THE PREAMBLE

I spent about two and a half years (cumulatively) living in Lake Louise, Alberta. Lake Louise is a relatively remote, extremely small locale that’s nestled in the Canadian Rockies in Western Alberta….quite the departure from my usual speed of living in large cities.

In May, 2021, I found myself a couple months away from leaving Lake Louise for the second time; this time, I was leaving with the knowledge that it was going to be a more concrete hiatus. After much mulling, I had decided on a career-related pivot and my new pursuit was taking me away from the Rockies for at least a couple years. In classic ‘Lindsay Fashion’, this prompted me to don my “YOLO/FOMO” cap, with the aim of spending my last few months in Alberta as effectively as possible (in my world, “effective” means “getting to see, visit, or experience as many spots on my ‘to-do list’ as I can”). One of the spots on my ‘to-do list’ was a little town called Jasper, Alberta, which is a three-hour(ish) drive Northwest of Lake Louise.

During my last eight-or-so weeks in Lake Louise, I made two trips up to Jasper. Between those two trips, I spent seven blissful, incredible days in Jasper. That may not sound like a lot of time to spend somewhere but, with my work schedule and the driving time, I was quite pleased with the feat.

The first trip consisted of me visiting Jasper for a two-day stint with a couple great friends who were visiting from Ontario. Our 36/48-hour adventure was enough to put me on a warpath to visit again, before I moved back to Ontario. After deciding that a second trip to Jasper was going to happen, I quickly realized that there was a lot on my ‘Jasper to-do list’. I concluded that my itinerary would require four nights and five days to cover an acceptable amount of ground. So, naturally, I selected some dates, picked up extra gigs around the hotel to cushion my bank account, submitted requests to use my banked ‘days off’ from work, and eagerly awaited the end of July, when I’d be able to dart back up to Jasper.

(If it isn’t apparent yet, you should know that when I characterize myself as being “on a warpath” to achieve something, you best believe that I’m going to find a way to make it happen)

THE ‘PEAK-NIC’ CONCEPT

One of the activities I scheduled for myself during that second visit to Jasper was a hike called the ‘Peak-Nic’. I found this activity while perusing the summer activity guide for Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge, as part of my pre-trip recon. That being said, the tour is run by Jasper Food Tours and can also be found on their website. They run a bunch of different kinds of tours, too!

As soon as I read the description for the ‘Peak-Nic’, I was hooked and the blurb I stumbled across was more than enough to launch me onto a ‘warpath within a warpath’…I legitimately planned my trip around the dates when the tour would be running.

The concept for the ‘Peak-Nic’ is to embark on a hike that is rated as being moderately-challenging. Once you’re at the culminating lookout/endpoint, you find yourself a lovely (hopefully wind-less) spot, set-up shop with a table and cooking equipment, and receive a guided cooking lesson (during which there are plenty of opportunities to pitch-in). As someone who is less-than-stellar at cooking, I loved that the tour guide explained how she’d pre-portioned the ingredients, as well as her elaborations on why the meal she’d planned and the equipment we’d brought were ideal for an outdoors cooking session. The guide led us through each of the steps she took to create our meal and gave us chances to help her with a variety of cooking tasks.

Once the meal is prepared, the cherry on top of the tour is to eat your freshly-cooked meal, while enjoying the views from the lookout point of your hike. In our case, us tour participants staggered ourselves on various rocks and grassy knolls that were situated along the face of the lookout- harsh, I know.

MY ‘PEAK-NIC’ EXPERIENCE

When booking my spot on the ‘Peak-Nic’, I had emailed the hotel concierge to ask if they had availability on a specific date. Within a day of me writing my email, crossing my fingers, and hitting ‘send’, a lovely member of the concierge team called to say that my desired date was fully-booked (dang it). She followed that news up by excitedly providing me with alternate dates when space was still available; I picked a day, locked it in, and told her how excited I was for the tour. During our conversation, the concierge’s voice was teeming with enthusiasm, as she talked about the tour. She gushed about the hike and Jasper Food Tours, saying “You will have an absolute ball! So far, it’s you, the tour guide- she’s just fantastic, and two young women who are also visiting- I think they’re from Edmonton or Calgary. Either way, they sound like such adventurous young ladies and I just know that the four of you will have a wonderful time!”. I’m rather biased, but learning that the tour would consist of four adventurous, like-minded ladies was fantastic! I love meeting new people and am always particularly excited when I encounter other young women who enjoy travel, off-the-beaten-path activities, and learning something new about a locale and the people who call it home. Without realizing it, that concierge agent raised my level of ‘stoked’ about ten-fold.

