Weather, dull with some rain in the air. Heavy cloud cover overhead. We head out regardless to Maligne Lake, which has the reputation of being the most beautiful Lake in Jasper National Park. As we leave Jasper on Malign Lake road there is a collection of cars slowing down. We proceed with caution and see a black bear nonchalantly crossing the road in front of us. At last, we have seen a bear. My companion (and I) are beside ourselves with excitement. We relive the occasion when we were in Sequoia Forest in California when I got out of the car with a video camera to film a bear, with our youngsters in the back cautioning me to remain in the vehicle. This bear however seems oblivious to all around it.
Anyway, we arrive at Maligne Lake, and it lives up to expectations. And it certainly does draw the crowds. We are getting our cameras and bits out of the car, and five cars and a minibus arrive and disgorge their contents, must be around twenty shouty far eastern individuals making a hell of a racket. We proceed to the ticket office to check out the boat trip and we are beaten to it by the noisy crowd. With a boat every half hour, and the crowd likely to be split over two boats we decide not to take the trip. My fellow traveller tries on a hat for our Calgary adventure, but does not buy. I take a picture or two of some stuffed products.
So, no boat trip we opt instead for a four kilometre looping walk along the lake, up though the forest and onto a trail leading to Moose Lake. It is very peaceful, serene even, we hear the birds singing and the breeze rustling the trees. For a while we are alone in this wilderness. Well, almost alone as we are mobbed by a mob of biting mosquitos. My fellow traveller sprays a magic potion in a effort to disperse them, but it has little effect on me. I hear a cracking noise about two feet in front of me off to the side and stop dead. I look up at a branch and see a red squirrel munching away on a pine cone. He seems to be wary of us, but does not fret. He moves around the trunk into a cwtch where the branch meets the trunk and makes himself more comfortable.
There are large numbers of wild flowers on the trail.
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At the end of the trail there is a small creek which needs to be crossed using a cedar bridge. We are joined at the crossing by a couple who’s voices we could hear about fifty yards behind. We told them we had seen birds, and a rather lovely red squirrel. They say that they had been looking for moose but had not seen a thing. My companion says to me when they are out of earshot, that if they kept their voices down they may have a better chance of seeing something. When we return to the lake, the sky is still grey and heavy. We decide to return toward Jasper and find a picnic spot. On the way there are cars by the side of the road, with people leaning out offering food to the horned mountain sheep. The sheep are going along from one car to another looking for titbits. This is going on despite the requests all around the park not to feed the wild animals.
Three minutes later, another melee on the road side. Cars are double parked on both sides, there is no way for traffic to get through. We look out to see what all the commotion is about. It is a black bear, foraging in the verge by the side of the road. There is some idiotic behaviour around a dangerous wild animal. One man stood less than ten feet away from the bear, turned his back and took a selfie. Another family pushed their young children toward the bear and took their pictures. As I am near to the car, the bear has made some kind of movement toward the crowd, as people are now running toward their vehicles and jumping in. I got some decent pictures though.
As we near Jasper we turn off toward Edith Lake. A bit off the normal tourist route it is quiet, the only people around are some families some of them throwing sticks into the lake for their doges. We make our picnic hear and stroll around the lake after we are done.
With a few hours to spare now, the skies getting darker and the threat of thunderstorms coming our way, we turn east and head off on the road toward Edmonton. Our destination is the Miete Hot Springs. A natural spa near the village of Pocohontas. The water is so hot when it comes out of the ground it has to be cooled down before being used in the pools. On the way we encounter a herd of elk, young stags on both sides of the road. More pictures.
We turn off the highway onto a winding mountain road leading to the hot springs though canyons and hairpin bends. On arriving we pay our entrance fee, get our towels and enter. The pool is busy, large numbers of children here (schools have now broken up for summer here) are splashing about despite the attempts by the lifeguards to calm them. We spend a little more than the recommended fifteen minutes in the hot water and exit, refreshed and my hip pain soothed by the experience. My companion is not so taken with the experience. Leaving the building we notice some more of the mountain sheep. One of them seems to be licking something from the rear axle of a truck in the car park.
On the return journey to Jasper we encounter our first real Canadian traffic jam. A series of bridge repairs is causing delays. Earlier in the day when we passed through the traffic was controlled by ladies with Stop/Go paddles, and the traffic was moving smoothly. This evening, the ladies have been replaced by lights, time controlled, which stop the traffic for a fixed period. There are only a few cars heading east, but the volume heading west to Jasper is significant and the queues build. My companion comments that women are more efficient than gadgets.
Back to the hotel now and bag sorting ready for the early morning start back down the parkway for our stay at Lake Louise.