At the end of a glorious 30 mile drive from Jasper we came to Maligne Lake. Fed and drained by the Maligne (Wicked) River it reaches depths of over 300 feet and at over 14 miles long it is, during the summer months at least, very popular with tourists taking boat trips, kayaking, swimming and diving.
On the day we visited this April however, there was no sailing or swimming or anything and the boat house was very much closed! We had the place pretty much to ourselves and I couldn't resist a short, timid stroll as it's often been said that I couldn't walk on water! Usually by people who inwardly like the thought of me falling in of course. I didn't venture out too far as it was starting to show some signs of thinning out, a bit like my hair, but I did it... I walked on water!
It was a stunning late April day and Janet and Eamonn made the most of this opportunity to catch a few well deserved rays and just a few Z's. Indeed, when I took this picture they had both been snoring for nearly two hours. No doubt still traumatised from our wild adventures around Patricia lake the day before! (we got lost!! and we got quite scared when we saw fresh Moose poo... and Cougar poo... and Bear poo!... in the woods... how did we know so much about poo? We were walking in the woods... and you need to know)
Back along the beautiful Maligne Lake road towards Jasper is Medicine Lake which during the summer months fills with bright blue rock flour filled melt water from the mountains and then empties away again in the winter. This has for years haunted the natives as they believed it was magical powers that filled and emptied the lake. It is still somewhat unknown exactly how big and complex the underground system of drainage is although scientific experiments have shown that it feeds many different lakes and rivers. It was of course empty during our visit and having been once before, during the summer, I can understand why it freaked out the locals!
Where we were stood in this picture we could hear the water draining away just behind us... Much like a gurgling bath tub. Stunning views all around us, typical of Jasper National Park.
After eating in Jasper town that evening we caught the sunset over beautiful Lac Beauvert which lovingly hugs the Jasper Park Lodge hotel. This is way better than watching any TV! The scenery changes constantly as the light dies down over the mountains and bounces itself around off the trees and the water. The only sound being Canada Geese deciding that it was time for bed. Shortly after taking this picture below we were in near darkness.
North from our guest house in Hinton we called in to try and find the 'Beaver Boardwalk'. Our hosts had recommended this as a really good evening wildlife spotting opportunity. We were concerned when we eventually found it and got out of the car to this sign....
The boardwalk is a wooden pathway through the woods and wetlands of Hinton which is over a mile long. Built entirely by volunteers to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Hinton pulp mill 'West Fraser', who supplied all of the materials. It's a lovely walk and we picked the perfect evening with everything being so very still and quiet. Needless to say because it was so still and quiet, we could 'hear' a cougar... around every corner. It didn't take us too long to come face to face with wild beavers but it did take the kindness of a local guy who was out walking his dog to notice us wandering around haplessly with our cameras and looking lost. He pointed us in the direction that he'd just come from.
Up close and personal with nature once again we were truly mesmerised by the way in which these beautiful little creatures went about their business of chewing... squeaking to each other... chewing a bit more... swimming off and coming back with more twigs... squeaking more and chewing even more.... Fabulous!
They we really enchanting to watch and just far enough away from us that we didn't disturb them. We were also getting up close and personal with nature in other ways, mosquitoes! in April!
We stood in awe of their habitat and wondered how such small beasts could be responsible for constructing such a vast and complicated series of waterways. Like a miniature Miami housing and marina complex with dams, ponds, lanes, and buildings, they've adapted their environment very much to suit themselves and we couldn't help but wonder about the logic of building a wooden walkway around this place. Wood... Beavers... Hhmmmm... We supposed that there were enough trees to keep them busy for a good few years yet. This small hump is about 70 feet wide by 20 feet above the water!!
We thoroughly enjoyed our evening encounter with a true Canadian symbol and most enjoyable of all was to see how dexterous they are with their front paws and to hear how chatty they are with each other. Very sociable chaps indeed! 
As if we hadn't been spoiled enough with wildlife encounters, on the way back to the house in pitch dark, we spotted a young Moose at the side of the road. Nice to see and a really fabulous way to finish of our latest Rocky Mountain adventure.
We're quite probably in love with the Rockies and we needed our fix this year just as we have done on previous trips so Linda and Janet had booked for us to stay in a beautiful guest house just outside of Hinton, at Folding Mountain which is about 40 mins North East of Jasper. Saturday morning we packed up the truck and headed out for the hills in 'Lily', Eamonn and Janets HUGE Ford monster truck or should I say, SUV. As usual the scenery was dreary and the traffic was frustrating and stressful.
Our first stop off was at the Cinnamon Spoon cafe in Bragg Creek at the foothills of the mountains where we stocked up on coffee and snacks. This is a popular filming location and was even used in the BBC series Dinosapien. Our next stop was at one of Eamonn's favourite places, Two Jack Lake.
