"Jasper National Park" Jasper National Park by Simonneeddy

MY PICTURE) The water from these Glaciers flows in 3 directions as the GREAT DIVIDE is here. They flow into the Antarctic Ocean, The Pacific and the Atlantic. Great mountain scenes and melting ice and snow from the Glaciers create beautiful blue lakes. You can take a special bus and go far up the glaciers to see all.
There use to be 9 ft. of snow each winter to keep the glacier at it's best. in recent years due to the hole in the ozone in the far north the climate is warmer each year and the Glacier is melting. It has been reduced by 9 meters.
Click picture to enlarge.

Columbia Mountains

%Lhttp://canadianparks.com/sites/glacinp/glacinp-1-1Parks Canada%L*

CREDIT FOR THIS IS TO THE WEB SITE ABOVE. PLEASE VISIT. Representing the Columbia Mountains Natural Region of Canada, it encompasses part of the Selkirk's and a small portion of the Purcell Ranges along the southeastern border of British Columbia. It is classified into four life zones - alpine tundra, alpine meadows, sub-alpine forest and interior rain-forest. There are more than 400 glaciers pouring over the mountaintops, covering over 12% of the total park area with ice. Glacier Park was designated in 1886, along with Yoho National Park, as a 76 square kilometer reserve around Mount Macdonald and Roger's Pass. By 1930 the area had grown to a 1350 square kilometer national park.

The discovery of Rogers Pass gave the railroad a way through the mountains and today is the major road access from east to west passing through one of the most active avalanche areas in the world.

Some say Cornelius Van Horne brought tourists to the area to help pay for his railroad! Whatever the reason, the tourists came, and the CPR imported Swiss guides to show its guests the mountains in safety. Another early tourist attraction was the Nakimu Caves, one of the largest and most active cave systems in Canada.

At 1349 square km, it is not a particularly large park, but it contains critical habitat for wide ranging mammals such as grizzly and black bears, mountain caribou and wolverines. Multi-agency animal studies from 1994-1999 will give scientists and park managers a better idea of the health and viability of wildlife populations in the Park.

Jasper national Park

http://canadianparks.com/sites/jasprnp/jasprnp-1-1

( Credit to web site above) 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. Back-country 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 kilometers, 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 Ice-fields 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.
On this site visit " ELK ISLAND" where animal conservation is at its best. Click picture to enlarge.

Jasper National park

Pro's: "Great scenery, Nature at it's best and Conservation."
Con's: "Lots of tourists in season"
In A

• Pros:Great scenery. Nature at it's best and excellent conservation.
• Cons:Lot's of tourists in season
• In a nutshell:Really worth the visit