venturing4th: Cavell Meadows & Saving Our Day

This trail is definitely one of the top 10 best day hikes in the Canadian Rockies and probably one of the most popular trails in Jasper National Park. This summer there is lots of construction at the trailhead (new parking lot, etc.), which is 14 km, almost straight up, from the main road. In order to limit congestion, to start up the Cavell (rhymes with travel) Road you have to have permit. These are distributed from the main Visitor Center in Jasper from 7 am to 10 am daily. On Monday we went into Jasper early and picked up a permit for today (you can get one for up to three days in advance) since the weather forecast for Wednesday had been for clear weather and highs in the upper 80's in Jasper. It would be cooler at Cavell Meadows which is at a much higher elevation.

Everything was going according to plan, and we had just passed the parking lot for another trailhead 2 km from the trailhead for Cavell Meadows, when a major red warning flashed that a tire, the right front, was loosing air. Frederick immediately pulled off the road into a small pull-out and by the time we got out of the car and around to the tire, it was completely flat. Our first thought was to call for CAA roadside assistance, but our cell phones showed that there was "no service". Frederick began to get out the tools for changing the flat and I was waiting to flag down a returning car to take us down to the main road where we could make a phone call. No cars were going by (some going up, but none coming down) when Jeremy and Kristen came hiking down the road. They had been up at the Cavell Glacier skiing and were returning to their car which was parked in the trailhead parking lot below us.

In the winter they both work at Marmot Ski Area and in the summer Jeremy is a server at a Jasper steak house and Kristen is a life-guard at Miette Hot Springs. They were our saviors!

Jeremy placed the jack under the car frame and raised the car. (Frederick had already loosened the lug nuts.)

Kristen use her slender fingers to remove the lug nuts.

Blown tire!!!

Working together, they soon had the blown tire off, the spare tire on, and Jeremy hefted the blown tire into the back of the Benz.

What a team, and we can't thank Jeremy and Kristen enough for so cheerfully lending a helping hand. Their assistance allowed us to get the car back in working order and we were able to drive up the 2 km to the Cavell Meadow Trailhead parking lot and enjoy our hike. If we had had to get CAA roadside assistance it would have consumed our whole day. Thank you, Jeremy and Kristen, for your wonderful gift!

Lots of icebergs in Cavell Pond at the base of Angel Glacier. You can just see the toe of the Angel Glacier in the upper center of the picture.

A charming pica, "nature's farmer."

Such a cutie - a ping-pong ball with ears!

Lunch spot above the southern junction of the Cavell Meadows loop - a great viewpoint.

Lunch spot from the left. There was a fair amount of smoke in the air today. It made us appreciate, even more, the beautiful, clear, day we had yesterday.