A few weeks later, I was in Jasper and the day arrived for me to attend the ‘Peak-Nic’. I spent the morning going for a stroll and my early afternoon consisted of kayaking on Beauvert Lake and politely stalking some Loons on an offshoot of said lake (for anyone who doesn’t know what a Loon is, it’s a type of bird and they have the best call, from my perspective. They are predominantly black in colour and their trademark is a pattern of white dots all over their plumage).

After my polite loon-stalking, I returned to my room to regroup and change into my hiking gear. Following the wardrobe change, I headed to the hotel lobby for my pick up. As I stood outside the front entrance, I saw a black SUV approach with the words “Jasper Food Tours” written on the side in large white and orange font. I waved as the vehicle parked (I was practically dancing on the spot, out of excitement). The tour guide, also clad in her hiking gear, hopped out of the car and confirmed that I was the one she was picking up. The tour guide’s name was Estelle. Later in the day, I would learn that Estelle is also the founder of Jasper Food Tours.

I was the first one to be picked up and Estelle answered my million-and-one questions, as we drove to go and collect the other two ladies. I peppered her with queries about her company and how she’d started it. Estelle explained that she’d founded Jasper Food Tours because she’d seen a gap in the local adventure/tourism market and was passionate about connecting people with the excellent dining and activities around the town of Jasper. She described her passion for engaging with people, as well as her love of food and cooking; each of those passions was palpable in the way she spoke about her journey and Jasper Food Tours.

I asked Estelle about the ‘Peak-Nic’ outing, in particular. She said that the concept was something she’d developed, in an effort to help participants experience the stunning landscape around Jasper, while enjoying delicious food that was prepared using backcountry cooking techniques and learning a ‘little something’ about the nature one sees as they trek through the forest.

A short drive later (yes, I excel at covering many conversational topics in a short period of time), we stopped in at Alpine Village Jasper to pick up our two remaining ‘Peak-Nic-ers’ for the evening. The duo that we picked up was a lively pair who hailed from Edmonton; their names were Rachel and Linda. It was absolutely a ‘girl power’ vibe in the van, as we all nattered about our impending hike. Estelle asked if any of us wanted to know where we were going or what we’d be eating that night. The three of us tour-goers agreed that we didn’t want to know which hike it would be or what was on the menu for dinner. We concurred that we were all just stoked for the experience and that we knew we were in very capable hands with Estelle as our guide. Estelle assured us that she had a Grade-A ‘bear beware’ call and we were pleased to hear that she’d likely be able to deter any bears that might be toddling around close to our hiking trail. Rachel, Linda, and I exchanged pleasantries about where we were all from and what each of us did for work. I learned that both Linda and Rachel worked in media so, naturally, Instagram details were swapped by the end of the day. As we pulled into the parking lot/trailhead (I’m not going to tell you which hike we did, to eliminate the chance of spoiling it for you, if you happen to join the tour), Estelle assured us that she had every bit of confidence in our ability to complete the hike without any challenges.

Once we parked, we got situated and Estelle had us swap our own backpacks for pre-packed backpacks that contained some of the gear she’d need to ensure we got to enjoy a stellar meal that evening. All three of us participants remarked that Estelle was a legend; it was clear that her pack, without question, was the heaviest of them all. She said she’d hiked with the gear so many times, that it really didn’t phase her or seem like a tall task any longer (in that moment, I decided I wanted to be that ‘cool’ and work towards hiking with heavier gear than the weight of the 15-20 pounds that I’m used to carrying when I’m trekking around on my own: challenge accepted).

The track we completed was rated as “Moderate” in the AllTrails app and about 3.7KM-long (if you hike the full loop, rather than trekking to the main viewpoint and doubling-back the way you headed in). This trail wasn’t too much of a culprit for the ‘bait-and-switch’ I’ve seen over the years (i.e. when a trail will seem chill, but then sneak attack you with a sparsely-marked path, or possibly a lot of boulders, or some sort of unanticipated scramble, or relentless uphill inclines or switchbacks…I’ve learned to distrust the start of trails). However, the trail that we completed was fairly consistent in its level of ‘tripping hazards’. There were some roots and rocky stretches, as we gradually ascended from the trailhead to the lookout point, but nothing too treacherous. Overall, the trail was great and very manageable (if necessary, slow and steady always wins the ‘hiking race’).

