April 15:


Parks Canada has now extended closures to at least end of May:
Full details here:
https://www.pc.gc.ca/en/voyage-trave.../covid-19-info

April 16, '20
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Cycled into Banff today. First view of this iconic town, birthplace of Canadian National Parks, after COVID-19 outbreak. And you'd not recognize it. Vibrant, busy main street looks like a ghost town, even in middle of day. Shops, restaurants closed. Famous Lux theater has "I'll be back" instead of list of movies playing. Parks office shut down. Some locals on bikes because of sunny day, but very little traffic otherwise. Exiting from Trans-Canada there is sign "essential business only", and they will stop cars asking about their business. Minnewanka and Norquay roads are gated and closed.



[Gated Minnewanka Road]



[Closed Visitor Centre on Main Street]



[Iconic shot of Main street, with Cascade in background. These 2 walkers is about as busy as it got]


If you don't live in Bow valley and have business in Banff, please please don't drive here until this clears up. You will be turned back. Mountains are not going anywhere

So far nothing has changed in Jasper except the Maligne Road was closed after Maligne Canyon by Superintendent Order, which means no driving, biking or walking passed the gate which also includes 300 meters on both sides of the road.
With the coming of the nice weather people are flocking to the trailheads but there doesn't seem to be any enforcement of any kind yet. I went for a hike up the Snaring River a few nights ago and when I got back to my vehicle a warden was driving by but never said anything to me.
If anyone does venture out on the trails along the river, beware that the ticks are out.

Wow. No biking or walking (running) either !?? This really puts Maligne Lake off limits. Can't drive, can't cycle, can't run. Only way would be hike via Skyline or Maligne Pass, but then even if you are ultra fit you can't return in single day and back-country camping is not allowed either.



It will be a beautiful place this summer with no people and ultra-clean air. Like when Marry Schaffer first discovered it, and only odd Indian occasionally visited

Looking at the bright side, the air is cleaner world wide due, in no small part, to much reduced vehicle, aviation and commercial shipping traffic. The coast is brighter and cleaner. But I must say the air quality in the Vancouver air shed was already much improved from ten years ago thanks to cleaner burning vehicles.

My son-in-law just bought his first ultra low emission vehicle, a Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV. It produces about 1 tonne of CO2/yr. My 2018 gas powered Outlander produces about 7.5 Tonnes CO2/yr. All other emissions like CO are much reduced too. Let's hope we move faster toward cleaner transport options

I understand Parks Canada is extending expiry dates on annual passes? Mine expires end of sept so I'm looking forward to using for a longer period.

Nobody really knows what is going to happen with Park Passes. It all depends when Parks get open again. Yesterday in Banff I saw vehicles with range of 2020 passes on Dash (all currently valid). These were Bow valley locals & I doubt anyone check this at the moment -- although Parks Canada is active & their vehicle zoomed by me on Tunnel road.


If Parks re-open for vehicle access sometime in 2nd half of the year (general thinking now, don't hold your breath) I'd expect anyone with 2020 expiration to have it valid till end of year, regardless of month. I'll try to have a chat with Parks Employee when I get a chance & will report here.

Although Parks Canada is still asking visitors to not come to the national parks, they will be permitting fishing in the park as long as all fishing regulations and physical distancing rules are being followed. You can not buy a fishing license at the parks centre, you can buy them through third party retailers. This is for Jasper, so I'm not sure what other national or provincial parks are allowing.

Interesting. Did not know that. There is quite a bit of ambiguity in the rules & several things can be subject to interpretation. For instance:



But what about bivis? You could always bivi legally in areas where there are no regulated campgrounds, as long as you have back-country permit. For instance Devon Lakes. Or Endless Chain Ridge higline from Maligne Pass to Maligne Lake. So you could cycle to trailhead & chain bike there (legal as of now), hike trail (trails are open as of now), then just bivi in the wild away from campgrounds.



I have no problem with closures and even support them, but wish rules were bit more clear and bit less subject to interpretation.

