The views are worth the drive for a heavenly dip in the steaming waters of Miette Hot Springs in Jasper National Park, the hottest of all the Canadian Rockies thermal springs.
BY TAMARA NOWAKOWSKY
It's cool to be hot in Alberta's Jasper National Park. Here, at Miette Hot Springs, the steaming hot springs - with the hottest water of all the Canadian Rockies thermal springs - reach a maximum temperature of 53.9° C. Mind you, the water is cooled for bathers to a comfortable 39° C or so.
On a first visit to Miette, or a return trip if you haven't been here for a while, chances are you'll walk away feeling like a modern-day explorer who has just made a very important discovery.
First-timers can be forgiven for mistaking the drive to Miette through the spectacular Fiddle Valley as the reward, since the road winds past interesting sites like Punchbowl Falls and the jaw-dropping scene at the Ashlar Ridge Viewpoint. Surely, half the fun is getting there.
Similarly entertaining is the family of mountain sheep that visitors encounter while finding a parking spot at the pool site. A fixture at Miette, the sheep have been greeting arriving guests here for years. Stories abound about people leaving the pool building and concluding they were in the hot water a little too long, having caught sight of a sheep on the hood of their car. The sheep also like to crawl under cars to lick salt from the undercarriages.
The staff at the Miette Hot Springs pool facility are so friendly you might feel like you're visiting relatives. And like a grandmother who scolds you for walking in the house with your shoes on, the cashiers eagerly call out to people walking into changing areas to remove their shoes. The mixture of heavy foot traffic and a wet, warm environment with a heated floor can potentially breed bacteria, so cleaning staff work continually to provide and maintain sanitary conditions.
When you exit the change room to the poolside and take in the view, you'll be struck with the realization that the journey to get here, as wonderful as it was, was simply the means to an end.
The only decisions remaining are where to start, as there are three pools, and where to sit, since there are amazing vistas on all four sides of the pools.
The little pool tucked away behind a half-wall evokes the most curiosity, and visitors soon realize it's called the cold plunge pool for a reason. If you're brave and hearty enough to enter past your ankles, you'll probably end up asking yourself: "If I could make a sound, would my shrieks reverberate off of the mountains or be absorbed by them?" And then as you remember that two hot pools await, you'll likely exit faster than from any pool ever before.
The shallow hot pool is set to 39° C, while the deeper hot pool is kept at 41° C, a temperature that makes a long soak difficult and in fact inadvisable. (In the hot springs, the deeper the source water goes, the hotter it gets. At this, the hottest springs in the Canadian Rockies, the precious liquid is heated directly by the Earth's core and returns to the surface hot and loaded with dissolved natural minerals at a rate of 1,540 litres or 350 gallons per minute.) When the time comes to get out, many bathers can't resist the urge to do the circle of all three pools again.
For those who have time and energy after their dips, the site offers plenty of other activities as well. In addition to a café, gift shop and gardens, Miette's rich history is depicted on an interpretive trail leading to the original bathhouse that was erected at the source of the hot springs. Historic photographs provide an entertaining and informative peek at the period from 1919, when the first crude pool and change house were built, to the 1930s, when the original building was constructed. Miette also offers outstanding hiking in the surrounding sub-alpine terrain, along with excellent wildlife-viewing opportunities.
At the end of the day, head into Jasper to check out a variety of hotels and bed-and-breakfasts. Or if you have only enough energy to get down from the mountain, consider staying at the cozy Pocahontas Bungalows at the base of the mountain.
Resist the urge to share stories of your discovery with friends and family... at least for a day or two. Bask in the glow that comes from knowing that while you were not the first to discover the hot springs, the experience has left you deservedly, thoroughly pleased with yourself.
For more information on this or other Canadian destinations, visit the Canadian Tourism Commission's website at www.travelcanada.ca
source: Canadian Tourism Commision
This reproduction is not represented as an official version of the materials reproduced, nor has it been made in affiliation with or with the endorsement of the Canadian Tourism Commission.
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