The ‘holy grail’ of this track takes shape in the form of the endpoint-view, which was at the physical high-point of the trail. Once we were up there, I learned that it’s a fairly open area, with grassy stretches and a few spots that jut out just-a-little-bit-higher than the rest of the landscape along the plateau. If one heads to the far end of the point, they’ll enjoy views that overlook swaths of Jasper National Park with mountains in the distance.

When we were there, the forest fires in British Columbia were still having their way with the air and, even though we were technically in the province of Alberta, a thick layer of smoke was hanging over Jasper (as it was in many, many places in Alberta, including the town of Lake Louise, where I was living- frig those forest fires).

I wasn’t able to enjoy the views without smoke impacting the vista, but I would imagine that it’s a ‘different kind of stunning’ to see the mountain lines without a haze hanging in front of them. Regardless, the views were phenomenal. Despite the clouds and smoke, as the sun was setting, we were able to appreciate the pink, orange, and indigo spots peeking out in the sky. Estelle encouraged the three of us to take our fresh meals over to the raised area along the end of the point (not sketchy, though- I don’t like heights very much, so there’s no frigging way I’d be sitting there if it was). Linda, Rachel, and I headed over to find our respective spots along the point. We located a few comfortable perches to sit on, soaked in the views, and took photos (I also took Snapchat shots- yes, I still use Snapchat, I am what I am). The three of us chatted a bit and Rachel and Linda captured some video clips. While they were shooting their footage, I enjoyed a few moments of pensiveness, as I quietly munched on my meal and gazed out through the haze. I felt so, so fortunate to be sitting where I was, with a scrumptious meal, listening to the stillness in the air, looking out over the park (smokey haze, and all). Just what?? The world is massive, it blows my mind, and each experience in nature always has me pinching myself.

When we’d finished our meals and the cooking site had been cleaned up (take nothing but photos, leave nothing but footprints), Estelle indicated that it was probably about time for us to start our descent and wrap up the hike.

While I haven’t done too many guided hikes to compare this activity to, I can say that it was amazing to have Estelle leading the charge. As I kept a keen eye on the ground, to make sure that I didn’t wipe out, Estelle was busy pointing out all sorts of things to the group that I would have otherwise missed. She described many types of plants, berries, and fauna with ease and stopped us a few times to explain the significance of different species and their respective roles in the surrounding ecosystem. She demonstrated her ‘bear beware call’ a few times to make sure that any Grizzlies or Black Bears in the area knew we were around. During the tour, we chatted amongst ourselves about favourite pastimes, hiking, Edmonton, Calgary, Lake Louise, Jasper, and the trip that Linda and Rachel were currently enjoying. Estelle answered more questions we had about her business, as well as her loves of hiking, nature, cooking, and interacting with people. The overall experience was, simply put, outstanding. Just reading the description for the tour had me excited. After having participated in the ‘Peak-Nic’, I’m so thrilled that it lived up to my very-high expectations for a unique event in Jasper.

Again, I know I haven’t done many guided hikes, but I’ve scoured many, many travel sites, activity guides, “local hidden gems” blog posts, and Google search results for “what would locals recommend doing”. In all the years I’ve spent reviewing these types of materials and completing travel research, I can safely say that I’ve never come across a tour or activity quite like the ‘Peak-Nic’. This activity checked all the ‘boxes’ for me: “unique local experience”, “involves hiking”, “opportunity to interact with someone who knows the area”, “the chance to get to know new people”, “an itinerary that isn’t stifling, to the point where I feel as though I’m touring under someone’s thumb”, and “a reasonable price”? Check, check, check, check, check, also check.

Is this tour chock-full of frills, fanciness, or cushy comforts? No. But I say “no” in the best way possible. In the context of where this tour takes place and what it promises, those aren’t adjectives I would use to describe what I expected. What you will get out of this tour is the chance to enjoy a hike, learn something new, receive a backcountry-style cooking lesson, and enjoy a comforting meal while looking out at a stunning landscape. Hopefully the piecemeal video below will give you guys some insight into the excellence that is the ‘Peak-Nic’.

Disclaimer for the clip: I’m going to level with you and warn that my GoPro died during this hike. Don’t you worry, though, my phone survived the whole thing and I had very few reservations about combining footage and photos from both devices to piece together an account of my experience. While, as per usual, I don’t feel that photos or videos can quite do the landscape (or this event) justice, I hope it gives you enough of an idea, that you’ll give Jasper Food Tours a Google if you ever find yourself looking for an amazing hiking experience in Jasper, Alberta. Enjoy!