Month: August 2017

This morning we headed out after breakfast for another hike – up the Old Fort Point. It started up a lot of stairs but quickly moved into a steeper path.

The view from the top was wonderful! Even though the clouds had moved in, we still had good visibility. We met a few people travelling either up or down, but certainly not many. Perhaps it was too hot to be up there. It might be a nice place to sit and watch the sun go down over the mountains. We could see the whole town of Jasper (laid out in the shape of a J) as well as numerous rivers, lakes and mountains in every direction.

 

On the way down, we chose the more gentle slopes, through the trees and around the back. It was a beautiful hike!

After eating lunch by the Athabasca River and watching the rafters come in from their trip downstream, we headed out to Hwy 93A and drove south to Athabasca Falls. If Maligne Canyon was busy, Athabasca Falls was crowded. A couple of tour buses had stopped while we were there and the tourists were running all over and crowding in to try and get a spot for their picture. We did enjoy our views.

Then it was back to the campground for supper and into the library for some internet access for blog posting!

Tomorrow we head down the Icefields Parkway to Banff.

After changing campsites this morning, we drove out and hiked at Maligne Canyon. It was just over a 5 km. hike along the edge of the canyon. The force of the water at the bottom of the canyon was pretty awesome. The weather was good overall – some clouds and quite warm (26 degrees C.). It was a very busy place however – lots of tourists!

After finishing our hike, we headed down the rest of the road to Maligne Lake. We had planned on eating our lunch along the river, or even a lake, but it turned out to be longer than we expected and so we ate while driving. We passed Medicine Lake – which doesn’t have much water left in it. Apparently as the summer progresses, the water actually drains out of the lake through the bottom of the lake. By this time of the summer, the water level is getting quite low!

Maligne Lake was also a busy place. We parked and walked a bit but then decided to head back and make our supper.

We got together a chicken salad and then packed it into the car and headed out through the town of Jasper to Patricia Lake and Pyramid Lake, looking for places to view the sunset. We were treated to some of the best views at Patricia Lake!

Tomorrow, we hope to hike a bit in the morning and then do a bit more sightseeing. It’s our last day in Jasper – on Friday we head down the Icefields Highway to Banff.