Category Archives: Jasper National Park Info

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Starry Nights in Jasper

Night Sky Preserve

Michael Har­ris got it right when he com­pared Jasper’s night skies to Van Gogh’s Starry Nights.

IJune Moon over Patricia LakeJune Moon over Patri­cia Lake took this photo in late June. It was almost mid­night yet still bright out. You sure do get your money’s worth when you vaca­tion in Jasper. Every day is like almost 2 days any­where else with all the day­light this beau­ti­ful North­ern Rock­ies park enjoys.

In the sum­mer, you have to be pretty patient, wait­ing for the dark skies to arrive. But, when they do, the show is amazing.

If you’re lucky enough to own an iPad, be sure to install GoSky­Watch Plan­e­tar­ium for iPad — the astron­omy star guide. It’s an incred­i­ble teach­ing tool for zoom­ing in on & iden­ti­fy­ing constellations.

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Don’t Bug Me!

We love sum­mer & the great out­doors. But with the sweet, comes the bit­ter. Bugs! Mos­qui­tos, horse flies. All those crit­ters you for­got about through the chilly winter.

So what do you do? Lather your­self & your chil­dren with Deet or other tox­ins? Not nec­es­sar­ily. Many com­mer­cial prod­ucts con­tain Deet and other pos­si­bly harm­ful chemicals.

Some bugs are even devel­op­ing a tol­er­ance to Deet. Before you know it, they’ll be crav­ing the stuff & the best place to find it will be on your skin!

We’ve found some safe options.

David Suzuki’s Home-Made Remedies

David Suzuki guide to safe bug control

David Suzuki’s Guide to Safe Bug Control

David Suzuki has some great recipes for reduc­ing pesky bite bites & for treat­ing them if and when they do happen.

Vine­gar

One of the sim­plest repel­lents is good old plain white vine­gar. You just spray it on but you do have to reap­ply often. I haven’t tried this one yet. I won­der if you’ll smell like fish and chips after hik­ing for a bit. I’m not sure it mat­ters because, first of all, insect repel­lents usu­ally stink. Man­u­fac­tur­ers try to cover it up with fra­grance but you still end up smelling & feel­ing like toxic chemicals.

Cit­ronella & Essen­tial Bug Oil Spray

Another repel­lent you could try is an essen­tial bug oil spray. One of the ingre­di­ents is lemon­grass, a beau­ti­ful fragrance.

Suzuki has also included a recipe for home­made cit­ronella can­dles. It blends beeswax, a biodegrad­able, renew­able prod­uct, with cit­ronella essen­tial oil.

Suzuki’s Essen­tial Oil Bug Spray

 

9 drops cit­ronella essen­tial oil

9 drops pep­per­mint essen­tial oil

9 drops lemon­grass essen­tial oil

1 table­spoon grain alco­hol (vodka)

¼ cup spring water

3 ounces dis­tilled water

1 ounce grain alco­hol (vodka)

6 drops laven­der essen­tial oil

3 drops tea tree essen­tial oil

3 drops cit­ronella essen­tial oil

 

Add all ingre­di­ents to a spray bot­tle. Let mel­low for a few days, allow­ing the essen­tial oils to blend. Spray on skin as needed or use as room spray (around win­dows and doors) to keep mos­qui­toes away.

Com­bine ingre­di­ents in spray bot­tle. Make this a few days before head­ing camp­ing or hik­ing! The longer you can let it mel­low, the more effec­tive it will be. 

Exper­i­ment

David Suzuki’s recipe for Herbal Insect Repel­lent includes a list of essen­tial oils you can use in a vari­ety of com­bi­na­tions. Here are a few oth­ers you might like to try:

  • Cit­ronella Oil
  • Lemon Euca­lyp­tus Oil
  • Cin­na­mon Oil
  • Cas­tor Oil
  • Rose­mary Oil
  • Lemon­grass Oil
  • Cedar Oil
  • Pep­per­mint Oil
  • Clove Oil
  • Gera­nium Oil
  • Pos­si­bly Oils from Ver­bena, Pen­ny­royal, Laven­der, Pine, Cajeput, Basil, Thyme, All­spice, Soy­bean, and Garlic

More Bug Bite Prevention

The best pre­ven­tion is to keep skin cov­ered, if pos­si­ble. This is the best solu­tion for chil­dren & preg­nant or nurs­ing moth­ers since using repel­lents is more of a con­cern for these groups. Wear long sleeves and pants. Wear light-coloured cloth­ing as dark cloth­ing attracts mos­qui­toes. Remove stand­ing water from your yard or locate your camp­site away from stand­ing water, if possible.

Car­bon diox­ide also attracts mos­qui­toes and that’s exactly what you exhale when you are breath­ing. You can’t do much about that but you can divert atten­tion away from you or your children’s breath by burn­ing can­dles. They also pro­duce car­bon dioxide.

I’m sure there are other great solu­tions and recipes out there.

What do you do to pre­vent or treat bugs bites?

 

fairmont

We love deals! Do you?

We love great deals just as much as any­one. How great that The Fair­mont Jasper Park Lodge has spe­cial pro­mos for BC & Alberta Res­i­dents: Come play in your back yard, Jasper! Of course, while you’re stay­ing at the lodge, take advan­tage of shut­tle ser­vice to come out rafting.

And, any­one from any­where can book the “99 Ways to Play Spring Vaca­tion Pack­age.” You get the con­ve­nience of book­ing your raft trip though the lodge’s concierge & charg­ing the trip to your room. The concierge will take care of arrange­ments includ­ing trans­porta­tion. Plus, you get a $99 credit per night that can be used towards your raft trip.

Their Spring Mid­week Travel Pack­age gives you $50 towards activ­i­ties, like raft trips, booked through your concierge. Get away mid­week & save money.

How sweet is that?

 

alberta icefields parkway

Alberta Will Capture Your Heart

This video tells the story of the many peo­ple who have made Jasper their new home. They may have come here to work a sea­son but the deci­sion to stay a life­time was easy. One thing we know for cer­tain is that, even if you decide to visit for a hol­i­day, we know you’ll want to plan to return.

The video begins at Spirit Island on Maligne Lake . You’ll see this mag­i­cal place reap­pear through­out the video as well as other trea­sures of Jasper National Park.

See for your­self & …

Remem­ber to Breathe!

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Life in the World’s Largest Dark Sky Preserve

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Did you know that, in 2011, the Royal Astro­nom­i­cal Soci­ety of Canada (RASC) offi­cially des­ig­nated Jasper National Park a Dark Sky Pre­serve?

What’s even more amaz­ing is that Jasper National Park’s 11,000 km2 is now the largest dark sky pre­serve in the world.

Park vis­i­tors are astounded when they expe­ri­ence the brightly lit night skies. But it isn’t being lit by arti­fi­cial street lights. Camp­ing areas glow with the bright lights of the stars.

I won­der if that’s why so many peo­ple come to Jasper for their wed­ding cer­e­monies. Who can resist that kind of ambience?