30 June 2022 Jasper to Edmonton

 

We had a four hour drive ahead of us and so we got started early.  The landscape continued to be spectacular.  We were not able to stop on the highway but we saw an elk on an island in the river, a female elk, a smaller male deer and a very large swan.  The road followed the Athabasca River, which is the one flowing under the wood bridge in the above picture.  It is fast flowing river and  it breaks up into many channels along its length.  It was on one of these islands that we saw the elk.  After we made it to the foot hills it was lunch time.  Tim Hortons was just the place for us, ehh?

The Athabasca River

The river makes an nice companion on our drive

One of the many large lakes we passed

 Huge monoliths of rock

Fog and rock

True Love

Day 23 of our Migration

29 June 2022: Jasper AB: Maligne Canyon

First we went east and then north of Jasper to see Maligne Canyon, Patricia Lake and Pyramid Lake.  Maligne Canyon is a collapses cave system that a river has sculpted into fantastic shapes.  It is a powerful river and the roar is loud.  There are several bridges across the narrow chasm and trails on each side.  There was a tour guide with a group and I overheard her tell them that squirrels often hang mushrooms up in the trees to dry.  She said that after becoming aware of this behavior, she sees the mushrooms everywhere.  We then drove to a couple of lakes on the north side of town.  We saw some picturesque groves of beech trees and just poked around the edges of the lakes.  Another tour of the town and we stopped in for some lunch at a salad place.  Along the was we saw more top notch flowers.

It is very deep

This tree gives you a feel for the scale

A huge flow

That cool green color of the water

The mist from the water makes this area super lush

A rock that was wedged in the gap and is now sheathed in moss

What a special place

Further down stream you can see the amount of water

A grove of birch trees

Packed in tightly

Pyramid Lake

Is this the pyramid?

Lake Patricia

The abundant lilacs are pungent

Perhaps the finest flower basket yet

Day 22 of our Migration

 

28 June 2022 Jasper Alberta Canada: Recuperation

 

The theme for this day was recuperation.  It has been non-stop for almost 20 days so when we woke up to an overcast and rainy day, it seemed like a fine time to put it into low gear and move slowly.  We both slept in late and we decided to drive the 6 minutes into the town of Jasper for breakfast.  We laughed when we realized it was already 11 AM and  the lunch places were opening up already.  We still managed to find a place to get some eggs and some hot green tea.  Jasper is small, 4500 residents, and it is clearly influenced by the tourist trade.  We walked the main street, bought a few things in the market and then drove around town for a while.  We headed back when the rain started back up and spent the afternoon in our cabin room.  It is a good thing because lots of items needed to be tended to.  First the flight to Victoria had moved a few hours earlier and that would require us to check out at 6 AM and drive the 4 hours to Edmonton with little time to spare for dropping off the car.  So we canceled our last night in Jasper and booked a stay right by the airport in Edmonton.  Now we can take the drive to Edmonton at our own pace and stop at a few places along the way. That took a big load off of stress off of our from our plates.  It is hard to get a good nights sleep when you know that a rude awakening is imminent.  We also called all the sisters and caught up with family.  Next came finances, the checking of balances, the paying of bills and the signing of various documents.  After that we had to re-examine our flight to Toronto that has also moved to an ungodly time of 7AM departure from Seattle.  More work will have to be done on that.  The rain continued on and off all day, so we had dinner delivered and we enjoyed our first pizza in a long time.  The rain let up in time for a after dinner walk.  The lake was flat and calm.  The ground squirrels were peeking out of their burrows watching us and the staff who were setting up for tonight's concert.  The concert was billed as a symphony under the stars but we are afraid that it was really going to be music under the clouds,  Clouds of rain and clouds of mosquitos!  Those pesky critters chased us back to the room!

We saw several side cars today

The happiest mannikin ever 

The rain isn't too heavy

But it is not too light either

It kept these guys in their burrows

It kept us in our burrow as well

But Pizza to the rescue!

The concert venue

The concert backdrop

Not too shabby

Day 21 of our Migration

27 June 2022 Alberta Canada: Banff to Lake Louise to Jasper

We like to research our destinations and this drive was always rated high.  Five stars out of five would be my rating.  It is breathtakingly beautiful, the roads are in great shape, there are ample turn outs for pictures and WC breaks and the drivers are respectful, polite and sparse.  Our first stop was Lake Louise an exquisite alpine lake.  Our server told us that it was just recently fully thawed out and is now ice free.  We were amazed at the number of canoes out on the water.  We continued on and saw many snow capped mountains, huge rock faces, winding switchbacks up mountain passes, waterfalls and rivers.  In our four hour drive we must have said wow 200 times.  That is just shy of a one wow per minute rate.  There were innumerable signs alerting us to avalanche zones.  That is odd since there is nothing we could do in the face of such powerful events.  I dismissed the possibility of an avalanche until we saw some immense undercut snow ledges high up on the mountains.  We were not able to get a good photo of the many superhuman bicycle excursionists.  Some were heavily laden with packs, some were riding sleek road bikes and some were cheating with electric bikes.  They were everywhere on the trip.  We saw them slowly grinding up the maintains,  wobbly from the effort and we could tell from the grey hair that they were not the spring chicken style of bicycle enthusiasts.   After all the wows we arrived in Jasper.  There were still a few wows left for us to enjoy after we got to the lodge.

These highly visual workers were putting up a sign informing the public that  there filming taking place

Two people to put up this sign is why films are so expensive to make

We saw trucks and trucks of sets and equipment

On the road!

First stop is Lake Loiuse

Lots of canoes floating on these azure waters

Squeezing in for a selfie

Canoes as far as the eye can see

Oh to be a paddling

Mr. Chipmunk

Yes that water is very cold

Off we go!

Open spaces willed with Mountains

River valleys with fast flowing rivers

Many channels snaking through the valley

Huge exposed rock faces

At the top of the last pass we saw this avalanche just waiting to happen

Needless to say, a cold wind was rushing through this pass

Three sheep eating 

A she female bighorn sheep

Elk Butt

Fuzzy rack!

It must be difficult to maneuver those antlers thru the trees

The lobby of JPL, Jasper Park Lodge

This is the JPLL, Jasper Park Lodge Lounge

Our cabin for the next few days

Canoes and paddleboarders

Kayaks

Crystal clear water

The bluest of blues

Cone laden conifers

Fine scenery to be seen

Day 20 of our Migration