Jasper Lake is in the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in great-circle distance, straight-line distance from the northernmost part of Western Can ...

Jasper National Park Jasper National Park, in Alberta, Canada, is the largest national park within Alberta's Rocky Mountains, spanning . It was established as Jasper Forest Park in 1907, renamed as a national park in 1930, and declared a UNESCO world heritage site ...

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

, Canada. It is part of the

Athabasca River The Athabasca River (French: ''Rivière Athabasca'') in Alberta, Canada, originates at the Columbia Icefield in Jasper National Park and flows more than before emptying into Lake Athabasca. Much of the land along its banks is protected in nationa ...

, where the river broadens out. Its westernmost shore lies about northeast from the town of

Jasper Jasper, an aggregate of microgranular quartz and/or cryptocrystalline chalcedony and other mineral phases, is an opaque, impure variety of silica, usually red, yellow, brown or green in color; and rarely blue. The common red color is due to ...

along the

Yellowhead Highway The Yellowhead Highway () is a major interprovincial highway in Western Canada that runs from Winnipeg west to Graham Island off the coast of British Columbia via Saskatoon and Edmonton. It stretches across the four western provinces of Britis ...

(Highway 16) and stretches farther east for about .

Jasper Lake Sand Dunes

A distinctive feature of the lake is the Jasper Lake Sand Dunes, the only

sand dune A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, flat ...

ecosystem in the

Canadian Rockies The Canadian Rockies () or Canadian Rocky Mountains, comprising both the Alberta Rockies and the British Columbian Rockies, is the Canadian segment of the North American Rocky Mountains. It is the easternmost part of the Canadian Cordillera, w ...

. The dunes were formed at the edge of the lake during the last ice age and have been constantly reshaped by wind and water ever since. Acting as a kind of sieve, the lake removes silt and sand from the river, allowing it to sink to the lake bed. When the water level recedes in the fall, vast sand flats are exposed and dry out, becoming vulnerable to the strong westerly winds that sweep through the lower Athabasca Valley. In winter, these winds blow the sand and silt down the valley, forming two large dune islands near the northwest shore of Jasper Lake. In the

lee Lee may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Lee'' (2007 film), Tamil-language sports action film * ''Lee'' (2017 film), Kannada-language action film * ''Lee'' (2023 film), biographical drama about Lee Miller, American photojournalist * ''L ...

of the dunes, mature clumps of spruce and balsam poplar have gained a foothold, with colonizing grasses, rose bushes and willows.

Surrounded by mountains

The lake is surrounded by mountain ranges, many of which can be seen from various parts along the lake. From southeast to southwest: * Miette Range. Most prominent peaks include Utopia Mountain () and Roche Miette (). *

Jacques Range The Jacques Range is a mountain range in the Front Ranges of the Canadian Rockies, located south of Highway 16 and Jasper Lake in Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada. This range includes the following mountains and peaks: See also * Range ...

. Prominent peaks: Cinquefoil Mountain (), Roche Jacques (), and Mount Merlin (). *

Colin Range The Colin Range is a mountain range of the Canadian Rockies located directly northeast of the Jasper townsite in Jasper National Park, Canada. List of Mountains This range includes the following mountains: See also * Ranges of the Canadian R ...

: Peaks include

Mount Colin Mount Colin is a mountain summit located in Jasper National Park in Alberta, Canada. It is located in the Colin Range, which is a sub-range of the Canadian Rockies. The peak is situated northeast of the municipality of Jasper, and is a promine ...

() Northwest to northeast: *

Victoria Cross Ranges __NOTOC__ The Victoria Cross Ranges ( to ) are a set of mountain ranges in the Canadian Rockies, located to the northwest of Jasper. Of the 19 peaks contained within this range, five are named after Canadian recipients of the Victoria Cross ...

—so named because six of the peaks are named after Canadian recipients of the

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious decoration of the Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom, British decorations system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British ...

. *

De Smet Range The De Smet Range is a mountain range of the Canadian Rockies located northwest of Highway 16 and Jasper Lake in Jasper National Park, Canada. The range is named after its highest point Roche de Smet, which in turn was named by Iroquois working ...

. Prominent peaks include: Roche de Smet, () and Mount Greenock (). *

Bosche Range The Bosche Range is a mountain range of the Canadian Rockies located northwest of Highway 16 near the eastern border of Jasper National Park, Canada. This range includes the following mountains and peaks: See also * Ranges of the Canadian R ...

: Mount Aeolus () and

Roche à Bosche Roche à Bosche is a 2,148 metre mountain summit located at the south end of the Bosche Range in Jasper National Park, in the Canadian Rockies of Alberta, Canada. The

Canadian National Railway The Canadian National Railway Company () is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN is Canada's largest railway, in terms of both revenue a ...

skirts the northwestern shore of the lake. Parts it have been built on

causeways A causeway is a track, road or railway on the upper point of an embankment across "a low, or wet place, or piece of water". It can be constructed of earth, masonry, wood, or concrete. One of the earliest known wooden causeways is the Sweet Tr ...

away from the shore, which have created several ponds.

Via Rail Via Rail Canada Inc. (), operating as Via Rail or Via (stylized as VIA Rail), is a Canadian Crown corporation that operates intercity passenger rail service in Canada. As of December 2023, Via Rail operates 406 trains per week across eight ...

's passenger train the ''

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

'' uses this same CN line for part of its journey between Toronto and Vancouver, giving passengers up-close views of the lake, sand dunes, and surrounding mountains. This area has been the site of many CN publicity photographs—including of the ''

Super Continental The ''Super Continental'' was a transcontinental Canadian passenger train operated by the Canadian National Railway from 1955 until 1977, when Via Rail took over the train and ran it until it was cancelled in 1981. Service was restored in 1985 ...

''—through the years, and it is still popular with photographers,

railfans A railfan, train fan, rail buff or train buff (American English), railway enthusiast, railway buff, anorak (British English), gunzel (Australian English), trainspotter (British English) or ferroequinologist is a person who is recreationally in ...

, advertisers, and passengers. The

(Highway 16) skirts the southeastern shore of the lake, built on the abandoned grade of the

Grand Trunk Pacific Railway The Grand Trunk Pacific Railway was a historic Canadian transcontinental railway running from Fort William, Ontario (now Thunder Bay) to Prince Rupert, British Columbia, a Pacific coast port. East of Winnipeg the line continued as the National ...

, and it too has segments of its route on causeways, which have created Edna and Talbot lakes. This highway is the main east-west route through Jasper National Park.

References

External links

Jasper National Park.com

www.pc.gc.ca/
{{authority control Jasper National Park Lakes of Alberta