Athabasca – the River, the Glacier, the Falls
As soon as we got into Jasper Country the milky light blue water of Athabasca River pulled us out of Vinny and we staggered down to the sandy beach.
It was a very placid wide shallow section and others were frolicking in her water, and they didn’t even look cold ~Never have seen this glacier flour water, as it has glacier particulates that cause the color. The Athabasca flows in a northeast direction and at this point we were 200 kilometers from its Glacier Source, and it had warmed up and gotten peaceful, much different than we would discover upstream.
In the excitement to get to those Canadian Rockies we had pulled a 400 mile day out of Minnesota, and arrived to get our National Park Pass site and bit of info before overnighting at the Jasper Gates RV Park outside of Hinton. Little beknownst to us, Folding Mountain Brewery is almost on the same property. The first Canadian Poutine (French fries, cheese curds, peppered gravy) was experienced. Food, atmosphere, even a bit of Cornhole was enjoyed on the first evening after our butt relief hike around the campground trail. Jasper here we come.
Around Snaring we entered the mountain ranges with the Sulphur Range Granite spires commanding the area. Luckily the road was closed because the hike is supposed to be tremendous, but I read mixed reviews about the scrambling on the rocks which is not our cup of tea, so we didn’t even need to make that choice.
There was nothing on the spreadsheet for the night, so the first order of business was to find a Vinny overnight spot. Luckily Wapiti Campground has this first come first serve overflow area with electricity, but otherwise like a parking lot. It was perfect and our site was 100 yards down a bank to the Athabasca River, only this time it was moving and John and I got inspired to find a rafting trip as we watched the rafts go by.
The weather was to be superb in the next few days, so Edith Cavell Trailhead here we come.
This was an incredible hike as we first hiked high on the mountain tops
and saw Cavell Glacier calving (snow wall crashing into the green milky glacier lake below).
Then we would hike down to lake level and experience this from the ground floor. While hiking high above the glacier, we heard and saw rocks tumbling from the mountains. This was one of the reasons we decided not to go and stick our toes in the Lake Cavell
Calming fire with a bit of Salted Caramel Whiskey that night. In Canada there is firewood available if you buy a fire permit for $10, what a deal! We decided we would like to cancel our Whistlers reservation and stay longer, but missed the memo that required us to sign up before 8am when the line formed and our spot was sold away. Oh well, I had a beautiful morning coffee by the Athabasca.
But this is an excellent resource and both Wapiti and Whistlers are a bike trail ride into the town of Jasper.
Jasper Sky Tram to see the Canadian Rockies from the top of the world on the Whistlers Summit Trail. We traversed up side trails to the left that provided extensive views at a less rapid elevation gain instead of the path straight up. Dirt in My Shoes podcasters had described the Canadian Rockies as Mountain Ranges on Steroids and this is right on!
We were again mesmerized by the Athabasca River and could see it flow along the Ice Fields Parkway near Banff down past Jasper with its milky light blue color dominant along the way.
Sometimes it broadened and even had islands within its shores. Other times it curved and got narrow as it made its way north east. And the deeper aqua and blue waters of Beauvert Lake, Annette Lake and Edith Lake were mesmerizing from the mountain top
Mount Robson, 3954 meter high, with its snow capped A-Frame mountain topper seemed so perfect as not to be nature made.
The view all around from the top was definitely on the most awe inspiring experiences of a lifetime. Let the photos do it a tiny bit of justice! Recovery at the Tramtop Café before the 8 minute ride back.
And that evening, 9:45 pm even provided a beautiful sunset for Vinny.
Glacier Ice Walk Time – we love the afternoon starts, as this was about an hour drive to the Columbia Ice Fields Discovery Center Parking Lot and we certainly don’t like to disrupt our leisurely morning routine.
Couldn’t resist stopping a bit along the way to photograph the glacier as we approached. The name placard of the Ice Field Discovery Center doesn’t exactly match up with Google Maps and we were a bit uncertain in this busy parking lot where the huge Glacier Bus was also on display. Before long we had our crampons for our boots and into the van we were loaded walking to the Athabasca Glacier.
We learned much about glaciers, but I would need to look up the spelling of many attributes, so we’ll just say it was incredible to be walking on a glacier.
We saw the erosion waters that carved their way down.
Some places had huge holes that we peaked over as our guide, Heather, held on to our hand.
We saw where the Glacier line had been in 1920, 1985 and 1990. It is expected to be gone in anywhere from 30 to 80 years…probably in 50 or so.
We had a gorgeous day for a hike on a glacier and although it was colder, boots, jackets, hats and hiking kept us comfortable as we stopped to learn aspects of this mighty force of nature.
Athabasca Falls, the next stop on this Athabasca day.
One of those tourist attractions that have paved sidewalks and safety railings all around the Falls, and the canyon that it carved, but oh, does it show another force of nature here in the Rockies.
Hiking down to the bottom of the canyon, the water became peaceful and green. This is where our raft trip starts.
It was after 7 PM, and the crowds were relatively small, but so glad we made the stop.
