Today we started our adventure to Jasper National Park– we tried to convince the others to join us camping – but no takers. The ride was uneventful and we arrived in Jasper shortly after lunch. We stayed at Whistler campground which, when at full capacity, can hold up to 3500 campers. We had a beautiful site close to the comfort stations – so that was a huge plus!
After we set up our campsite we went geocaching for a good part of the afternoon. Parks Canada has a great program set up for kids and gave us a handheld GPS and the coordinates to find a number of different treasures. The kids did a great job working together to find the caches. Zoe loved to take charge of the GPS and Mik is strong at finding the boxes once we are in the area. They don’t do the trading tokens in these caches as Parks Canada wants to make sure that everything is healthy for the national parks. But we were happy to enter our information in the log books and let others know we found the treasures.
While on our search we met up with a park interpreter who took the time to explain all about the different horned animals that could be found in the Jasper park area. From caribou, sheep, elk etc…there is lots to look for. In fact, on our first day we saw 32 elk roaming through the campgrounds. We could get within 2-3 metres, but supposedly in a months time they become more aggressive as it’s mating season.
In the evening we went to the park amphitheatre where the interpreters put on a show about poaching animals in a national park. The show borrowed a lot from Highschool Musical – Zack Ephram, and the different characters on Miami and Las Vegas CSI. It was good fun and showed how game wardens are tracking all of the animals with RFID tags which is a GPS device along with all the information about the animal. The technology replaced tranquilizing and branding or tagging the animals. It’s a little more than a bee sting to the animal.
With all the activities the kids did throughout our time at Jasper, they both received certificates and Jasper dogtags to indicate they were Young Explorers. Supposedly every park in Canada is running this program – it’s fantastic for everyone to take part. They had a special ceremony where they had to take an oath to protect nature in Canada and around the world.
Our night finished off with building forts, starting a fire, telling stories, roasting marshmallows and eating S’mores. The night was chilly, but we were cozy with all the equipment from Stan and Eileen’s family.
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