Monday June 22, 2009 we drove from lake Louise to Whistler Campground in Jasper National Park. After setting up the trailer we drove into the town of Jasper and went to the visitors center. After obtaining park information we went to a small restaurant for coffee and internet. while there we got our email and met a nice couple from Ft Lauderdale before returning to the trailer.
Tuesday the day started with the sun shining to be quickly replaced by rain. Looking out the back window I saw a number of Elk about a hundred yards away which I told Debby about and she looked as well. By the time we got out and walked over they were gone. A few hours latter the rains let up so we drove over to the fifth bridge in Maligne Canyon, parked and walked up to the First Bridge.
It continued to rain on and off. Upon our return we walked past the Fifth bridge and continued onto the sixth bridge at that point the sun came out and stayed with us for the remainder of the hike. After crossing the sixth bridge we rested before returning to the fifth bridge and the truck in all we had walked 5 miles in a little over 3 hours.
Wednesday June 24,2009 Today we drove back on Highway 93 the Icefeilds Parkway
and drove a short distance to the Valley of the Five Lakes.
shortly after going through the Park Pass check point we came upon a bear jam.
I usually don't like to stop because Parks Canada asks you not to stop when
you see animals on the side of the road because it's better for the animals
not to get adjusted to people. Unfortunately one of the cars didn't even pull
over so I decided it was safer to pull over and wait. We didn't see much and
I don't think people in the other cars did either but when the car in the middle
of the road pulled over I pulled out and continued on our way. When I passed
the car in question I was surprised to discover that it was Canadian as I thought
better of them but I guess they aren't unless it was a rental. We continued
to the valley where we parked and went for a hike to and around the five lakes
each a different shade of blue.
We sort of got lost at the last lake we went left when we should have gone right (what do you want from me). although we were becoming concerned and considering turning back we caught up with the main trail and after a little checking on the GPS we headed back in the correct direction. On the way we met a couple visiting from Germany who were resting on a log. We stopped to chat for a few minutes then and continued on our way. By the time we had gotten to the parking lot they had caught up to us and invited us into their rented motor home (1-800-RV4-rent the most popular brand in the US and Canada). We had a lovely conversation and invited them to stop by that evening in the hope that I could help them with their electrical connection problem in order to charge their phone. They came over and we continued our conversation but I wasn't able to help. I thought I had a universal converter from our trip to Australia -New Zealand but it turned out to only convert from other countries to US which didn't help.
Thursday we went for breakfast at Coco's it was disappointing but we got on the Internet. After breakfast Debby walked part of the Discovery trail in town and I waited in the truck resting my knee. We returned to the trailer, dropped off the computers and went the 48 Kilometers to Maligne Lake. We saw some bear jams on the way there and on the way back and Debby took some pictures of the black bears along the side of the road.
We arrived just as the 2 PM boat was leaving so we bought tickets and shirts and went for coffee and cake while we waited for the 3 PM Boat. At three we boarded the boat for our 90 minute trip out into the lake with a stop on Spirit Island. Amongst the mountains at the end of the 22 kilometer lake (14 miles) were three glaciers which feed the second largest glacier fed lake in the world and send there melt water over 300 kilometers downstream in Alberta.
Friday June 26, 2009 we left Jasper NP and drove to Lake Louise.