Western Canadian Rockies (WCR) – Day 7 – Jasper

 

We remain in and around Jasper today (Sunday, June 16^th instead of the 17 noted above) and this morning after breakfast we will head out to Maligne Lake and a cruise.  As we were eating breakfast, three elk came wandering along the road in front of the hotel.  As you might guess, I did not have my camera.  But, as we were leaving for Maligne Lake, we spotted the elk.   So now, besides the beer, otter and deer we have elk.

As we drive to Maligne Lake the sun is just coming through the clouds and in spots you can see the sun rays as the sun comes falling onto the mountains.  The sun strikes the snow on the tops of the mountains and creates such a spectacular view.

We make a stop at Medicine Lake which is the catch basin for Maligne Lake and take a few pictures.  This is a fabulous view with the lake in front of the mountains in the background. 

 

Here is Carmen and I at the lake.

About a half mile down the lake on top of one of the trees is an eagle’s nest.  I was able to capture the nest, but it is so far away, it is difficult to really see the eagle clearly. 

 

We continued along the road to Maligne Lake.  But, before we get there, we came across an elk eating beside the road.  It could care less that we were there and just stared at the bus.  Some of us were wondering if it could see herself in the tinted windows.  In any case, as you can see she has a tracking collar.

 

We make it to Maligne Lake and the vista from the docks where we will board the cruise boat is fantastic.  As you can see, you can rent a canoe or kayak and paddle around the lake.  No gas powered motor boats allowed on the lake except for the cruise boats.  So if you go, its electric motors or paddles

Traveling along the lake it is difficult not to be impressed with the scenery.

 

Mountains jut up from the lake to snowy peaks, some with glaciers still on them like this one.

 

We even get to see a mountain with a glacier on it.  All of the mountains around this lake are fantastic. 

 

We near the end of the lake to where the boat stops for a few minutes to allow us to get the full vision of the snow capped mountains.  Fantastic, that is all I can say and hope the pictures do the vision justice.

 

We dock near the end of the lake for a short walk to a viewpoint which provides a good view of Spirit Island.  Photographed and published many times and I now have my own photo.

 

While at Spirit Island this duck landed in the water right in front of us while we were walking near the water. 

On our way to the bus for the return trip to the hotel, we spotted a couple deer and I was able to get a picture of them.  So besides the elk, eagle, and duck, we can include deer for today.

 

After stopping for our trip picture at the Maligne Canyon, we settled in for a quite ride back to the hotel where we will await our transportation to our raft trip down the Athabasca River.  Our bus picks us up and takes us to the raft boat.  The scenery on the river is just fantastic.

Some of us got a little wet during the trip; here is the other half of our boat trying to escape the water just came into the raft. 

Our side of the boat was not as lucky as we got drenched on this dive into the water.  It is blurry because I was trying to escape, as much of the cold water as I could, didn’t happen.

 

We continued down the river for a total of 16km and through some fantastic vistas. 

Every turn of the river brings us more views that are spectacular.  Before ending our raft trip, we saw an osprey sitting high in a tree looking for something to eat.  We finally reach our pull out location and get on the bus for the hotel, some of us dripping wet but happy.

 

Carmen and I are also going on a dinner and Mt Edith Cavell nature and glacier hike.  On the way to the mountain, we spotted a black bear (yes, it is cinnamon in color not black, but it is a black bear).  Yes, it kept its back to us all of the time until it got into the bushes and rushed fron one bush to the other.

 

We stop at a look out and we are able to have a good look at Mt Edith Cavell.  

There is also a fantastic view of the valley with the snow capped mountains on either side and at the end.  The sun is setting and shining in through from the right side creating that light line on the right side of the valley.

As we leave the lookout area, we spot a grizzly bear.  Now mind you he did not cooperate very well and I was only able the get a picture of his back side, but we saw him.

We hiked up to the glaciers on Mt Edith Cavell; this one called Angel glacier because of the wings spread out to the side and the body coming down the center.  I do not have a straight on picture, but you can still see the shape of the angel.

Here is the Cavell glacier with Carmen and me in front of it.

