I got up this morning and out the bathroom window I saw an elk. We each threw on our hoodies over our pajamas and headed outside to see a couple of elk walking through the grounds. What a great way to start our day.
The morning was spent checking out some of Jasper National Park’s highlights. Our first stop was Mount Edith Cavell. A fourteen kilometre narrow road brings you close to the north face of the mountain. From this viewpoint, you can see Angel Glacier. There is forty-five minute hike that you can do to the lake at the base of the mountain. During the summer, chunks of ice fall from the glacier into the lake. We decided to save that hike for another time.
We headed back down Highway 93A to Athabasca Falls. This was one of the stops we skipped yesterday. Athabasca Falls is not known so much for its height as it is known for its force. There are many viewing platforms and walking trails that allows you to get various views of the falls.
After lunch which we had back at the bungalow, we spent the first part of the afternoon doing some shopping in Jasper. We finished up downtown and then headed over to Patricia and Pyramid Lakes. Unfortunately the wildfire smoke from the British Columbia fires is causing poor air quality and reduced visibility. This does not make for good pictures so we headed back to the bungalows. But before we got there, we came across an elk grazing on the side of the road.
We ended up having dinner at the onsite restaurant before heading out for our own wildlife tour. We drove up Maligne Lake Road and this is where we had our greatest success.
We saw a couple of cars stopped on the other side of the road. As we slowed down, we saw a black bear. We made a couple of passes by him and at one point he decided to go across the road.
About a half an hour later, we came around a corner and saw an elk with the largest set of antlers we have ever seen in our lives.
We did drive down some other roads and saw some more elk but nothing like the one we saw earlier. So we thought we should just stop and call it a night.
Be First to Comment