My mistake, sorry. Fishing will be allowed, but only to residents. Here is what I got off FB today
Some new fishing regulations posted yesterday on Parks's page for resident info:

"Fishing
Parks Canada is asking anyone considering a visit to Jasper National Park for fishing, or any other non-essential activity, to cancel their plans.

-A fishing permit is required to fish in a national park. Parks Canada is currently not selling fishing permits. Some third-party operators are issuing fishing permits in Jasper.
-A person with a valid fishing permit for the mountain national parks may fish in Jasper, as long as the permit holder:
abides by all fishing regulations, including the open season and catch limits on various water bodies
follows the advice of Alberta Health Services and the Public Health Agency of Canada on physical distancing and measures to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19)
abides by all road, trail, and area closures
-For a complete list of open seasons, special restrictions and closed waters in the mountain parks of BC and Alberta, visit our summary of fishing regulations online."

https://www.pc.gc.ca/en/pn-np/ab/jas.../covid-19-info.

The Source for Sports in Jasper will be selling fishing licenses as of tomorrow.

Nowhere I looked on official site it says explicitly "residents only". It says repeatedly only:



Further more: Say John lives in Edmonton, and has buddy Jim living in Jasper. John drives to Jasper on Yellowhead (allowed), parks in Jim's backyard (allowed, private property with owner permission), then tries to get fishing license from Source for Sports in Jasper. Will they ask him for proof of residence? There are many more examples like this that are quite confusing.


COVID faq page on Parks Site: https://www.pc.gc.ca/en/voyage-trave...o/covid-19-faq



leaves a lot of room for interpretation (not only about fishing).

If you go to the link that I posted and then scroll down to community updates,April 17, 2020 you'll see the posting. Although Jasper is a national park they've always been somewhat different then Banff and other Canadian national parks. I don't know what Banff or other parks are allowing, but in Jasper, if you live here you're allowed to hike and fish and I'm sure golfing as well when that opens. That, of course could change, but for now its wonderful if you're a resident. There are still lots of non resident vehicles at trailheads, so I don't think any of those rules are being enforced up here.
I'm not a fisherman, so I'm not really sure about non residents buying fishing licenses. There is a lot of ambiguity in the statements coming from Parks, but until they impose a Superintendents closure to the entire park, I will continue with my plans to go backpacking at the end of May, early June. Where I go will depend on any future closures, and of course, the weather.

Exactly. Lots depends on weather. So far it's been crappy & tons of snow everywhere. But wait for sunny weekends; everyone is already antsy from sitting at home & doing nothing. Jasper has advantage that is way more isolated than Banff, in terms of driving from major metro area, so rules were always going to be more lax. This is why I am really surprised with Maligne no cycling/walking within 300m of the road.


If this persists, i.e virus infections continue to spike, Superintendent Closure of entire park is real possibility because people will be coming & there is simply not enough staff to patrol every parking lot, trail, etc. Gate 10km west of Hinton closed and lets only trucks & Jasper residents (ID check) through. Icefields Parkway totally closed. etc

I drove up to Rock Lake PP today to do some hiking. Rock Lake is 32 Kms from Highway 40 and there were no signs or barricades at the turnoff. There was this one little sign at the Park boundary, 30 Kms in. The turnoff to Willmore has no signs or barricades. Willmore should be interesting as it’s not a national or provincial park,it a wilderness area, so I think hiking will be ok there. They’ve already stated that hiking and horseback riding will be allowed in the National and Provincial parks, so unless something changes, this will be a good place to go in another month or so. I saw this beautiful moose while hiking.

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Wow. That moose kicks some serious ass. Great stuff!

I know this is a hiking site and not a fishing site, but I know people who hike to lakes in the park to fish I.E. Amethyst Lake in the Tonquin. I confirmed today that it is only Jasper residents who can get fishing licenses for fishing within the park. You have to show proof of residence when getting your license. These rules and others, according to Parks, may be eased by June 1st. We'll have to wait and see on that one.

On another note, parks wardens and the RCMP are trolling trailhead parking lots but I have yet heard of any tickets being issued. I think that they are looking more for people not socially distancing than whether they are tourists or not.