 

There was also some glacier run off waterfalls, which disappeared beneath the snow pack.

I had to stop and take a picture of the glacial runoff as we passed it.

Okay, now we are heading back to the hotel, and as you can see, the sun is shining just on the tip top of Mt Edith Cavell.  Well believe it or not, it is 10:00 pm.  Yes, I said 10:00 pm. 

 

But wait, shortly after we leave Mt Edith Cavell, we see another Black Bear (again a cinnamon colored bear).  We stopped a good distance from the bear so we wouldn’t scare it, because it was coming towards us, but it went up into the woods anyway and we did not see it again.

We end our day with a sunset at 10:30 at night.  Well this ends a long day on the road and it looks like another long day tomorrow.  But, today we saw elk, deer, eagle, osprey, black bear, and grizzly bear.  Just to let you know, that the blog postings may start getting late.  It’s tough to get in just before 11:00 and get up the next morning by 6:00am.  So I’m late posting this, and as a matter of fact didn’t get to post it until the next day, until later Bob and Carmen.

Western Canadian Rockies – Day 6 – To Jasper

Today we head to our most northern destination, Jasper.  This morning, our balcony says good morning from Sun Peaks. 

 

Just shortly after leaving, we see a deer just off of the road.  The antlers still have the velvet on and are still growing.  Adrian stopped the bus next to the deer and it stayed around for about a minute or so until we began to leave.  So although some people have seen deer, this is the first everyone has seen the deer and able to take pictures.

Once we got going, two more deer came running across the road.  When we crawled by in the bus, one of the deer had made its way up the bank, but this one remained close so we could take its picture.  Then deer are very accommodating here in Canada.  Two views of deer in five minutes.  So far 1 otter, 2 bear and 2 deer sightings (later today we also saw a moose in water, but no pictures.)

After driving back along the access road to Sun Peaks, we turned north on CA 5 again.  We continue along the Fraser River and find that the mountains here are more worn with the peaks not as jagged as the mountain range earlier in the trip.   Also, many of the peaks no longer have snow on them.

We are in an area where there are more farm lands then we have seen.  One such farm has the field completely covered in breathable dark cover.  This is to keep the plants in shade, but also to keep the plants warm.  We find out that the plants growing in these fields are Jing Sing.  That is $200,000 US for a 10 acre lot.

When we stopped for a break around mid morning, and next door was a junk joint.  I took a picture of the old battered car that was in the woods.

 

Leaving our rest stop, we drove up a side road to Spahats Creek Falls where we were able to take the short hike to the waterfalls.  As you can see, the falls is quite high with a spectacular crash at the bottom.

The stream continued down from the falls through twists and turns to another larger river at the bottom (top of the photo).  Just before I took this photo, you could see a rainbow from the spray caused by the falls in the lower left portion of the picture.  Now though is looks more like a light smug.

We returned to our regular road, continued along river, and began entering the valley between the Caribou mountain range on our left and the Canadian Rocky Mountain range on our right.  We are beginning to see more jagged peaks and snow again.

The scenery is again becoming more dramatic and many people finish their nap to catch glimpses of the snow capped mountains.

As we get closer to our turn off of CA5 to CA 16 east to head to Mt. Robson and Jasper, we pass this mountain which has glacial ice.  (Sorry I do not remember the name of the glacier.  When our tour guide mentioned the name, I was too busy taking pictures to pay attention.)

 

I especially like the snow covered mountains with rock surfaces that are in the clouds.  I think they are so fascinating.  I could stay in one place and take a full series of photos just to put them together in a time lapsed movie to see the clouds move.  Oh well this will have to be the best I can do for now.

We arrive in Alberta (times move ahead one hour) and soon are at Mt Robson Park.  Mt Robson (12,972 feet) is the highest in the  Canadian Rockies.  Here are several pictures of the mountain.  Remember, the top of the mountain has a cloud cover.

Behind the information building, there was a field with lupines.  So I had to get a little artsy and take a picture.

 

Then I had to take a picture of the full field and Mt Robson in the back ground.

