On the way back from Maligne Lake we stopped at Maligne Canyon. This is a very impressive ravine that wound around a long way and was very, very deep. It is hard to get perspective from these photos, but see if you can find the water at the bottom and the people in the fenced viewpoint at the top of the right picture to get a sense of scale.

Dan overlooking the canyon  Maligne Canyon

Another excursion we took from Jasper was to Mount Robson Provincial Park. It was a suggestion in our guidebook to do if you had additional time. It was a bit of a drive, but we were feeling adventurous. We passed Moose Lake and Moose Marsh scanning with much hope to see a moose. Can you see one in the picture of Moose Lake below? Neither can we. No luck on that point.

Moose Lake  Entrance to Mount Robson Park
The weather was sketchy and we did not know if we would have a good view of the mountain. Aside from views reachable only by massive hiking, Mt. Robson itself was the destination highlight of this excursion. It is the highest mountain in the Canadian Rockies at nearly 13,000 feet above sea level. Even though it is so tall we could not see it ahead while driving, so we were not sure what to expect. Finally, we came down a curve in the road and were awed by what we saw.

 Mount Robson  Looking through a telescope

The mountain appeared nestled between the incline of two other hills. The visitor center was perfectly positioned with a park area behind it giving grand views of the mountain. They had tourist telescopes set up to look at the mountain and through one
I managed to snap a photo of the snow on the right side of the slopes.

Abby at Overlander Falls  Downstream from the Overlander Falls

Dan and I hoped the weather would clear so we could see the top of the mountain. We took a snack break at the cafeteria and Dan checked with a worker there who unoptimistically said, “You might get lucky.” We waited a bit, but our hope began to wane. We had noticed a sign just before reaching the mountain that indicated some nearby falls. So we decided to go check that out before heading back to Jasper. The Overlander Falls were a treat. Just a little hike in gave us a beautiful view.

The weather seemed to have cleared a bit and I gave Dan the choice whether to drive back to the Mt. Robson visitor center or just continue on to Jasper. Since it was just a few minutes away, he decided to go back. As we started to come around the turn I saw some clouds and figured it was about the same, but all of the sudden the whole mountain came into view! I literally gasped startling Dan. Oh, it was so pretty!

Mount Robson 

Dan and I were both giddy running around snapping photos cheering our good luck.

Zooming in on the mountaintop 

Continue to Calgary

   

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June & July 2009