A popular camping site in Banff National Park the area teams with wildlife. We spotted a couple of Columbian Ground Squirrels who had already woken up from their hibernation. They hibernate for up to 8 months a year from as early as late July, so during their brief awake periods, they never stop eating! The males come out of hibernation first and the females carry on slumbering for another week or two. Hhmmm... sounds familiar!
These lovely little creatures live in colonies so I don't doubt that by the time we reached Banff town for our next coffee and cake, there were many more about. I knelt down for a while with my camera poised and for a change, my patience was rewarded with this curious little guy... gorgeous!
We also spotted a Chipmunk... alas, he then spotted us and disappeared.
We called into Banff just briefly for refreshment and then set off up the Icefields Parkway. It was a beautiful, sunny, fresh morning and then within seconds, my flabber was gasted as we ran into a complete white-out snow storm. I couldn't believe it. It's a good job we had a couple of relaxed Canadians (well.. nearly) to look after us because just for a few moments... I thought our time had come.
Thankfully after a few miles more the snow went just as quickly as it had arrived and so we pulled in for our lunch. We had nothing short of a feast with us including what was left of Linda's birthday cake and no sooner had we pulled up in a fabulous location by the side of the road. mountains, frozen lake, than we were joined by this guy who perched on the bonnet of the car and shouted at us through the window.
As we neared Jasper we started to see more wildlife and it makes such a change being a passenger and being able to look out at it all. There were many White-Tailed Deer looking very cute...
...and of course many well behaved Big-Horn Sheep who adhere to the road signs.
After checking in at our guest house and listening to our hostess for what seemed like hours... bless her, she was only trying to be helpful but surely my body language eventually screamed out "shut the f*** up!! We have stuff to do and we're only here for a few days!!" Anyway.. she kindly recommended somewhere good and local to eat. We had a VERY interesting evening in Hinton at a Greek restaurant where there had just been a local wedding. The food was superb. The unofficial entertainment was fascinating. Why... for example, would you have a stuffed cat on the dinner table in front of the bride? I kid you not!! A stuffed cat was the centre-piece on the wedding table. As for the wedding party... It was like the Jerry Springer Show and the Jeremy Kyle Show all rolled in to one. Best of all was when they all left, drunk as you like, and all climbed into their pick up trucks. The bride even climbed in twice... because she was so blotto that she fell in one door and right out of the other onto the pavement!
We relaxed back at the guest house with a couple of nice glasses and watched the mountains go to sleep. Next morning, this is what we woke up to!
Our recent trip to Canada didn't exactly start out very well... After months of preparation and planning we fell victim to the now infamous dust cloud from the Icelandic volcano, Eyjafjallajökull. I must confess that up until this incident made the headlines, I thought that Eyjafjallajökull was a striker for Chelsea!
Our main objective was to get there in time for Linda's birthday as what she particularly wanted to do to mark this 'significant' milestone was to eat at her favourite restaurant in Longview with her 'baby' sister Janet. This below is what no sleep for 3 days, 10 hours in an empty, closed airport and no hope of flying does to the happy traveller...
Anyway... enough of all that! We eventually made it in time... just!
Our first big trip out was to Fish Creek Provincial Park near Calgary. It's a stunning place and stretching to over 11 miles from East to West it's one of the largest urban parks in North America. There are miles of cycling paths, walking trails, masses of trees, ponds, creeks and an abundance of wildlife, some of which we managed to get quite close to...
Linda and Janet had much catching up to do which gave me time to take about 4 million pictures.
Oh yeah... the wildlife I mentioned... Our anxiousness to get there was due to this -
Janet and Eamonn had been here several times already and told us about the smaller birds of the parks being hungry enough to take food out of their hands. They discovered this when one pinched a crumb from Janet's sandwich and then came back for more. Janet got busy right away with this Red-Breasted Nuthatch. Then the birthday girl joined in.
It was such a thrill to get so close and such a privilege to feel how delicate these little chaps were on our fingers and each time we moved along a few hundred yards we were greeted by more...
At one particular corner they were almost queing up and as one took off, another one landed. They only ever stayed for a matter of seconds but it was enough to enjoy the magic.
The most common visitor to our hands were the Black-Capped Chickadees, similar in size, appearance and song to some of the larger Tits that we get back at home.
It's amazing how much seed they can get in their tiny beaks!
I love this next shot! "Here I am... My turn! My turn!..."
Linda's favourite was this White-Breasted Nuthatch. He was something of an acrobat and when not feeding from our hands he was climbing up tree trunks or hanging upside down from a branch. They nest in holes in the trees and deter predators like squirrels and snakes by smearing insects around the entrance.
We saw a good number of these around the park and this one in particular appeared to be following Janet for while.
He was quite a poser!
As we strolled around we saw other locals too, I tried MANY times to get a good photograph of a 'Gopher', or to give this one his proper name, a Richardson's Ground Squirrel. Alas, they are very VERY shy and kept running away from me.
We went back to the park for a second visit during our holiday and although there was still some snow on the ground, the sun shone for us most of the way around and the inhabitants didn't disappoint us.