An E-bike food tour took us lakeside to those deeper aqua and blue waters of Beauvert Lake, Annette Lake and Edith Lake that we had seen from the Sky Tram. As we zipped by on bikes, it looks like the road in got closed down for no parking on this beautiful Sunday afternoon.
Lake Edith has kayak, canoe and SUP rentals right on the beach and this is one thing that we hope to do. A sneak preview of Maligne Canyon was incredible. An appetizer at the Maligne Canyon Restaurant, a sandwich at the Fairmount Golf Course, and dessert at Tekarra Lodge all while touring those beautiful area lakes. Vinny says E-Bikes are too heavy, so we rode back from the tour on our old reliables.
Another day, another tour. This is the third one in a row, but we are so happy we jammed them in because the rain is coming.
I even had to pry John out of bed for 10am drive to Maligne Lake, so we could have our first seat in the epic Canadian Rockies red chairs. This happened as we walked the path along the lake waiting for our boat tour to infamous Spirit Island.
Again we were overwhelmed by “the gods” which are the nickname of those mountains surrounding this beautiful backcountry place only reachable by boat or backcountry hike. Maligne Lake is fed by multiple glaciers from the mountains that surround it.
There is a marina where motorized boat tours leave and head out for a 45 minute ride to Spirit Island or you can do a 5 hour paddle to get there if so inclined.
There are backcountry campsites along the way if that is more than one day for you. The tour boats do an exceptional job slowing to prevent wake for the paddlers.
Spirit Island is not really an Island, but a spit of land form the southern end of Maligne Lake that is sacred to the native peoples. Similar to the US policies, the native peoples were put on reservations in the early 1900’s. As the injustice of the system became debated, places were returned to the indigenous people and as of 2017 tourists are not allowed to actually step foot on Spirit Island. There has been a resurgence of the native peoples after a large fire burned around Medicine Lake. The Maligne Lake Tour company (only one which has been in operation since the early 1900’s) will allow you to walk the trails on the mainland and take photos of the island
It certainly is an incredibly beautiful place.
Well, we thought we saw a bear,
But it was only John slipping from a rock into the water as we were told to splash some water on your face and say some special native words and feel the spirit. This ended in hiking boots full of water and a bit of embarrassment for my Paddle Boy. And a memorable story to be told of the spirits on the Island.
The southern serene end of the Maligne Lake is incredible.
Spirit Island was the furthest destination of the day, and the remainder of it we worked back down Maligne Canyon Drive stopping at Medicine Lake after a huge downpour.
We had noticed that there was a huge fire scar area near it on our drive up. Evidently this was one of the sacred signs that culminated a resurgence of the native people to claim back Spirit Island in 2017. Fire Scars are places where new growth occurs which encourages wildlife that feed off berries and new growth to frequent here. We decided to set up at the parking lot as it rained, and be on the lookout for moose or bear which as of yet, have not seen a single one. But no such luck, and after an hour, we decided to head down and do the Maligne Canyon Trailhead. Luckily, we found a primo parking spot and actually took a long nap before grabbing a dessert at the Canyon eatery and hitting the trail.
Maligne Lake feeds into Medicine Lake to the south, and finally these two narrow down into the Maligne River. This narrow river has carved this incredibly deep and winding canyon for about 2 miles before it becomes wider and empties into the Athabasca River in Jasper.
There are so many incredible views with the largest depth of 167 feet.
Like Athabasca Falls, this tourist attraction is well protected not only for it, but for the safety of visitors and is mostly fenced in with many overlooks on the trail.
There are a series of six bridges that take the trail overtop of the canyons where the views have so many varieties of water color and riverbeds.
At the 5th Bridge on the Maligne Canyon Trail, the river widens. There is a big parking lot in this area and in theory if you arrange the rides, you can bike between the Canyon Lodge and this parking area and hike the trail between the two. On our E-Bike Tour we did turbo mode hill, so one would need to coordinate the Lodge to 5th Bridge on the bike and then hike the return, if you are pedal pumpers like we are.
Although we started the hike after 6pm, by 8:30 pm after a ticker work-out back up the Canyon we were at the Birch Eatery having a beer. We finally found a restaurant/brewery that had a good stout on Tap.
It was a rainy morning making it later than usual morning with a 3-week-fridge-defrost the night before, and we needed food and clean clothes. Both needs were steps away from each other in downtown Jasper and there was even a cafe in the laundromat for John to wait for dryer loading while I shopped. We were starving by 6:30pm and couldn’t wait to hit the Birch kitchen for the Good Morning Vietnam Coffee Stout that he had enjoyed the night before. And they had great Wi-fi and if I dump my phone in the Athabasca River during our raft trip, we won’t have to re-work the spreadsheet since all is on the cloud.
The Athabasca Rafting Trip. I only brought the GoPro and am struggling with the download. It was an active trip in some places and the need to paddle did not fend well with good photography. The GoPro is doing its thing and hopefully will have a good video or two. Met a lovely German Family and we taught our red haired, green eyed guide, Kate, a bit of German as we bounced over some rapids. The rain stopped for our trip and the wetness was totallyl caused by the rapids .
Travels with Vinny VanGo 
Unbelievab
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