Just for curiosity's sake, can anyone who may be in the Jasper area verify whether the temperature has dipped below freezing recently? It says on the weather network that it dropped to -1.8 last night, and I believe near the same the night before, so I'm hoping with the environmental lapse rate that amounts to about -5 or -6 up in the Tonquin Valley. And possibly fewer mosquitos this week.

I was in Jasper in July and it was a feeding frenzy, the kind where it's difficult to think about much else.

Can't wait to get out there again...

the temps have definitely cooled at night in town but not to freezing, however once in the Tonquin it will be cooler yet as it is so much higher!
I haven't felt the mossies to be too bad this summer as compared last...having said all that, the Tonquin Valley is known for it's "bugs and bog"
I was reading of a slide there that has made the slope very unstable and impassable for the horses,(Tonquin Valley Adventures) not sure what it has done to human passage through the avalanche slope.

Hmm... according to the JNP trail report, the "trail is damaged"
I'm pretty stoked to do this one so unless it's a completely impassable obstacle or they don't allow anyone jn I'm basically willing to walk through whatever it is. Horses can be kind of picky.
Regardless, I hope it's not too bad. My semi original plan was Nigel Pass - Cataract Lake - at least the Jonas Pass/Jonas Shoulder part of the Brazeau loop but all I'm reading about that one is bridge out, bridge out, bridge out and not recommended.
It's a tough life.. I just want to go hiking...

Called the backcountry office and the information center, no luck.

Both are on a give us your # and we'll call you back basis due to higher than normal call volume. I can't answer my phone just any time, so that doesn't work. Lol

Environment Canada did show that the temp dropped below freezing the other night; they recorded -1 with a -3 windchill, but if I recall correctly, the weather station is out near Sixth Bridge. I know the temp did not drop that low in town, because all my zucchini plants are still ok. The next night, they recorded 1C, and last night, a low of 3. (If you pull up the Jasper forecast page and then click the "past 24 hours" link, you get the hourly temps.) http://weather.gc.ca/trends_table/pa..._metric_e.html (Just noticed... the location is given as "Jasper Warden Station".)

There were some bugs earlier in the summer, but as mentioned, nothing like last year. In my recent hikes, including Cavell Meadows a couple of days ago, there have hardly been any. I haven't ever been into the Tonquin, but have done a few backpacking trips in September, and always found them to be mostly bug-free. Hope it is for you!

If you are on facebook, and scroll back in time on the Jasper Trail Alliance page, I believe there is a comment by Loni earlier in the season about an area on the Astoria River trail that is prone to rock slides, and meeting the sons of one of the cabin operators doing some trail repair work there.

Thanks!
-1 and 1 at Sixth Bridge could probably still work out to -4 or -5 up at 2,000m ( I'm hoping! ) That would be enough to do a nice number on them, I think.

Yeah I just read a few old trip reports, looks like there's an area that's prone to that. Hopefully that's all it is again. I can see how the horses couldn't get through due to all the boulders.

Did 4 nights in the Brazeau loop area after long weekend. The loop is do-able according to people we talked to on trail. We did Four Point, Jonas Cutoff x2, back to Boulder. Jonas shoulder side as well as Nigel Pass and on to Cataract Pass are fine as well. The bridges that were out were further down towards Brazeau Lake area...

Right on, good to know as a backup in case this "Damaged Trail" is impassable.

Had a great trip up into the Tonquin. Will post pics when I have access to a computer.

Thanks for the advice!

I slept in my car at sixth bridge on Friday night,and theres no way it dropped to freezing,NO WAY!!!

No not recently, but I think it did a couple of nights before I went up to the Tonquin Valley. This would have been August 21, 22 ish.

Very few bugs of any kind in the Tonquin Valley makes me think it did freeze.