Jasper National Park
Jasper National Park is about 10,878 square kilometers which makes it the largest national park in the Canadian Rocky Mountains. Situated next door to Banff National Park, it continues the great high mountain landscape with splendid glaciers, crystal-clear lakes, and magnificent meadows and valleys. It is in this park where almost at the border to British Columbia rises the towering, snow-covered Mount Columbia, with the grand height of 3747 meters.
The city of Jasper boomed in 1911, when it was reached during the construction of the Pacific Railway. However, it was first settled in by David Thompson, an explorer and map maker for the North West Company, in 1811.Over the years Jasper was home mainly to fur traders, and a place of refuge for animal hunters. In 1813, the North West Company build a supply depot, which become known as Jasper House after a long living and loyal employee Jasper Hawes. In the second half of the 19th Century, Jasper had less and less visitors, and only an occasional adventurer, explorer, or a gold seeker would venture into these parts of the Rocky Mountains. It was finally in 1907, that the Jasper was named a National Park as it became apparent that two transcontinental railways would soon pass through the Athabasca Valley.
The town of Jasper is the center of Jasper National Park. With many attractions, accommodation possibilities, business, and restaurants, Jasper draws a lot of visitors to share its beauty.