Burning rubber in Canada - Part 7, The Jasper National Park - Prince George

  Hi there

     Today we planned  to do some trail hiking , however since Malhar was not feeling well his mom Netrali decided to stay back. I  wanted to go on a trail around the town, while Deepak wanted to go in nearby mountains . Accordingly he dropped me at the start of the trail and Deepak alongwith Shaunak went on a trail of  Maligne canyon , they started from the first bridge.

   My trail was a  3 hour Jasper's Discovery Trail. This trail circles around the town ,it can be started from anywhere in the town .The best part is even if you dont have a GPS or map you can do the trail by just following the bear symbol marks .What a amazing thing of navigation!!!

Start of trail with bear symbol

   The trail was simple, it did have some climbs and almost circles the whole town,at many places one gets spectacular view of the town as well as nearby Rockies . The weather was so crisp that I never felt tired or out of breath , off course at more than one occasion I got wet due to sudden down pour .

Spectacular view of the town

At one point this boards were displayed giving history 

     At one place near the railway tracks I saw a group of deer's grazing and they were roaming on the highway too, causing the motorist to either stop or slow down . After some time I saw park rangers coming to the spot and shoo away the deer's in the nearby forest.

    Deepak and Shaunak did the Maligne Canyon trail , the canyon is on Maligne river , that originates at Maligne lake, flows underground from medicine lake  until it reaches Maligne Canyon . At the canyon , carved into the Palliser Formation , a layer of limestone deposited in a shallow tropical sea by lime-secreting plankton , the underground streams join force, to become the mighty flowing water that still whittles the canyon away .  The canyon was named by a zealous Jesuit missionary, who called the canyon “la traverse maligne”, after his horses were swept away by the swirling waters . 

    There are six bridges built across the canyon to help one explore this magnificent work of nature the first bridge was built in 1914.

Bridge on the Canyon

Swirling water 

Shaunak

  Milk river !!!!

This is the first time when they spotted a full grown Elk from a very close distance , it was a majestic animal with its fully grown horns.

Deepak and Shaunak

   We almost reached back at the same time , rejuvenated by our rest and hikes we decided to check out and travel to our next halt  Prince George . For  this travel the steering wheel was passed on to Netrali . We had quick lunch and off we went to our next halt .

    

Good bye to our beautiful stay in Jasper

    While we were on highway 16 , we came across this group of mountain goats ,  they halted the traffic for almost 1 hour , but I never saw any impatient driver either honking or trying to shoo them off , I was told in Canada there is very heavy fine if you meet with an accident with wildlife and off course its your fault , they have the right of way on any road in Canada .
 

Vehicles halted to let the wildlife pass

Elk on road side

   By the time  we reached our  rain forest themed Super 8 hotel , it was pretty late in the evening . After a quick wash we headed for dinner to Boston Pizza as most of the other places had got closed.

    Our earlier experience with Boston Pizza was superb especially the one in Banff . However when we reached the place it was empty and few guest were present , the waiter came after a long wait , when we asked for certain changes in pizza which were already on the menu he flatly refused rudely to accommodate the request , further long wait, he came back with our order forgetting to get water. The attitude of the waiter was the only bad experience I had during my stay in Canada , he was totally opposite what Canada is , and after this incident I checked the rating in trip advisor,off course he must have done with other guest too , rating was poor in trip adviser too, I also added to it .

   I felt it is better to call a spade a spade rather than give a false rating as many people read review and decide to visit a place , also I did not wanted any one going though the same experience.

    It was a long day and time to hit the bed ,and off we went to bed for a beautiful day ahead tomorrow.

Ride Safe Firm Saddle 

Burning rubber in Canada - Part 6, The Jasper National Park

Hi there

   I woke up early , even though it was a rest day for us, I decided to go  for morning stroll of the town  . As I came out of the hotel lobby I was treated to this stunning picture of Canadian Rockies , I could not believe if it is real , it was as if god has spread gold on certain slopes of the mountain . I sat down at the nearby bench to soak into this natural spectra .

