So, the Captain had to eat his words, this place is worth the money!!
We left the campsite around 9.30ish, and went towards Jasper. We had only gone ½ mile and we had to stop to take scenery pix.
The mountains around here are totally different from each other. There will be a snow covered bald mountain, next to a tree covered mountain, next to one with steep uncovered rocky slopes, so diverse!
The river threads it’s way through all the little valleys, and with a cloudless sky ( almost) the total package is stunning.
The little town of Jasper is very touristy, but extremely clean, and very picturesque, with mountains all around as backdrops.
We had a good breakfast in The Black Sheep Café, reasonably priced and excellent food, while we internetted to y’all and others.
We drove the 50 km scenic route to Lake Maligne, pronounced Maleen coz it’s French, saw some deer and big horn sheeps. The drive was windy windy, but good roads and stunning scenery. As Marlipops puts it “We have never met an ugly mountain.”
We detoured to “Bridge 6” and “Bridge 5” over the river, and then down to Maligne Canyon, a scenic hike down to a ………..canyon.
Marlipops went down and down and down, while the Captain sat at the top, making sure no one stole the bench or spoiled the view!
I had an interesting conversation with an eighty year old gentleman from Scotland, who was speaking English supposebly, but I could only understand one word in five! Still, when two Brits get talking football, …………..
We carried on to the end of the road, and watched a couple of Harlequin Ducks dispute part of the river with a couple of Common Mergansers.
Lake Maligne is clear and blue, blue, blue. It is big and scenic and has lots of boaters and kayakers and canooers on it.
We drove back at a leisurely pace, coz the ‘Pops was still knackered from her 30 minute mountain climb, and wandered back to Jasper. We had dinner on the second floor balcony of the Villa Carouso Restaurant, which was not brilliant at all. Still, you win some and you lose some, the views of the mountains were some recompense for the poor food quality.
After, we took a drive around the town itself, which is interesting, because each house seems to have been built individually, and therefore every house, garden and fence is different from it’s neighbor, the overall effect being diverse, pleasant and a homey feel to the town. We found out that real estate prices are high here, as expected, but they are coming down in real terms as the rest of Canadian prices are catching up with them. Twisted logic if you ask me.
Anyway, afterwards we went and had a look at the cable car which goes up to the top of Whistlers mountain, just round the corner from our campsite. They wanted $ 24.00 each for us to take the 5 minute ride, so we decided to let other people have the pleasure of spending some money, and we stayed at the base, and took pix of a red squirrel instead!
Then, an early night with Marlipops editing pix and The Captain catching up with The Generals Daughter. ( Nelson De Mille book)
Wildlife watch today was bighorn sheeps, deer, red squirrel, harlequin dux, common mergansers, ravens and a eagle.
