Canada 2025

Tuesday16September

First wake-up at Jasper's Wapiti Campground. The light rain during the night dampened our breakfast area! Fortunately, the clouds have given way to a perfectly blue sky. In the distance, you can see the gondolas reaching Mount Whistlers. We will be there tomorrow.

For today, we are heading to Maligne Lake, located about fifty kilometers from Jasper. The route passes by Medicine Lake.

Medicine Lake, long and narrow, stretches for nearly seven kilometers within the Maligne Valley. The name Medicine comes from Indigenous peoples who were astonished by its annual disappearance. The First Nations associated this cyclical phenomenon with a supernatural force or a powerful "medicine." In reality, this hydrological curiosity is due to a vast network of underground karst caves that drains the basin toward the valley.

For today, Maligne Lake will keep us busy. Upon our arrival, one mountain stands out from the others, Samson Peak and its 3081 meters.

Samson Peak, the summit of the Queen Elizabeth range, owes its name to Samson Beaver, a guide from the Stoney Nation who played a key role in the recognition of this isolated valley.

Maligne Lake stretches for twenty-two kilometers, making it the largest natural body of water in the Canadian Rockies. Nestled at an altitude of 1670 meters, this glacial basin meanders through the heart of the Maligne Valley. Its maximum depth reaches nearly one hundred meters.

Of course, we won't go around the lake given its size. A small 6-kilometer loop on the side of the lake will do just fine...  

Maligne Lake was named by missionary De Smet in the 19th century because of the tumultuous and unpredictable waters of the river that flows from it.

The lake is really quiet and not very crowded. Fishermen can easily find the calm necessary for their activity...  

The fisherman is always happy not to return empty-handed. And he will be very proud to show it to you...    

On the mossy forest floor, a Spruce Grouse, Falcipennis canadensis, crosses our path. Its red comb above the eye is unique to the male.

This bird, familiar to Alberta's forests, is a Canada Jay, Perisoreus canadensis, also known as a gray jay.

After the birds, it's time for the mushrooms that have proliferated on the carpet of moss bordering the entire forest trail...  

In addition to the mosses, there are lichens.

Still the same jay? Or one of its little friends?  

The Canada Jay (Perisoreus canadensis), nicknamed "Whiskey Jack" or "camp robber," braves the freezing winters of the Canadian Rockies by using a unique technique of sticking its food supplies to tree branches with its particularly viscous saliva.

Here we are at Moose Lake, and as its name suggests, a moose is not far away, and a group of photographers is waiting for the cervid. In the alignment of the lake, we can add the Samson and Leah peaks to perfect the picture.

But for us, the wait will be too long and we won't see even a snout of the Canadian moose...  

Samson Peak.

Back on the shores of Maligne Lake.

We leave Maligne Lake and pass by Medicine Lake again, just like on the way there.

We are now at the western end of Medicine Lake, where the low water level at the end of summer reveals the power of the erosion from the ancient glaciers that once carved this valley.

The countless rocky blocks that line the shores of the lake plunge us into very distant geological eras.

Upon our arrival in Jasper, a mastodon awaits us!   The imposing elk (Cervus canadensis) that sits on the side of the road totally ignores the line of cars that has stopped to take its picture. The female, meanwhile, grazes discreetly behind the fir trees...

Walking tour in Jasper.

Originally founded as a trading post for the North West Company, Jasper owes its name to trapper Jasper Hawes, who managed the site in the early 19th century. The arrival of the railway in the heart of the Rockies transformed this isolated trading post into a nerve center for travelers and mountaineers.

Long freight trains pass through Jasper station.

Next to the station, the totem pole carved in the traditional style of the Haida of the West Coast, an indigenous people of Canada, tells the history and genealogy of its creators through stylized figures of animals and ancestors. It was created by Canadian artists Jaalen and Gwaai Edenshaw.

The old fire station, the Jasper Firehall.

A mural created by artist Ceilidh Morrissette adorns one of the walls of the old station.

The red bricks and the wooden bell tower of the church completed in 1934.

And the current fire station.

During the summer of 2024, the forest fires were of unprecedented intensity. The Jasper Fire Department teams were mobilized to protect homes and essential infrastructure. They also helped limit the advance of the blaze in the heart of the Rockies.  

Despite everything, part of Jasper was damaged. Erected in 1928, the Anglican church St. Mary & St. George was one of the architectural jewels of the town of Jasper, its first stone having been laid by Viscount Willingdon, then Governor General of Canada. The catastrophic forest fires of July 2024 destroyed this historic building, leaving only its stone structures standing.

The charred remains of the gas station. The fires led to the massive evacuation of thousands of residents and visitors. Rebuilding urban infrastructure is now the city's challenge.

The reconstruction process is long and mobile home relocation solutions have been deployed to meet the housing emergency.

Along Connaught Drive, the main artery lined with shops, bars, and restaurants, is the essential passage for visitors and other walkers. For us, it will be buying groceries and returning to the campsite! Tomorrow, the park tours continue, including Whistlers Park!