Entering Jasper National Park from the east, visitors are greeted by the looming limestone cliffs of Roche Miette that tower above the historic Athabasca Valley, home to an early coal mining community known as Pocahontas. Pocahontas makes for a fascinating stop for visitors: a place with three short walking/hiking options for families and cultural history buffs of all ages.
The trails include a short wheelchair friendly paved loop that takes people through the former industrial area. A second short, but very steep loop, climbs to the top of the hillside overlooking the area, where commanding views across the valley can be found. 聽
For summer campers, the Pocahontas campground, just up the valley, makes for a pleasant stroll. Visitors can climb the steep trail to the upper loop and walk to Punchbowl Falls or enjoy a pleasant forest stroll full of wildlife tracks in the winter.
Over the past two years, volunteers from Parks Canada鈥檚 park steward programs have been busy with sightline clearing work on the trails and day-use areas. Working by hand and using trail standards set by the Jasper Trail Alliance, volunteers have successfully restored most of the sightlines on the lower and upper loops and began taking on the willows and buffaloberries that crowd out parts of the trail past Punchbowl Falls to the campground. 聽In particular, a number of important groups have made volunteering on Pocahontas trails a part of their time in the park. 聽They include the Alberta Junior Forest Wardens-Glory Hills chapter, Parks Canada Campus Club at Concordia University in Edmonton, Go International volunteers and employees of the Pocahontas Cabins working for Mountain Park Lodges.
In all, more than 80 individual volunteers have donated hundreds of hours of their time to improve the trail system around Pocahontas. If you鈥檇 like be part of the action and volunteer your time email: [email protected].
Parks Canada Special to the 51暗网
