Day 5 - Arriving in Jasper

I always seem to end up frustrated whenever I enter a new location. The train ride from Vancouver was fine, just achingly slow. I remembered it was very slow going getting out of Vancouver last time, but I forgot how many stops and starts and just how slow the train goes even before reaching the Rockies. 





Mt. Robson under cloud cover

Oh, but the Rockies. Still gorgeous, and massive. Of course, I wasn’t able to capture quite the same photos I had last time. Most of those photos had turned out so perfectly that there was no way these would turn out even half as good. Plus Mount Robson was half covered in clouds when we passed by it this time. However, there was one exciting thing that I did not see last time: black bears. There was a baby that ran back into the woods when the train went by and later an adult that just stared back at us as we passed. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a photo of either of them.

My arrival in Jasper gave way to frustration almost immediately. I had forgotten to write down vital information prior to arriving in Jasper, but was luckily able to access the internet in the train station to get what I needed. Then I discovered that the Greyhound station (in the same building) was already closed. They are only open for 3 hours on Saturday, 10am-1pm and closed on Sunday. Normally, this wouldn’t be a problem as I like to have my tickets booked ahead of time, but the website was not cooperating with me and so I was relying on getting my ticket upon arrival in Jasper. I had wanted to leave at 6:25am on Monday, but because the ticket office doesn’t open until 9am on Monday, that was not possible. The other ridiculous bus depot hours: Monday to Friday 9-2 and 5-7. I have never heard of such ridiculousness… except maybe in Spain. It’s like they take the Spanish siesta in Jasper. Who knew?

I then lugged all my things through a very small, and very busy, grocery store to collect food for my short stay at the hostel. The shuttle to the hostel was one of the highlights of my day initially. I was the only one in the shuttle and my driver was very friendly, and not the usual shuttle driver as he explained. We talked about Rwanda and he even spoke to me in Russian when I mentioned that as my minor in University. It was a very cool ride. I then made the mistake of going up the stairs instead of the driveway with both my bags. Really, really not fun. I then also had to wait for about 20 minutes just to get checked in because just as I was arriving, the girl on desk left for what was supposed to be only 10 minutes. I really was baffled. How long could it possibly take her to check me in? I had a reservation, it was all set. I just needed my information about the room and my bed. So, I waited.

The kitchen was very busy by the time I was settled and I wanted to wait until it calmed down a bit… but I’ve learned something here, dinner time goes right to 9:30pm for people around here. It is almost always busy. I finally did deal with a smaller crowd because I was feeling a bit dizzy, and not just because I still felt like I was in motion on the train. I ended up dining with a group of ladies in their fifties who had biked from Lake Louise to Jasper. I think I actually saw them walking their bikes up the hill to the hostel as the shuttle drove past earlier.

Later, because I was travelling solo, I got recruited to play a game of Cranium with a bunch of Germans and a few others to even out the teams. We were sitting out on the patio, which was nice, until it got later and started to get much colder and the mosquitoes were out in full force. The game ended with everyone giving up and letting the team that was furthest ahead just win.

All in all, not a bad day.