Shadow Lake Lodge was our big splurge on a trip full of camping and crashing at relatives’ houses. It was completely worth it. We were nervous in the lead up because the lodge was so close to the fire closure areas and a nearby lodge had been evacuated, but Shadow Lake stayed on that outside edge of the fire closures. While we were staying there some backpackers hiked past the lodge and apparently made a campfire on the shore of the lake. A few guests told the lodge management who called it in, but said nothing might happen because there was an elk situation in downtown Jasper that park rangers were dealing with. Then during dinner the helicopter came in. It circled and then landed in front of the dining cabin, rangers came in and questioned the guests that had seen the fire. The best part was as the helicopter was circling and landing we all ran to the window to take pictures and when we realized they were coming in we all ran back to our seats and tried to act super normal so they would think we were cool and not freaking out about the helicopter. I don’t think they were convinced.

The lodge itself and the experience we had there exceeded all of my expectations. We knew that we would get a cabin, breakfast and dinner, afternoon tea, and a sandwich bar in the morning to make lunches for our hikes. We were trying to time our hike in to get there right in time for afternoon tea and we spent the entire hike trying to lower our expectations: “It’s probably literally just tea, maybe some crackers or a muffin or something.” “Even if it’s just tea that’ll be fine, we like tea.” But we secretly wanted more… “What if there are crumpets? We could finally figure out what a crumpet is!” “Do you think there will be any cheese?” Even with our alternating low and high bar afternoon tea discussions, when we saw the afternoon tea spread, I think I started jumping up and down. I think there were crumpets. It’s still not clear to me what crumpets are. And tea was nothing compared to breakfast and dinner. Breakfast itself was a multi course affair.

The young women who worked there (the one in charge was the daughter of the owners) were amazing. They chatted to us about hikes, and when I asked about a ginger pear upside down cake they gave me the recipe, their additional notes, and the sauce recipe that they used. They were phenomenal.

And the hiking was amazing. And the views were amazing. And the flowers were amazing. And the other people staying at the lodge were amazing.

Are you convinced that this is the best place in the world? It really was. Here’s the website: http://shadowlakelodge.com/