destination
Oh,
Canada
BY JOHN STEINBREDER
JASPER, ALBERTA | There may not be a better place in the world to
hike than the Canadian Rockies.
That’s what I think as I stride down a trail in Jasper National Park,
the largest in the country and some 4,300 square miles in size. The
morning sun is casting soft light across the granite crags that loom
all around as it also illuminates the snow that caps some of the rocky
peaks and the ice fields that blanket the flatter areas on high. Stands
of conifers sweep across verdant valleys and up steel-grey mountainsides, and roiling rivers the color of larimar cut through grassy
meadows. The air is crisp, even though it is mid-summer, and smells
faintly of wood burning in the fireplaces of nearby cabins. A
