Winter Day Driving Trips in Jasper -- Highway 16

Visual of Driving Routes From Jasper Town (A) to Mount Robson Provincial Park (B)/Valemount, British Columbia (C); or to Hinton/Northeast Border of Jasper National Park (D); Patricia Lakes (E); Marmot Basin (F); Medicine Lake (G); Icefields Parkway (H)

So, you have made it to Jasper National Park! It's the winter time, and unless you plan on doing some skiing, you may ask yourself: Where can I go? What can I see? I have accumulated a little guide to provide some insight and hopefully help you.

Although many off-highway roads are closed for the winter season, there is still plenty of itineraries you can drive your heart out of while you are staying in Jasper! As you can see from the map above, I've clustered six potential routes of winter driving that you can do while in Jasper:

ROUTE 1: Highway 16 East-West (A) Jasper Town to  (B) Mount Robson Provincial Park ( 52 km/41 minutes) and (C) Valemount (80 km/61 minutes)
ROUTE 2: Highway 16 Northeast-Southwest (A) Jasper Town to (D) Hinton, Alberta (61 minutes/79.8 km)
ROUTE 3 : Pyramid Lakes: (A) Jasper Town to  (E) Pyramid Lake (10 minutes/6.0 km)
ROUTE 4: Marmot Basin: (A) Jasper Town to (F) Marmot Basin (26 min/21.5 km)
ROUTE 5: Medicine Lake: (A) Jasper Town to (G) Medicine Lake (28 min/25.5 km)
ROUTE 6: Icefields Parkway: (A) Jasper Town to (H) Banff via Icefields Parkway (all day)

I will solely focus on the first two routes, that is through Highway 16. They are divided into two routes because each section deserves it's own day. Highway 16 is route


ROUTE 1: HIGHWAY 16 WESTBOUND

(A) Jasper Town to  (B) Mount Robson Provincial Park ( 52 km/41 minutes) and (C) Valemount (80 km/61 minutes) 

The first point of interest is stopping off at the Jasper National Park/Mount Robson Provincial Park Border to get your selfie/photo along side the British Columbia sign here:

I could sell you with words, or I can just post a video here of some old footage I took in 2015 of how beautiful driving through this area is:

The first point of interest is the Jasper National Park/BC border where you can get your selfies!

Entering BC! Whoohoo!

The Mount Robson sign is just behind the BC sign!

Another stop will be Moose Lake. This lake is gorgeous in the summer time I can only imagine, luckily I was able to get a glimpse of the pristine glacier water at this lake even with a bit of snow.

Continuing onwards, you will hit Mount Robson Provinical Park. Unfortunately got to this when it was a cloudy day, but trust me it is there! From there, you can drive another 20 minutes to Valemount, BC.

Interesting of note that if you time it right, driving back from Valemount to Mount Robson is a great place to see the sun hitting the mountain peaks approaching sunset:

Mount Fitzpatrick

Mount FitzPatirck

Into Pyramid Mountain at Sunset

Overall, including the Highway 16 portion from Jasper to Mount Robson and/or Valemount will be worth it, but better on a sunny day than a cloudy day.

ROUTE 2: Highway 16 Northeast-Southwest (A) Jasper Town to (D) Hinton, Alberta (61 minutes/79.8 km)

In my bias, this route is the best part of the Canadian Rocky Mountains. As incredible as the Icefields Parkway are, the route along Highway 16 between Jasper and the border of the park is the icing on the cake. Here's a short clip I took with my D7100 on my dashboard that takes you through a brief view.

This stretch of the highway has some of the most sweeping vistas of the Rocky Mountains that very few places in Canada and the United States can even touch.