   The town was just getting up , however the utility services were already up and running , such as garbage truck in fact trash was also picked up by hand which shows why Canada is so clean . There were few walkers on the road but who ever one came across, he will be the first one to greet you! such a good culture.

    I came across very beautiful buildings which have been restored and are fully functional .

Almost empty streets 

Misty mountains

Heritage buildings

   It was also time for my morning cuppa of tea , I can skip food but cannot stay without tea!!!!! . As I reached at the end of town I came across this fabulous cafe the Wicked cup , a very chick place . I inquired about tea and they had 20 flavors including masala flavor . I settle down with my tea cup enjoying the beauty of Canadian Rockies  nearby. The coffee shop also has a number of fusion staff on its menu .

Wicked cup cafe

Inside wicked cup cafe 

Rockies as seen from wicked cup cafe 

   As I walked back to the hotel taking the main street of the town , I reached the Jasper railway station , there standing was the magnificent Rocky Mountaineer. In 1990, Canada's national rail operator VIA Rail sold off it's Rockies by daylight scenic train to a private company called Rocky Mountaineer Vacations , who renamed it The Rocky Mountaineer.  The Rocky Mountaineer has now developed into a world-class travel experience, operating on not just one but four different routes in the Canadian Rockies . We did not take this journey since we were on a road trip and train ride would not have fitted in our schedule.

Magnificent Rocky Mountaineer 

Magnificent Rocky Mountaineer 

  Just ahead of the station is another Instagram spot, the Two Brothers Totem pole,lovely art.Which is depiction of two brothers travel from Haida Gwaii to rocky mountains.

Totem Pole 

Totem Pole 

  As I reached the hotel Netrali made quick breakfast and off we were for a buffet lunch at an Indian restaurant Jasper Curry Place . I had already checked the route in the morning to this place during my morning walk of the town .

   We thought that we will be the first ones to eat.But by the time we reached, the restaurant was already full and we had to wait for our turn . But the wait was worth it . The food was superb totally Indian taste and the ambiance reminded us of a restaurant in India . The restaurant is owned by Mr Gopal Shelke from my place Nashik . After exchange of pleasantries
Mr Gopal and his wife invited us to their another restaurant Agni in the evening, and we promised to be at Agni. 

Inside Jasper Curry Place

   Again in the evening we thought that if we go now to the restaurant it will not look good as we thought we are very early, so we delayed our time by roaming around the town . After some time we thought that,  the crowd must have thinned out however when we reached the place we were shocked it had more waiting than Jasper Curry place !!!! however Mr Gopal had kept a table reserved for us . The Agni is a bistro with ala carte menu , since cooking is done by Gopal himself there is definite twist to the food . After some time Gopal also joined us and on our urging shared his story of success .

  

Agni

Mr Gopal Shelke 

    Gopal was born in a village near Nashik , when he was small his father moved to Mumbai as he found a job in Mumbai port. In Mumbai the family had to share a single room with his uncle's family Gopal studied in munciple school and cleared his school with distinction , he secured admission in Dadar Catering College in Mumbai on merit . He passed out of the college again with top honors. While in College he secured a job in top hotel chain in Mumbai . 6 months in his job he was picked up by a American cruise company after few years he got job offer from Canadian hotel chain and that brought him to Canada .

     He settled down in his job and thought his life is now set and now he can marry. However god had other plans after about 5 yrs in job Gopal developed kidney infection while on holiday in India in his native place, by the time he received proper medical care his both kidneys had failed and doctors advised him to go in for kidney transplant . His mother offered him her kidney. Gopal after operation became fit again .  His hotel in Canada offered him job again but at the lowest level . Gopal reworked hard and within 1 year got his previous position .

