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Published: September 10th 2008
Maligne canyon 5th bridge
Laura is on a suspension bridge! We woke up in the morning and packed up our camp after multiple days in the same campground in Jasper NP. We did a canyon hike in Maligne canyone and then drove the entire icefield parkway down into Lake Louise in Banff NP.
On the way to Maligne canyon we passed multiple elk and sheep but still no bear sitings (grizzleys or black bears). The rivers are shallow so we were expecting to see bear everywhere... none so far! The canyone hike was along the beautifully blue Maligne river. We started our hike at 5th bridge with the intent to hike up the canyon and then come back to the parking lot via a trail deep in the woods. Right off the bat I had to cross a suspension bridge - Greg had to take a picture to prove it! The view was incredible with the flow of water over the rocks... I loved it! The canyon was extremely deep for it's width (200ft+ deep and maybe 8-10 feet across). There were multiple potholes (big cylinders carved into the rock by the water) and big flushes of water through the tight gaps. One of the most unique features of Maligne
upper maligne canyon
Here's one of the typical falls in the canyon canyon is the multiple seepages... that's where water comes from an underground source and straight out of the walls, leeching straight out of the porous limestone. Although this is fairly common, this particular water came from 20km+ away in Maligne lake... this makes it one of the largest underwater drainages in North America. Toward the top end of the trail, the crowds increased significantly because most people just walk from 1st bridge to 2nd bridge and back (i.e. only the upper canyon). On our way back we took a high trail along a ridgeline and saw or heard no one... it was very peaceful except for our occaisonal shouts to scare off any bear (this is the recommended method to not startle them... bells don't do squat). We had a PB&J in the parking lot and headed down the road to Banff.
The Icefield Parkway is considered to be one of the most scenic drives in the world and I can see why. There are huge mountains, lakes, and glaciers along the entire route. Although the peak elevation is not very tall (9000-11000 feet) they rise a good 5000+ feet off the valley floor so they appear quite large.
Athabasca glacier
Here's the athabasca glacier again... this is about 1/2 way to Lake Louise from Jasper. The Hertz GPS has been doing a good job... it has all the maps for Canada thus far. Reading the cheap map & trying to determine the names of each mountain has been a challenge. There are signs along the route with most of the names but they tend to point in the general direction where there are 3-4 actual peaks. It's also hard to judge distances from the road and how far we've gone past a particular landmark.
We arrived at the Lake Louise campground and setup the tent right before it rained. We took showers but they were not as nice as the ones in Jasper NP. We were right next to some bathrooms but they were closed (good to cut down on the noise). However, we had a nice hike each morning to get to the bathroom (fun when you really have to go!). We touched base with the parents and wrote some postcards for various family members. Greg made a fire to warm us up and we're having instant soup for dinner (no one feels like preparing a more complex meal). The most interesting feature of the campground is that it is entirely surrounded by
Icefield Parkway
This is a good shot of how the mountains were formed (perfectly pushed up) a high electrical fence to prevent bears from entering the campsite. Evidently a number of grizzlies wander through the area daily on their way to the local stream. It feels wierd... Jasper didn't have the fence and I felt safer there! Our final discovery was that Lake Louise did not have a coin laundry so we will be wearing dirty clothes the day after tomorrow (yay!).
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