After covering almost everything I wanted to see in Jasper that could be achieved on foot, on Wednesday I accepted an invitation to explore a few places that were out of reach of me and my hiking boots. My guide was Terry, a friend of my CouchSurfing hosts, who I met at a backyard housewarming party.
The first stop was Maligne Canyon, about 9km from the town centre. After the run of good weather I’ve had in Jasper, I couldn’t really complain at my first miserable day. Fortunately the rain stopped whenever we wanted to get out of the car. There are several trails around the canyon and it is possible to walk there from town, if you’re up for it. We stuck to the main tourist walkway on the way down, but took a bit of a shortcut up the other side to get back.
Despite the recent warm weather, there was still a bit of snow along the edges of the canyon. During winter it’s completely covered. As summer progresses the water will change from the murky brown – a result of the winter run-off in the river system – and turn blue. The view changes a lot as you walk along the trail – crashing waterfalls, narrow little corners and more sedate patches before the speed picks up again. There are some caves in the area too, but now isn’t the time of year to explore them. Terry told me some stories of some pretty insane ice climbing adventures he had during winter.
Our other destination was Athabasca Falls, about 30km from the town, in the opposite direction to the canyon. Only a month ago the road to the falls was closed due to flooding, but we were OK.
Four days in Jasper and I’m still blown away by the beauty of the place.
Athabasca Falls isn’t a giant waterfall you can stand at the bottom of and marvel and the flood of water coming from above. Instead, the main viewing platforms are at the top, where you can see river feed its way into the narrow canyon with impressive force and sound. The water bounces off the rocky banks and over millions of years has created potholes, which remind me of like looking into a washing machine while it’s going. The noise of it all is a little deafening. Once you walk further down to where it settles into the river again the silence is almost as startling as the sound in the first place.
We take the quicker route back to town and make it home about an hour before I have to leave for my train.
