Jasper “free day”

Lots of debate about where we would go today.  Little Fenna 9 yr old is not coping with walks more than a few hundred metres, her dad okay to a couple of km. We had a choice of lakes and canyons, so tried to have a good balance of each with time in the afternoon. The heat got the best of us all today by 2pm, so we decided to have a few hours to explore the small town of Jasper for 2 hours.  Total walk today 17 km.

The Maligne Gorge was spectacular and Derek and I and Annalise walked the trail of 6 bridges with Leah, whilst the others walked back to the bus after the first 2 bridges, and then bused it to the 6th bridge.  We watched the Maligne River start from a very narrow stream, deep at the base of the gorge, other underground water sources spill into it, and grow into a rapidly flowing wide river ready to join the Athabasca River.

At 12pm we headed out on a 4km loop through the Valley of the 5 Lakes.  Such a great name.  The lakes were gorgeous colours of green, almost like the Great Barrier Reef in places. It was a great rugged track through thick forest with patches of the very light green Aspen Pine. Only Derek and I and Annalise made it all the way around with Leah and Taylor.  No animal sightings other than a chipmunk.

Taylor has given us the stats says that there would be a good chance to see Bear over the next few days........ watch this space for an update!