While Linda and Janet went about feeding the birds I went off to see what else I could spot... I followed this lovely little Downy Woodpecker for ages and eventually managed to get close enough for this.
This is a North American Robin,
you wouldn't want this fellow pinching the top of your milk though, he's about the size of a Mistle Thrush.
The most bizzare sight greeted us around one corner, a Canada Goose had built it's nest on top of an old tree stump. This was about 12 feet in the air and looked so strange.
Janet's little pal stealing a whole nut.
We walked over towards the Bow River and yet more Nuthatches appeared.
After we'd spoken SO much about the fact that we'd never seen a goose up a tree before and how unusual it was etc, we saw this...
Yes! Another Canada Goose, up a tree! Somehow it just seemed wrong to us! It looked SO odd for a web-footed bird the size of a small car to be sitting on a branch.It really is a lovely park and we only just scratched the surface of it. Janet and Eamonn have seen Mule Deer in there and Great Horned Owls and there are apparently beavers, muskrats, coyote and garter snakes seen regularly according to the information boards. Oh... and the occasional cougar!
The picture above sums up our visits for me. It was a special experience and several hours of pure tranquility and undisturbed peace that'l I'll always treasure.
I'll close this note with a couple of further shots of the real stars of this park for you to enjoy!
Yes!! I got him :-)
On the day we visited this April however, there was no sailing or swimming or anything and the boat house was very much closed! We had the place pretty much to ourselves and I couldn't resist a short, timid stroll as it's often been said that I couldn't walk on water! Usually by people who inwardly like the thought of me falling in of course. I didn't venture out too far as it was starting to show some signs of thinning out, a bit like my hair, but I did it... I walked on water!
It was a stunning late April day and Janet and Eamonn made the most of this opportunity to catch a few well deserved rays and just a few Z's. Indeed, when I took this picture they had both been snoring for nearly two hours. No doubt still traumatised from our wild adventures around Patricia lake the day before! (we got lost!! and we got quite scared when we saw fresh Moose poo... and Cougar poo... and Bear poo!... in the woods... how did we know so much about poo? We were walking in the woods... and you need to know)
Back along the beautiful Maligne Lake road towards Jasper is Medicine Lake which during the summer months fills with bright blue rock flour filled melt water from the mountains and then empties away again in the winter. This has for years haunted the natives as they believed it was magical powers that filled and emptied the lake. It is still somewhat unknown exactly how big and complex the underground system of drainage is although scientific experiments have shown that it feeds many different lakes and rivers. It was of course empty during our visit and having been once before, during the summer, I can understand why it freaked out the locals!
Where we were stood in this picture we could hear the water draining away just behind us... Much like a gurgling bath tub. Stunning views all around us, typical of Jasper National Park.
After eating in Jasper town that evening we caught the sunset over beautiful Lac Beauvert which lovingly hugs the Jasper Park Lodge hotel. This is way better than watching any TV! The scenery changes constantly as the light dies down over the mountains and bounces itself around off the trees and the water. The only sound being Canada Geese deciding that it was time for bed. Shortly after taking this picture below we were in near darkness.
The boardwalk is a wooden pathway through the woods and wetlands of Hinton which is over a mile long. Built entirely by volunteers to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Hinton pulp mill 'West Fraser', who supplied all of the materials. It's a lovely walk and we picked the perfect evening with everything being so very still and quiet. Needless to say because it was so still and quiet, we could 'hear' a cougar... around every corner. It didn't take us too long to come face to face with wild beavers but it did take the kindness of a local guy who was out walking his dog to notice us wandering around haplessly with our cameras and looking lost. He pointed us in the direction that he'd just come from.
Up close and personal with nature once again we were truly mesmerised by the way in which these beautiful little creatures went about their business of chewing... squeaking to each other... chewing a bit more... swimming off and coming back with more twigs... squeaking more and chewing even more.... Fabulous!
They we really enchanting to watch and just far enough away from us that we didn't disturb them. We were also getting up close and personal with nature in other ways, mosquitoes! in April!
We stood in awe of their habitat and wondered how such small beasts could be responsible for constructing such a vast and complicated series of waterways. Like a miniature Miami housing and marina complex with dams, ponds, lanes, and buildings, they've adapted their environment very much to suit themselves and we couldn't help but wonder about the logic of building a wooden walkway around this place. Wood... Beavers... Hhmmmm... We supposed that there were enough trees to keep them busy for a good few years yet. This small hump is about 70 feet wide by 20 feet above the water!!
We thoroughly enjoyed our evening encounter with a true Canadian symbol and most enjoyable of all was to see how dexterous they are with their front paws and to hear how chatty they are with each other. Very sociable chaps indeed! 
As if we hadn't been spoiled enough with wildlife encounters, on the way back to the house in pitch dark, we spotted a young Moose at the side of the road. Nice to see and a really fabulous way to finish of our latest Rocky Mountain adventure.
