Jasper

Today we saw a few of the gems around Jasper. It is hard to say how we feel about Jasper...although it is likely as beautiful as Banff, the sights aren’t as accessible. If you are a back woods camper or hiker,, it would be paradise! It isn’t as commercialized as Banff. One thing we noticed immediately is dead trees. They are the “lodge pole pines” and they have succumbed to the mountain pine beetle. It is so sad, sometimes all you see on the entire mountain side is the reddish brown hue of the dead needles. You can see why the threat of wildfires are so real and worrisome.

 

This was Maligne Lake.

A typical lunch experience for us...we’ve been picnicking!

 Maligne river canyon.

An elk on the grounds of Jasper Park Lodge. It’s calf was lying down a few feet from it.

We spent some time this afternoon horse back riding.

You can see some of the dead trees. Our guide said that it was like more died each day!

The Athabasca river. (I was fairly certain my horse was going to deposit me in it-from a great height of the hillside above-my horse liked to hug the edge of the trail!)  It is all glacier fed. It is the largest river in Alberta, taking up 24% of the land mass. Today it was cloudy coloured, presumably with silt, they call it “glacier milk”.

We saw some elk on our ride.