Jasper is a pretty town with more
houses than motels so the character of the town has been well preserved. There
are many Bed and Breakfast forms of accommodation. Ours was very comfortable
and spacious and we thought we would take out our rubbish to save work for the
owner. Neil went to the bins but they were only for recyclables. Due to
previous history of bear activity, all rubbish is put in bear proof industrial
bins placed regularly along streets in residential areas.
On the way to Lake Maligne we saw
·
A caribou beside the road
·
Medicine Lake which has water levels which vary
by up to 20 metres during the year. By October, the water in the lake has
disappeared because the base is limestone with cracks and caves in it due to
the uplift which happened in the area. By the end of August, the inflow is less
than the drainage into the limestone caves so the water vanishes.
·
Explanations about the abundance of Rocky
Mountain bighorn sheep on the slopes and the frequency of rock slides due to
the vertical positioning of the sedimentary rocks on the slopes.
·
2 young caribou taking a long walk on the main
road. One even licked the bus in front of us. They were still on the road when
we returned from Lake Maligne
·
Rapids in the stream beside the road.
Maligne Lake is 28 kms long and up
to 96 metres deep. It was formed by lateral moraine deposited by the Maligne
Glacier. The moraine blocked the Maligne River and the lake formed. It is a
busy place for locals and tourists in Summer with boat cruises (some to mystery
island) and canoe hire. We moved on to Maligne Canyon and were surprised to
meet up with the 4 New Zealanders we met during our tour of Alaska. We
were going opposite ways but we had time
for a brief chat.
Closer to the town of Jasper there
are many lakes which are also beautiful and used by locals for swimming,
fishing and canoeing but the main hobby seems to be hiking in the woods around
the lake. I hope they all wear their bear repellent and take their bear
whistles.
·
Lake Annette has beautiful clear turquoise water
·
The lake in front of Fairmont Jasper Lodge is
only for guests of the Lodge but it was beautiful with a mirror reflection of
the nearby trees and mountains. The guests could also play golf on the course
of the #1 golf resort in Canada. They could also ride horses. It was an
impressive resort.
·
Patricia Lake is another pretty green lake but
it is famous for its role in the Hobbakuk project which was backed by Winston
Churchill. In 1942 they built a 1 in 50 scale of an aircraft carrier in wood
and ice. Unfortunately the ice melted and the boat sank. It was one of the WW2
time projects carried out in the area.
·
Pyramid Lake is the biggest of the lakes near
the township of Jasper but it is less than half the size of Medicine Lake.
We also saw a dog park. The fences
were about 2 metres high to safeguard the dogs and their owners from the local
bears. A trans Canada train went through the rail crossing and not only was it
incredible long but the containers on the flat beds were stacked 2 high on most
of them. We weren’t surprised when the end of the train appeared and it was
another engine rather than a caboose.
Tomorrow we will cover about 400
kms on our way back to Calgary so maybe it will be an early start.
No comments:
Post a Comment