   In mean time he came across an advertisement for  sale of hotel in Jasper, he decided to try his luck. At that time he was married and had just about 10,000 CAD. He and his wife both decided to take the plunge  putting at stake all that they had .The meeting was fixed by realtor with the person who was selling the hotel , however the opposite party wanted an instant payment of 50,000 CAD and were not ready to wait till loan approval . So he walked out of the deal, however when he told this to his realtor he offered him 30,000 CAD on spot ,this money was given to the party and keys handed over to Gopal his friends loaned him another 20000 CAD and he became the owner. Loan from local bank and help from local council  his restaurant was up and running in one year. Today  Jasper and Agni both  employ about 70 people,apart from this he has shop in Calgary too.

   A truly inspirational story .We thanked both Gopal and his lovely wife for sharing their story and wished them luck in future en devours.

Deepak with Malhar,Shaunak,me,Mr Gopal,Mrs Gopal Shelke and Netrali

  It was late in the night by the time we hit our beds.  Tomorrow was another exciting day in Jasper.

Ride Safe Firm Saddle

Burning rubber in Canada - Part 5, The Banff National Park

Hi There

     Before we went to the next  national park Jasper, Deepak had other plans. He just  wont let us drive on the magnificent Canadian highways. His plan was to take us on another roller coaster ride of natural beauty by hiking  the Stanley Glacier trail , for which we took a detour .

    The Stanley Glacier hike in beautiful Kootenay National Park is a true delight of natural beauty. The trail goes from burnt forest with mesmerizing wildflowers , to alpine meadow, to the amazing Stanley Glacier. It is a almost 11 km moderate hike as  it passes through burnt portions of forest which have reinvigorated .

    The start of trail has this huge information board , along with a huge parking and washrooms . We had reached the place pretty late in the afternoon but since we were getting near to northern lights it was still bright ,  however there were less number of hikers .

    The hike initially is very simple and takes one, on almost flat ground after a gradual climb. Once we reached the small patch of forest cover, we  hit into swarms of mosquito's. Shaunak can do anything but one thing he is crazy about is mosquito's he freaks out , but luckily his mom Netrali had catered for it and in an instant came the mosquito spray, there after again he was in the lead .

    After crossing a small creek we started the gradual climb to the spot were the trail ends. It was no simple climb, full of rocks , one had to carefully walk, however what kept us going was the changing landscape and breathtaking view of mountains .
 

Way to Stanely glacier

      As we were climbing again we met the same family , whom we had met when we did the Sundance canyon hiking trail the previous day . All of us  were very excited, they invited us to their home in Canmore and  we invited them to join us till Jasper . It was time to say good bye and reach the trail end . We reached the end of trail sign . It is a simple sign put on open patch of rocks , however it gave a stunning view of the area around .

     After spending some time at the sign , we headed back as we had to go to Jasper . 

End of trail sign

Stunning view of Area around  Stanley glacier

      One thing I want to mention about Canadians is that, through out the climb we did not see any rubbish or plastic bottle thrown any were , speaks volumes about the people .

      It was back to trans Canadian highway , in fact the highway is so  beautiful even if you simply  drive on it and don't visit any tourist attractions/national park you will still be treated to  mesmerizing beauty of Canada.

Random click on trans Canadian highway

We came across this RV park named after Mosquito!!!!!

       While driving on the highway suddenly we saw snow covered mountains and a magnificent blue water lake ,we halted at the view point for a break , it was very beautiful , if its heaven its here. I could not believe it is real  , everything was so picture perfect . After bathing in the beauty of nature it was time to move to Jasper, as also now it was getting late.

Beautiful Lake

Blue water of the lake 

         Short of Jasper we saw a baby elk on the side of the road and few meters ahead we saw a  midsize bear on the sides of road chomping on the grass ,we were very near to him but he was busy in his chomping .

Baby elk

Mid size bear

        Finally we reached late in the evening to the Lobstick lodge located in the town of Jasper,the room which we booked was a kitchen suite,with complete fully functional kitchen , accept food which one has to cater for. Netrali had already done all the preparations and we settle for a sumptuous dinner , it was time to call it a day and off we went to sleep , since there was no hurry to wake up early as we had decided to rest for two days in Jasper.

The Lobstick lodge

Ride Safe Firm Saddle