Exploring Canada's Wilderness: Jasper National Park and Scenic Rail Adventures

Earlier this summer, Fathom contributing koan editor James Sturz flew to Edmonton, Canada, and drove to Jasper National Park in the Canadian Rockies, and then took an overnight train to Vancouver, before exploring VIA Rail Canada's partnership with Yukon-based Air North. Along the way, he saw a beguiling amount of life — although not all of it, strictly speaking, was living.

While on his Canadian Odyssey, James stayed at the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge, Overlander Mountain Lodge, VIA Rail Canada, Edgewater Hotel, Eldorado Hotel, Inn on the Lake, and Fairmont Pacific Rim.

WHAT ARE KOANS ANYWAY?

They're the paradoxes that Zen Buddhist monks ponder to achieve enlightenment.