Ouest canadien 2021: Journal de bord jour 3

Third day of our roadtrip, first real day around Jasper. Early wake-up call for a hike up Mount Edith Cavell. A short stroll in Jasper followed by an organized tour to discover the local wildlife. It's a full day's program, as it should be, since it's our only full day in Jasper.

Hiking, Edith Cavell Meadows Trail

The alarm goes off at 6:45. Our trailer was surprisingly comfortable, or we were really tired and slept like rocks. We set off around 7:30 a.m. for the Mount Edith Cavell parking lot. It's a good idea to arrive early for hikes in the Rockies, as the parking lots aren't always very big and there are fewer people on the trails.

We were a little worried that if we "only" arrived around 9 am, the parking lot would be full. In the end, there weren't many people and we started the hike at 9:04 am. Perfect timing.

There are several hikes starting from the same point. A very short one, about 1 kilometer, leading to the lake and offering a beautiful view of the glacier. The second, which we did, is an 8.4 kilometer loop with 580 meters of ascent. We start with a short tour to see the lake and it's already magnificent, the glacier is in two parts with a turquoise lake below. It reminds me a little of the landscape in Iceland.

Our first wild animals

The hike then begins in earnest, and we first cross large piles of rocks. We arrive at a particular part of the trail, with relatively dense forest to our left and piles of rocks to our right. The pleasant surprise is that these rocks are home to numerous pikas and marmots. We spend some time observing them before continuing our walk.

The rest of the trail takes us into the middle of the forest. Visibility is sometimes limited, so we try to make some noise to avoid coming face to face with a bear. The forest then gives way to a beautiful meadow with lots of flowers. The trail isn't called "meadow" for nothing.

We continue to climb and then move on to a more desert-like landscape with lots of rocks and much less green. Here we meet up again with our friends the marmots. A final, somewhat intense climb takes us to the end of the official trail. However, this is not signposted and we decide to continue a little further to see if the end is higher.

Finally, after about 30 minutes of climbing, we decide to turn back, as the trail seems to go on for a long time. Later, we'll see that it's possible to continue on another long, unofficial trail.

We're back at the parking lot after a 3 hr 55 min walk. A great warm-up for our next hikes. Time to eat a luxury meal (bread and egg salad) and it's time to head back to Jasper.

Maligne Wildlife Tour

Our next activity is an organized wildlife-watching tour in the late afternoon. We take the opportunity to see a bit of Jasper and take a well-deserved break in a park.

At around 5pm, we meet up with our guide for the Maligne Wildlife Tour. As the name suggests, we'll be spending most of our time in the Maligne Valley, a superb valley with two large lakes, Maligne Lake and Medicine Lake. Given the distance involved, the tour is by minibus.

The driver collects all participants from their various hotels and we hit the road in search of animals. Our guide fills us in on the local flora and fauna, as well as many anecdotes. It's all very interesting, and more than justifies the need for a guide.

A bear on the side of the road

The tour gets off to a great start as we soon come across a mama bear with her two cubs, thanks to cars already stopped on the side of the road. We follow them from the bus. They're feeding in the trees close to the road. It's crazy to see them so close to the road. The mama bear eventually heads back into the forest with her cubs.

Next we see a bald eagle and ospreys. The latter have a beautiful nest high up in a tree, and have been returning to the same spot for several years to have their babies. They enjoy the nearby Medicine Lake, which is teeming with fish.

Le wapiti: The king

We make several stops with the guide in search of other animals. He also takes the opportunity to show us the berries that bears eat. It's time to head back, and to our surprise, we come across a very large elk. The guide tells us it's nicknamed "The King", because it's the biggest in the area. We follow it for a few metres to get a good look at it. Its antlers are truly imposing, and it has a majestic air about it as it moves.

This will be our last interaction before heading back to town. It's already time to take the car back to Hinton. Tomorrow, we'll be doing a lot more driving, as we leave Hinton and head back to Canmore. We hope to see more of the Icefield Parkway than we did on the outward journey.

To be continued.