About Jasper National Park

An Introduction to Jasper National Park

By Michele Kadison

Staff Writer

Rockies.com

(JASPER, Alberta (Rockies.com) – Jasper National Park, in Alberta, Canada, is the largest national park in the Canadian Rockies. Jasper spans 10,878 square kilometres (4200 square miles) of broad valleys, rugged mountains, glaciers, forests, alpine meadows, wild rivers and wilderness along the eastern slopes of the Canadian Rockies in western Alberta.

As it holds many of Canada’s most awe inspiring vistas, no one can deny that Jasper National Park is truly one of the world's most beautiful places.

There are more than 1200 kilometres (660 miles) of trails, many scenic drives, a wide assortment of activities, and great accommodations in one of Canada’s most popular national parks.

Jasper joins Banff National Park to the south via the Icefields Parkway. This Canadian parkway offers unparalleled beauty as you travel alongside a chain of massive icefields straddling the Continental Divide. The Columbia Icefield borders the parkway in the southern end of Jasper National Park. Visitors are warned not to walk out onto the glacier, but, have no fear, Jasper National Park does offer guided tours of the glaciers.

Large numbers of elk, bighorn sheep, mule deer and other large animals, as well as their predators, make Jasper National Park one of the great protected ecosystems remaining in the Canadian Rocky Mountains. This vast wilderness is one of the few remaining places in southern Canada that is home to a full range of carnivores, including grizzly bears, mountain lions, wolves and wolverines.

Jasper National Park is certainly a step away from ordinary into the Canadian extraordinary.

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