Looking over my shoulder on the opposite side of the street (looking south) is Klapperhorn Mountain (I think that is the name).  Since I’m next to the lupines guess what, yes a picture of both.

And, lest we forget, we have Cinnamon Peak to the west of Mt Robson.  It has little snow on it, but it is still striking. 

We have one last fleeting view of Mt Robson as we leave and the striking view with the clouds. 

Too soon, we are in Jasper and begin to bed down for the evening.  Tomorrow is a big day filled with a cruise on Maligne Lake, then a stop at Maligne canyon.  Some of us are then going on a helicopter ride and afterwards on a hike and dinner near some glaciers. 

Until tomorrow, Bob and Carmen.

Western Canadian Rockies (WCR) – Day 5 – To Sun Peaks

Western Canadian Rockies (WCR) – Day 5 – To Sun Peaks

 

Leaving Whistler behind, we continued our drive along BC 99 on our way to Sun Peaks.  During the day, we will pick up BC 5 and head north towards Jasper, but take the road to Sun Peaks where we will spend the night. 

This morning there were low clouds on the mountains around Whistler giving us striking views from our hotel balcony.  Carmen and I both commented on how Whistler looks and feels like Vail, Colorado in the US

We will have our breakfast at the Skwxwu7mesh Lilwat7ul (pronounced Squamish Lil) Cultural Center.  We reviewed a short film earlier and after breakfast, we went through the museum.  First though we went through the welcoming dance.  We were broken up into three different “tribes” and each had their own dance: the wolf (elbow pointing out from the face), the eagle (arms flapping like a bird), and the killer whale (hands going up and down as if we’re swimming).  Here we are all dancing.

We viewed dugout canoes; clothes made using mountain goat wool, animal skins, and cedar inner bark.  We learned a little about the culture and art of the first ones.  I really like the masks used during ceremonies and dances.  Carmen likes this wolf head piece, but there are many pieces that are very nice.

After leaving the Squamish Cultural Center, it didn’t seem as though we had gone very far or very long, a black bear crosses the road right in front of the bus.  Fortunately, for Carmen and me, today we happen to have the front seat and are able to view the bear very easily.  It did not stay around long and shot right into the woods and brush shortly after this picture and by the time the bus got to the location you could not see the bear.

 

It is a good thing we now have digital camera with sufficient disk capacity because when we are passing vies like this, it is difficult NOT to take pictures.  Well at least for Carmen and myself.  But look at these peaks with the snow and sun and clouds.  Unbelievable!

Or this, with the snow pack that seems as if it could last forever.

Another dramatic snow covered mountain peak.  If Carmen and I were driving ourselves through this section of Canada, we would have been stopping every kilometer, getting out of the car just to take pictures and we would never have made it to our destination at a decent time.

I could go on and one with one dramatic mountain peak after another, but there are other vistas, such as the rivers which we pass by. 

 

We also pass by cascading waterfalls, such as this one.  (Driving and taking pictures at the same time, we get a lot of reflection and vehicle bounce, so the pictures are not as sharp or clear, as we would hope.)

 

After some time we stopped at the Hat Creek Ranch for a break.  While resting I strolled around the grounds and took several pictures, including this one of the rail fence and teepee.

Or the blacksmith explaining, to some of the others in our tour, about the horseshoe, how it fits the horses hoof, and how the nails used go up and out of the hoof. 

We reach the BC 5 route which will take us North towards Jasper and before too long we take our turnoff to head up to Sun Peaks Resort.  Here we will spend the night.  But, we have selected to go on a canoe trip and dinner on a lake and no sooner do we check into our room we are off to the lake, by school bus.  I won’t bore you with the facts, but here is a view from our canoe.  Hey, those slackers behind us are supposed to be rowing.  Turn your back for a minute…  LOL!

 

On our way back to the dock, we pass this loon on her nest.  She appears to be hiding from us.

Okay we are done for the night, one last look at the canoes and lake.  We didn’t get wet, and we are good to go tomorrow, where we head to Jasper and stay for two nights.  Farewell until tomorrow.

Bob and Carmen.