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2024 Wildfires
Just saw today in the New York Times that Jaspar has been evacuated. What does this mean for those taking the trip starting next week? Has Tauck alerted the guests about the impact of the wild fires?
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We were on the July 25 trip and were called yesterday (Tuesday) re its cancellation. The evacuation began Monday night So notice may be rather last minute. Stay in contact with Tauck as wildfires situations are fluid.
The Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge reported earlier today that the lodge and outbuildings are unscathed. I hope that remains the case. That area is so stunningly beautiful. The town of Jasper, however, has not faired well with supposedly up to 50% of structures destroyed. Such a horrible tragedy.
Is anyone going on the tour starting 8/2/24 grand Canadian Rockies?
Will fires in Jasper affect the 8/2/24 grand Canadian Rockies tour
If Tauck don’t cancel, then I expect they will change the tour to avoid Jasper. I suspect a lot of people will cancel.
Remember, due to the prevailing weather and wind patterns, the smoke is spreading to the east and south, so will most certainly affect air quality and visibility along the tour route, all the way from Jasper to Calgary. Anyone with a respiratory condition may want to reconsider this trip. It will make for some beautiful sunsets, however.
https://firesmoke.ca/forecasts/current/
Our skies (Denver) have been smoke-filled for 4 days now. It's starting to clear as the wind shifts.
Augrl: Was your tour cancelled completely or just the Jasper stop?
You can view updates on the fires on Tauck's website by selecting the 'Canadian Tours' category. They should have another update soon. To paraphrase, all tours with Jasper National Park as part of the itinerary have been canceled through 27 July. Given the widespread destruction, I surmise cancelations will continue. So truly tragic.
We were notified midday Tuesday before the Thursday tour start. Given option to rebook this year or next or cancel altogether in which case we were told we would lose the trip insurance. We chose to rebook for next year. We were able to get a flight refund as we booked our own flights. Not sure how we would lose our prepaid insurance if we didn’t have any claims on it and we were not the cancelling party but there was no need to press the issue.
Hi, we are booked for the tour beginning Aug 4th and there has been no communication whatsoever. Has anyone received any emails regarding a change in itinerary?
Tauck has been very transparent and regularly gives updates regarding canceled tours. See my 26 July note above. Please understand they have many guests to assist with rescheduling, including airfare for those who booked air travel through them. This is a very fluid and tragic situation.
Per the Tauck posting dated July 30, Tauck plans to run the 'Best of the Canadian Rockies' Tour with a new itinerary for those departures in early August. With Jasper being eliminated for obvious reasons, in our opinion the crown jewel of the Tour has been removed. We are seriously considering canceling, but was wondering what our other fellow travelers are thinking?
We were there in early July and really liked Jasper. We had a waterfront cabin. Lake Louise was beautiful but very crowded. Jasper also is beautiful and the crowds are fewer. You can sit by the water and enjoy the peacefulness. Banff has a gorgeous hotel and outstanding food, especially the breakfast buffet. The river that runs in front of the hotel is very nice and we enjoyed a float trip. However, it is not the same as sitting by the water in Jasper. The entire trip exceeded our expectations. Jasper will be a loss but I'm sure you will enjoy the rest of the trip. Is that the only change to the itinerary?
We are not scheduled to go on our tour until mid-September but we are also considering cancelling. This is a once in a lifetime trip for us and we hate for it to not be all that we expected or hoped for, and Jasper was at the top of our bucket list. I'm keeping an eye on the clean-up and hoping to see our updated itinerary to include some locations not originally considered, and ultimately a plus. Taking it day by day right now. Praying for those impacted by the fires in the meantime.
Some of you should look at the restaurant for fine dining at the Post Inn not far from Lake Louise.
Thanks for the suggestion, OurTravels34. If you stayed at the Inn, can you share your thoughts? Feel free to send me a private message. Thank you!
Jasper was the best part of the tour! Relaxing with wonderful rustic lake front accomodations in a beautiful setting. Elk and other wildlife close up. Meals in the Italain restuarant excellent. The Steak house so=so but that may have been due to service issues. We were on the Grand Canadien Rockies at the end of covid.
We just completed the Canadian Rockies and the Rocky Mountaineer trip, an absolutely fabulous trip. I can't rave enough. So if your trip to Jaspar is cancelled look into taking this trip if it's available. I have never been to Jaspar but the other cities we visited must compare favorably to Jaspar. They are each beautiful and the scenery incredible.
Scheduled to leave August 28. Hoping things clear by then. First trip the Tauck but am confident they will keep us posted on wildfires and smoke conditions.
We're scheduled for Best of Rockies on September 13th, For those of you who have had trip in August, what changes have them made to the trip Obviously they had to cancel the Jaspar section, but was wondering what it was changed to.
thanks
They just cancelled ours for the 30th of August
Our trip on 9/15 Best of the Canadian Rockies tour has been cancelled as well. Very disappointed.
Wow, our trip is 9/13 and we haven't heard a word.... thanks for porting that August 30th and September 15th were cancelled..
I think people need to specify the tour they are on in case not all tours are canceled.
Indeed. There is more than one tour of the Canadian Rockies, so some degree of specificity would be appropriate. For example, the “Canadian Rockies and Glacier National Park” goes no where near Vancouver or Western Canada.
Our tour is Best of the Canadian Rockies leaving on September 13th from Calgary. Just got an email that it has not been cancelled. Maybe because it is a small group tour. Instead of 2 nights in Banff and Lake Louise, we will be getting three nights.. We will still be going to the Ice fields in Jasper. Additionally, the catagory of room, aka room with a view has been changed,. Rooms are the same size, but without the super view.