We work up crazy early in the morning (6:15 am is too early when you’re on vacation) to take and early trip into town and have sandwiches made before catching the train. We were warned by the concierge when we booked the trip on Saturday that we wouldn’t have access to food on the trip and to bring our own. By the time we were done running around town and getting out to the train we’d forgotten to have breakfast. Good thing we couldn’t resist the urge to pick up a few scones when we ordered sandwiches.

Once we returned to the Jasper Park Lodge we took a few minutes to snap some photos of the views from the lodge.

We weren’t the only ones who were hungry. We passed a number of snacking elk on our drive into town.

The Via Skeena train travels through the Rocky Mountains and into BC. Our trip was approximately 2.5 hours on the train – from Jasper to Harvey (sp?) and then we were met by a tour guide who drove us back to Jasper via one of the park highways. Few people joined the train in Jasper so we were able to spend the entire trip in the observation deck.

The ride was well worth it. We got some amazing shots of Mt. Robson – the highest peak in the Canadian portion of the Rocky Mountains.

A few miles down the track we traveled by an ice wall.

We shared the drive back with a young couple and two small children. Babies being babies, he cried a bit during the drive. Mom’s being mom’s, his mom made more noise trying to shush the baby than it was making while crying.

I passed out napped for an hour after arriving back at the hotel. Most of the restaurants close early on Sunday in the Winter so my sleeping interfered with Drew’s opportunity to eat at some of the restaurants in town. After waking me up he settled on pub fare at the Whistle Stop. As soon as we walked in the door we were greeted by Bruce, one of the pipeliners we met on Saturday, and dragged over to his table to meet some Aussie tourists.

Throughout most of our trip elk and squirrels were abundant. The big horned sheep we’re used to seeing in the summer didn’t make an appearance, but on Sunday evening we were lucky enough to get a shot of a coyote running across the lake.

Due to a pressing need to rush home today we didn’t take the Maligne Canyon tour today. Perhaps we’ll do it on a future visit. The tour is offered year round and I figure I’m less likely to fall and hurt myself if I take it during the summer instead of winter. Dog sledding is still on a future “to do” list. Now that we know it’s offered and have a general idea of the time required and the cost we can start saving our pennies and plan to take the trip at a later date.

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