Jasper wildfire torching cherished memories along with forest and homes
Jasper National Park hold more than the reek of charred timber and scorched earth. For thousands of Canadians and mountain-lovers around the world, it’s the smell of cherished memory going up in smoke.“It’s a huge amount of history and memories that are now lost,” said Alexis Keinlen, an Edmonton writer who recalls the winter 2015 wedding of a friend.Before the ceremony, the party gathered in the evening on the shores of Lake Agnes on the grounds of the Jasper Park Lodge, now at least partially burned.
They clasped mugs of hot chocolate around roaring fires or laced up skates for a turn on the ice.The dark of the lake and the clarity of the sky felt “otherworldly,” she said.“You could see all the stars above. It felt really big.“One of my friends gave her child the name Jasper.”A decade ago, Kelley Ware was living in Prince George, B.C., and her now-husband was in Edmonton.
Every few weeks, they’d meet in Jasper.“It was completely fundamental to building our relationship. My husband has a tattoo of Pyramid Mountain.”For Janet Millar, the memories go back generations.Her great-grandfather was on a roadbuilding crew in Jasper in 1948 when he noticed that lots were going up for sale around Lake Edith.
He and his wife walked around it, chose their favourite spot and the next year built the cabin that has been in the family ever since.“It’s the smell of an old log cabin that has had a lot of bacon and pancakes and syrup served in it. It’s the sight of old furniture that no one can bear to part with,” she said.“Everyone in my family and all sorts of friends have their own particular thing they like best.
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