Lac Beauvert Trail
Jasper National Park, Alberta
Every time I visit Jasper, I make sure to take the back route to the Jasper Park Lodge. This time around Jasper has been having freakish amounts of snow. Though this is great for the ski hills, it does make the walk a little more complicated than usual. Within the first five minutes of leaving Jasper townsite, I had managed to slide and fall unceremoniously on the ice twice. The walk takes under an hour and the whole time I walked I saw no other humans. Peace at its purest.
It is the general tranquility that appeals on this walk but also the lake itself is something special. It really lives us to its English name of Beautiful Green at the right time of year. During winter you can walk or even skate on it but it is definitely best seen in the early morning during summer with Mount Edith Cavell reflected on the surface. You pass through the incredible golf course where elk are almost constantly grazing and people in strange looking trousers try to hit a tiny ball into a tiny hole.
There are some really great photo opportunities on the route though as I slipped through the trail, the snow was beginning to get too heavy for any sort of clear vision. The Lake itself comes just before you enter the accommodations of Jasper Park Lodge – beautiful quaint little cabins and luxurious fancy rooms adorn the grounds of this famous hotel. It is absolute heaven to step into the warmth of the hotel and make your way to one of the many coffee shops. I still think it is one of the best lattes in Jasper though this may be simply because I am usually so cold and exhausted by the time I make it in there.
It is about a $25 taxi from Jasper to the Park Lodge so if you don’t have your own transport, there is even more reason to be adventurous and walk the back trails. You will be rewarded with some great views and if you make it early enough the views of early morning Lac Beauvert alone will be something to cherish for a long time.