Jasper, Alberta

We spent two nights in Jasper which gave us the opportunity to do something for one day. After a bit of searching the internet, we decided upon walking the Maligne Canyon. It took a bit of careful searching too as most sources recommended taking a guided tour. Apart from the cost, the tours would only take children seven and older. Finally we found a site that mentioned the canyon is open year round and no guide is needed. Armed with our new found knowledge we headed off by ourselves, rugged up against the cold.

Paige in Maligne Canyon.

We chose to start at the top of the canyon and walk down - which in hindsight may have been a mistake. Walking back up the canyon after a couple of hours was just plain hard yacka for ALL of us.

Megan struggles up the hill to home.

Part way down the canyon we noticed a gap in the fence and climbed through to walk along the canyon floor, rather than see it from above. This proved to be a much better way to experience the canyon and we simply followed the guided tours trail. With so many in a group, the snow was well compacted in a very obvious path that made it easy to follow.Just as we had neared the end of our walk down the canyon a guided group walked past heading up the canyon. I mentioned to Jill that the guide didn't look too happy to see a family out wandering along the canyon by themselves - especially when a 3 year old was leading the way!

Frozen waterfall.

The gang with the canyon behind.

Frozen waterfall in canyon.

Kids in the canyon.

Canyon looms above children.

While walking along the canyon floor, Ash found some interesting caves with ice formations in them. There were multi-pronged icicles, and ice stalactites and stalagmites.

Ice stalagmites.

Ice crystals on cave roof.

Ash and Megan find icicles.

Cave icicles.

Further down the canyon we came across a partially frozen waterfall. It was fascinating to see running water passing under and between frozen ice shapes and snow. In one case there was a frozen ice arch above rapidly flowing water.

Partly frozen waterfall.

Paige insisted on being in the lead for most of the way down and a lot of the way back. When she got too tired near the end of the walk (some 3.5 hours later) Ash carried her on his back for some parts.

Our Paigey Marie.

As we passed by the frozen waterfall that we saw on the way down, 2 abseilers roped up and abseiled down the 50 metres or so to the bottom of the canyon. We assumed they were going to climb back up, but we didn't have time to wait and see - lunch was beckoning us.

Ice abseiler on frozen waterfall.

The walk was tiring for all of us for different reasons. Jill was fighting a cold, I had a heavy camera backpack on and the kids were just not used to such prolonged physical exercise. They did really well though.

How much further!?

Yay! The walk has ended.

To top it all off, when we got back to the car a mother elk and her baby came wandering past.

Baby elk in the car park after walk.

We decided to fill in the last hour of daylight with a quick drive out to Patricia and Pyramid Lakes. The light was perfect for photographs, but the wind made it a cold prospect and i didn't persist for long.

Pyramid Lake

Our poor little Aussie flag is on its last legs having been through freezing winds and driving snow. Hopefully the warmer weather ahead will allow it to hold out until we leave for home.

Our flag is still there - just.

Our accommodation in jasper was surprisingly large, and infested with school children on the second day of our stay. I for one was VERY glad to be leaving.