Disoriented In The Jasper Townsite

     We drove to Jasper yesterday to take Kona to the vet for her yearly check-up.  Last summer, one third of the Jasper townsite was destroyed by a very destructive forest fire that swept through it.  We had been to Jasper many times, so kind of knew our way around, but this was the first time I had been there since the fire.  It was very disorienting with all of the now vacant “holes” where building and houses used to be, and we got lost several times in the small town because so many things had changed.

    As we were diving to visit our friends whose townhouse had survived the fire, we came upon a street closure, so I just turned to the right to try a parallel street.  When I got to that street and turned left, I started to get the idea that it was a one way street, and I was going the wrong way.  Fortunately, there wasn’t any traffic, so I just continued. 

    Then I got to a spot where that road ended, but could see through an empty space, the street where John and Di lived, and there was a narrow paved path that seemed to connect to it.  I turned onto the path, which quickly turned into a narrow bike lane through some trees, but it was too late.  I just continued down the bike lane, and did then get to John and Di’s street.

    Our vet’s clinic was completely destroyed by the fire.  A temporary “clinic” had been set up in a small trailer inside a warehouse in an industrial area that had survived the fire.  We kind of knew where to look, but the clinic’s entrance was unmarked in the rear side of the building, and we drove right past the front of the building, unknowing. Totally lost, we flagged down some Jasper town workers in a truck and asked them where the vet clinic was, and they were nice enough to lead us back around our previous route, and point out the warehouse we had driven past.

    The “old” Jasper was certainly a lot more convenient, and easier to assess.  Below are some photos I took of Jasper yesterday.  The one below is an area that had been spared.  You can see how badly the mountain in the background was burned.

    At the very bottom of the page is a shot showing one of the many vacant spaces in town.  That is where a gas station and the really nice L & W Restaurant used to sit.  We would sometimes get pizza there.

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