On my second full day at Jasper Park Lodge I decided to go on a six hour hike to Maligne Canyon and back (three hours each way). The above photo was taken along the south bank of the Athabasca River near Jasper, Alberta. The river is flowing towards the camera from the mountains in the background. They are part of the Rocky Mountains. Just before I got to this spot I had seen a cayote just a hundred or so feet off the road up on a hill. No bears were seen and I was told by staff at the lodge that they were up in the mountains eating berries (like Bearberry, Arctostaphylos uva-ursi, an evergreen trailing ericaceous shrub). I saw no bears that day nor throughout the entire stay there.
The above photo shows a typical forest trail in the area. By that point I was about half-way to the canyon.
This is the view of the Maligne Canyon not far from the teahouse (it was self-serve and okay but I was expecting better).
Here's another view of the canyon further down the river. You can see in both images how the river has worn through the limestone.
Above is an image of a fan-shaped waterfall from a small stream flowing into the canyon. Again, I've left the photos in their original size so you can get the full benefit of seeing all the details clearly. As with the others, click on the image to enlarge it.
Here is another view of the canyon. This is further down the river. There are no railings on the trail from the fourth to the fifth bridge, so watch your step, especially if the ground is wet. The ground in this part is made up of clay which gets rather slippery when damp.
This image shows a few of the fifth bridge and the surrounding area. No rails here. We are looking down stream.
In the photo above the image was taken from the fifth bridge, a swing bridge, looking upstream. The bridge was swinging slightly to and fro as I took the photo. Straight ahead in the background is an islet in the Maligne River. One channel to the left of the islet is eroding the clay bank while the water in the other channel has plenty of rocks and is much slower moving. Although this is October, the water in the river is cold at any time of the year.
This final photo was taken on the Thursday morning before I left the lodge to continue my rail trip to Vancouver. The above scene was so unique that I had to take a few photos. This was one of three taken. Off in the distance there is fog bank hanging over the Athabasca River with the mountains behind on the north side of the river. There are several layers of cloud. That and the colours caught my eye. The photo was taken from within the Jasper Park Lodge complex. The complex is made up of a main lodge with reception, a restaurant, rooms, etc plus outlying lodges. The restaurant has a large fireplace and a very large windows with a great view of Lac Beauvert and the mountains. The day I was leaving I had lunch at the restaurant. A fire was crackling in the fireplace and the view was worth it. The salmon fillet with a salad was washed down with a local beer. It was worth the experience.
