4 Days Solo in Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada

I just spent 4 days hanging out in the Canadian Rockies and holy shit, if there’s a place that can bring you back to life and re-invigorate your creativity and sense of adventure, that’s it right there.

But let’s take it back for a second, because I wanna share some context for this trip, and what it meant for me, because it didn’t feel like just another, normal solo road trip.

These kinds of trips aren’t new to me — I’ve been doing them since I was living in Australia in 2010-2012 (ish), and it was actually blogging about them way back in the day that was what kick-started my entire soon-to-be entrepreneurial journey, but I’ll save that story for another day… point being, this shit is what I do, just grabbing my camera, throwing all of my stuff in my car, and getting out there…

Well, until last year.

After going to the Rockies almost every year since 2017 (when I moved back to Canada, from NZ), I just didn’t feel like it… It didn’t sound exciting to me, and being that far away from home wasn’t a vibe. What I now realise was most likely depression, felt like it took one of the biggest things that made me feel like me, away from me — even just temporarily.

Cut to May 2024, starting to feel more like myself again, and the idea to go hit up Jasper landed. Instantly I was stoked as shit even just at the idea, so I knew it was time to make it happen.

This time, I was camping (a whole new experience for me in the Rockies), and I also stayed at two of the coolest lodges/places I’ve ever stayed in my life.

I knew this was going to be one for the soul… No laptop. Deleted the Instagram & Threads apps off my phone. Not messaging/texting people the whole time. Turned on the Out of Office Email, the whole shebang.

A true Solitude Session.

The first place I stayed was the Mount Robson Mountain River Lodge.

I booked it on a whim when I realised I actually didn’t want to be camping for 100% of this trip, lol, I really wanted it to feel restful and chill, so I booked it for my first night, knowing how good it would be to have a proper bed and shower after a long-ass 8-9 hour drive.

And… it was fucking incredible. I genuinely don’t know how this place wasn’t at least double the price, considering the views directly out of my bed & balcony, to the absolutely massive Mount Robson (the biggest peak in the Rockies, at almost 4,000m, it’s insane).

It was maybe the most comfortable bed I’ve ever slept in, and genuinely the best sleep I’ve had in months. It’s also right on the river, so leaving the balcony door open for that fresh mountain air & the sound of the riv was just perfection. This felt like the place you dream about when you’re stressed, or anxious, or in desperate need of a nervous system reset… There was such a sense of calm, and knowing that’s exactly where I was meant to be, that I haven’t felt in a long time.

Onto Jasper.

On my first day full day I ended up going for a rip a short way down the Icefields Parkway, because the weather wasn’t too bad and I wanted to really get into the mountains and just feel that sense of awe & wonder, and well the Icefields Parkway is the place to go for that. This is honestly one of the best drives in the world (I’ve done the full drive a few times now), it’s absolutely wild.

Since I’ve done this drive a few times before I wasn’t too focused on getting a bunch of photos, but here’s a few…

Camping time, at the Whistlers Campground in Jasper.

I genuinely only started camping in the last few years, so this was my first time camping in the Rockies, which felt like a pretty awesome experience that I was stoked for. With camping solo, I much prefer to stay in public campgrounds, because it’s where I feel the safest, knowing there’s other people around and I’m not completely out in the middle of nowhere totally by myself, which doesn’t feel like my thing, at least right now.

This place is absolutely insane, it has almost 800 sites… Like WTF??! Being from little ole’ New Zealand, seeing campgrounds on this scale (and the massive rigs people have) is absolutely mind blowing, even though I’ve now lived in Canada for almost 7 years. And I guess in the Rockies they really go hard or go home, lol.

One of the coolest things about this campground is the wildlife that cruise around, especially the elk that are EVERYWHERE, all the time.

And then I saw a grizzly. Cruising the campground for it’s evening stroll.

For some reason I wasn’t really expecting to see a bear, yes OF COURSE I know they are around, but with the size of the campground and the amount of people, while I was still being extremely bear-aware, the moment this guy walked around the corner from behind the trees I was STARTLED, lol.

I was far enough away & close enough to a toilet block I could have gone into, but honesty it didn’t seem at all concerned with any of the other people around. It wasn’t walking towards anyone, it was just cruising, and then went off into the trees.

I genuinely don’t know where else you could have this experience, other than Jasper, of a fucking Griz just cruising around the campground and it doesn’t seem like that big of a deal? Where I live there’s loads of Black bears, but not the Griz. I don’t know how the Park Rangers usually handle them, I’m sure sometimes they try to re-direct them out away from people, but I didn’t see any of that — everyone just kept their distance and watched it walk past… It was fucking incredible. Bears, especially Grizzlies are such amazing creatures.

Staying at the Whislers Campground was such an awesome experience — from the wildlife, to the mountain views, to just the general vibe of being around so many other people that are out to explore and adventure, is pretty cool.

And it feels so quintessentially Canadian, lol, which I bloody love.

