Jasper, Alberta is one of the most beautiful places on earth. Picturesque views of the Canadian Rocky Mountains, glacier fed lakes and stars like you have never seen before. This Dark Sky Preserve is a little slice of heaven on earth. Every October skygazers flock to the town of Jasper to celebrate the dark skies. Astronomers, astronauts and sometimes even celebrities make appearances and lead discussions at different events. Each night there is something new and exciting to look forward to.

Jasper during the day is pretty easy on the eyes, too.

My favourite events include anything to do with Northern Lights. The aurora is something magical and everyone needs to witness Lady Aurora’s dance at least once in their life. Jasper is the perfect setting to stargaze and watch the Northern Lights. With minimal light pollution, you’ll experience darkness like never before. The stars light up the entire sky. Words cannot express the beauty of this view.

My Black Milk Clothing Purple Galaxy Slouchy was the appropriate choice of clothing to don to attend a Dark Skies festival.

This year I attended the Star Sessions atop Whistler’s Mountain. Riding the Jasper Tram is a completely different experience at night. It is an experience of a lifetime. Taking photos with minimal light is no easy feat, and the brilliant minds behind Dark Skies took this into account by inviting astrophotography pros to help amateurs snap some photos atop the mountain.

The SkyTram flight takes stargazers nearly 1 km closer to the stars above. At the upper station guests had the opportunity to look through the most powerful telescopes in the Canadian Rockies, under the darkest skies in the Rockies.

Members aboard my flight were so very lucky – we witnessed both meteors and….THE NORTHERN LIGHTS! The fantastic photographers atop the mountain helped my fiance and I to capture our first successful star and aurora photos.

 After our departure we visited Pyramid Lake in hopes of more aurora hunting. This was such a wonderful experience. I can’t gush about it enough.

Look at how vibrant that green is!

First solo attempt at aurora photography

The Dark Sky Festival is an event that showcases the glories of the Canadian Rocky Mountains in a whole new way, allowing you to experience a place you already know and love for the first time all over again.