native people
until 1811 and it was another 100 years before the
Grand Trunk Pacific and Canadian Northern Railways
arrived.
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