JASPER DAY 2

I finally saw darkness for the first time in many weeks.     The temperatures have been in the 90's and about 9 pm the electricity went out.     Not just at our hotel, for the entire town.      It wasn't a big deal because it was still light outside.      It came back on at 1:30 am.     Needless to say, all our lights came on as well as the television.     When I shut off the last light, I was in total darkness.     I had to actually get my little flashlight.      We are obviously moving south in our travels.

We took a boat trip on Maligne Lake to Spirit Island.    Diminutive Spirit Island, resting in the Hall of the Gods at the south end of Maligne Lake is, arguably the most photographed locale in the Canadian Rockies.

Medicine Lake gets run off and glacial melt, but in the fall and winter the lake disappears via sinkholes.    The water follows a limestone cave system, surfacing around Maligne Canyon.   It is believed that this is one of the largest underground drainage and inaccessible cave systems in the world.

The township of Jasper is mostly lodges, restaurants and a few shops.     It was fun walking  around and picking out our next eating spot.      One place in particular intrigued us.       Evil Dave's Grill.     The menu was intriguing and the food lived up to the hype.      Check our their website if you want to see for yourself.       I would highly recommend this place if you find yourself in Jasper.

On our drive today I saw  several people running along the side of the road - cars and campers were stopped everywhere.     There was one lane open - sometimes!       I told RJ that I hoped there wasn't a bear out there that they were snapping photos of.       I got out to check it out, and yes, it was a bear. Fortunately the mom was totally ignoring the crowd.      I have to admit,  I became a part of the crowd also.    Not smart, I know.

We are leaving Jasper tomorrow.    

JASPER DAY 1

We have arrived in the Canadian Rockies.       They are definitely beautiful.    

Our first spot today is Patricia Lake.      I love the snow capped mountains in the distance, blue skies and fluffy clouds.       The water in each lake we visited was a slightly different color.
   

Pyramid Lake's trail let us to a small island where we could view the lake from the other side.  

On one of our hikes we saw these young people having a wonderful outing.     Yes, they are jumping off cliffs into the lake below.      They were having a blast.

This guy changed his mind a couple times while we watched, but finally made the leap.

We also visited an  incredible spot - Athabasca Falls.

I am labeling this next picture  -- "IDIOTS"       The water is so cold that you lose the ability to move in a couple minutes.     They are probably 25 feet from the falls and no one has survived going over.

This is the falls a few feet from the people above.    

Further down stream the turbulence continues.

The rainbow was beautiful on this bright sunny day.

We attempted to hike the Valley of the Five Lakes Trail, but could not complete it.     Yes, our legs gave out  (plus it was 90 degrees, sunny, mostly uphill and we forgot to grab water)    Besides all that, it wasn't that pretty, although who knows what those lakes would have looked like.  


The drive back to our hotel let us see this beautiful caribou.

Tomorrow, more pictures from our time around Jasper.

Is this next ???

We are in Dawson Creek, the official start of the Alaskan Highway (or for us, the end).  

This curved wooden bridge, Kiskatinaw Bridge,  was built by a crew of 100 men over a period of 9 months.     It could have been done sooner but the ice built up and took out the footings on one side.       This incredible feat still carries vehicles today.    The bridge is in remarkable condition.   The ingenuity and craftmanship is apparent in the timber truss and plank structure.

 A new bridge was built in 1978, though, to accommodate the weight of heavier trucks.    

We were lucky to be there when the rescue team was doing some training.      I've always thought it would be fun to rappel off a building, but this team was doing it off the bridge.

The woman has obviously done this before, but is getting some refresher training.    

This gentleman, though, is not so sure.    I'm guessing he's had classroom training and this is his first hands on.     He was pretty slow, but successfully completed his mission.

She looks much more confident than him.    See their backpacks on the ground.

I asked this instructor if the outing was training or for fun and his reply was "both".

I was so envious of these rescue personnel.    What a rush that would be!

Wildlife Everywhere...... Watson Lake to Fort Nelson

As you may have read on my FB post, I forgot to put a memory card back in the camera with the longer lens.    We had an incredible viewing day on the days drive from Watson Lake to Fort Nelson, BC.      Unfortunately, the vast majority of those shots were never captured.

These are the photos I did get on the other camera.     I am heartbroken to have lost all the other shots, but.......

I hope you are not getting tired of bear shots, but I can't resist when I see them.

This buffalo was very close to the car.     Needless to say, I was shooting out the window.

We had a several kilometer stretch with lots of buffalo.

Muncho Lake is 12 kilometres long and is one of the largest natural lakes in the Canadian Rockies.

This family of mountain goats were so much fun to watch.     Wish you could have seen all of the shots......

Some of the family was as curious of us as we were of them.     Yes, I stayed in the car.

Another beautiful lake.    We still have some smoke in the air,but it is still beautiful.

Doesn't this remind you of Northern Wisconsin?

We stayed in Fort Nelson which had this huge area with city signs.    I couldn't find La Crosse or Onalaska but did find several other local signs.    Do you see Sparta?
     

My brother-in-law lives in Malvern so I needed to photo this one.

I don't know these people, but thought I would share their sign.