There’s something about Jasper that feels very different to Banff, to me.

If you’ve been to both maybe you’ll know what I mean… Both towns are kind of the main tourist hubs of the Rockies, but after spending a bit of time in both I now MUCH prefer Jasper, by a landslide.

It’s more remote, it’s much smaller, and it just has a different vibe to it. Yes, it’s still extremely touristy, but if you go at the right time, it doesn’t feel like it. (For reference, I was there June 23-27, 2024). You’ll feel like you almost have the whole place to yourself, which is a pretty rad experience. The two days I was hanging around town and the local lakes was so chill, there was very few people and I got a carpark everywhere with zero probs.

In contrast, Banff is almost always an absolute gong show, probably because of it’s proximity to Calgary and just the fact that it’s basically right on the main 1 Highway Route across the whole damn country. (Side note, but I do really love Canmore, which is 20 mins from Banff. Less touristy, way better vibes).

Anette Lake, Jasper National Park

Pyramid Lake, Jasper National Park

Anette Lake, Jasper National Park

The one book I took with me was Women Who Run With The Wolves, by Clarissa Pinkola Estes, which is an absolute classic and seemed like the only choice for a trip like this.

The whole section on solitude really resonated, and was a pretty big inspiration behind me starting this new blog, too. Here’s a section from it…

“The psyches and souls of women also have their own cycles and seasons of doing and solitude, running and staying, being involved and being removed, questing and resting, creating and incubating, being of the world and returning to the soul-place.”

After taking such intentional time away from daily life and the noise of the internet, I feel so much more me, and SO much more creative. While there were moments of total exhaustion during my trip, there were equally as many ‘fuck yes’ moments where I was in my zone exploring and taking photos, or dreaming and scheming about the new creative projects I want to bring to life. I don’t think you can find this feeling in the day to day, and she talks about it in the book — you have to take intentional time away to allow the big questions, and the big answers to reveal themselves.

Instead of camping (like I was planning to) for the last night, I ended up ditching that and booking a night at the Pine Bungalows lodge.

I was going to be leaving early the next morning to drive home, and there was a thunder storm and a lot of rain on the incoming which I was not interested in being in a tent for, lol. So I found & booked this place on a whim, much like the Mount Robson Lodge, and holy shit, this might have been one of the coolest properties I’ve ever stayed in my life. No exaggeration.

And I’m already dreaming about when I can go back.

If I could try to describe this place, it’s probably the most Canadian Rockies, summer-camp, cabin-vibe property you can dream up. I sent some videos to my fam in NZ, and they all said it looked like I was in a movie set about a summer camp, lol. And it felt like it.

(The weather wasn’t super great while I was there so my photos aren’t as good as I’d want them to be, but you’ll get the idea!)

I could write an essay about why I loved this place so much, so lemme try to keep it brief and give you the top level notes lol.

Right off the bat the woman at the front desk was hands down the most chill check-in person I’ve ever met… She was so helpful and awesome, and she let me check-in early which I was super grateful for. But before I even got to her, when you walk in the main reception you’re given a welcome drink, which was the best strawberry lemonade I’ve ever had.

The property itself is on about 11 acres right on the Athabasca River, and it’s stacked with cabins, and a lodge with hotel-like rooms (where I stayed). It originally dates back to 1936 when the first cabins were built, and over the years different owners have managed to keep the original vision of this land alive, keeping it as a place of solace and peace, for everyone that chooses to spend time there.

I could go on forever about this place, and I will probably write about the branding side of it more in my email newsletter/main blog, because there’s some cool shit I want to show you there too, but here’s some photos, and all I can say is this place is incredible, and if you have the chance to stay here, do it. (Their website and their Instagram don’t do the property justice tbh… but maybe that’s a good thing, so you can discover the magic for yourself).

I spent the last night of my trip eating pizza in bed, and sitting on the front porch watching the lightning storm & the elk running through the forest.

It was a pretty magical way to end the trip, one that I didn’t see coming at all. And honestly, the rest of the trip was so awesome — from discovering the River Lodge, to camping and seeing the grizzly, to swimming in Edith Lake, to the absolute magic of Pine Bungalows, it might go down as my favourite solo trip I’ve ever done… maybe because I didn’t even know how much I needed it, until I was on the road.

I’ll leave you with this short paragraph from Women Who Run With The Wolves, from the Solitude section, which inspired this new blog, and so much more for me…

“The taking of solitude can be used to assess how we ourselves are doing in any spehere we choose. The measurement used in assessment is simple: What needs less? And: what needs more?

We are asking from the instinctive self, not in stilted logic, not ego-wise, but Wild Woman-wise, what work, adjustments, loosenings, or emphasizing needs to take place. Are we still on proper course in spirit and soul? Is one’s inner life showing on the outside? What needs battening, ballast, or weights? What needs to be disposed of, moved, or changed?”

Until the next Solitude Sesh…

All photos shot on my Fuji XT-30, and my iPhone.