Jasper was our destination after Lake Louise. There was not much to do within the town of Jasper, although we did find ourselves wandering the town a lot browsing gift shops and enjoying the local restaurants. Dan and I each bought a new jacket and with the Canadian cap he bought earlier we crossed the line to being obvious tourists. Mount Edith Cavell dominated the horizon within Jasper. I always found this peak particularly appealing with its slanted strata. Look for it again in a later picture.

At the tail end of our drive, we opted to take an alternate, scenic highway into Jasper. Along the way we saw a bear! It was wandering among the trees on the side of the road. Nearer to town we saw an elk trotting along. And just a little way further was another elk grazing next to the highway.

Our hotel had a grand entrance that kind of reminded me of the gateway to Jurassic Park in the movie. The view from our bungalow was not as amazing as Lake Louise, but it had its own peaceful charm with the grass, trees, and calm lake.

We saw more wildlife in the Jasper area than during any other part of our trip. I promised to take no more pictures of elk after the first three photo sessions, but I could not resist when just outside our hotel bungalow we saw an elk and a baby elk grazing near the lake. Actually, we quickly learned to watch our step around the hotel grounds.

We wanted to hike around Lac Beauvert. Our hotel, the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge, sprawled long the shore of this lake. Unfortunately, the day we picked was rather rainy. However, we quickly learned that if you wait an hour or so the weather changes. After a round of playing cards, we had our opportunity. It was a pleasant stroll accompanied by chipmunks and birds, but the rain continued to threaten us across the lake.

We also saw a few fish that only served to frustrate Dan and a very pretty wood duck.

On our trip we fast discovered that one of the best ways to see wildlife is to keep an eye out for cars that are pulled over on the road. Usually if there was more than one, they were looking at something. This was our primary technique for spotting the bear and bighorn sheep. These sheep were on the side of the road along Medicine Lake when we returned from Maligne Lake. In nearly the same spot on the way over I spotted a squirrel the size of a large house cat. We learned that I saw a marmot, but we never did get a photo.

While driving I spotted a pretty little scene out the window. We drove by it in a flash, but I convinced Dan to stop on the return from Maligne Lake. We did find a sign marking “Rosemary’s Rock” in front of some trees. We ventured into the forest on paths one could barely call trails and headed toward the Maligne River knowing we would not be far from the road. We popped out of the trees to a delightful sight. Although, I have no idea which of these rocks belongs to Rosemary.

Continue to Jasper Continued