Our next view was of Mt. Edith Cavell. Mt. Edith Cavell at 11027 feet is the highest mountain near Jasper. First Peoples knew it as the "White Ghost", probably because of the snow-covered mountain's appearance in the moonlight. At no other location in the Rockies do you drive so directly toward such an impressive mountain.
We finally reached Jasper and headed to the east to Medicine Lake and then on to Maligne Lake. I wish that we could have stopped at Maligne Canyon but we were running out of time.
We came upon Medicine Lake, located between Maligne Canyon and
Maligne Lake in Jasper National Park. It is curious water feature because it has no surface outlets, but its water level fluctuates significantly over the course of a few months. The Maligne River, swollen in spring and summer with glacial run-off, feeds the lake so that the lake looks quite charming. By autumn, the lake drains almost to the point of becoming a huge mud puddle. Locals call it "the leaky bathtub." Where does the water go? It drains downwards at the rate of 57 cubic meters per second into channels and caves carved out of the water-soluble limestone underneath the lake.As we continued toward Maligne Lake we encountered a ranger in the road. She stopped us and asked if we wanted to see some bears???? It seems that there was a mother bear and she had three cubs with her. Three cubs are very unusual for a bear. They figured that the cubs had been born sometime in February. We were told that we could pull up and stay for about three minutes to take photos, before they would make us move along. What a nice surprise to see!!!
We then continued on to Maligne Lake. As we were both tired we did not hike around the lake or take the boat trip. We
will have to save this for another trip.Lake Maligne is by far the largest natural lake in the Canadian R
ockies. Fed by meltwaters from the Brazeau Ice-field and other glaciers at its south end. The lake is 13.64 miles long with a maximum depth of 318 feet. Its waters are dammed by the second largest rockslide in the Rockies.We had thought of staying overnight in Jasper but decided that we had been on the go so much the past several days that we headed back to Banff. On our way home we found some mountain goats having dinner along the road. Momma and baby!!
It was a long and beautiful day!!!! I am sure that there was more to see and do, that we will save for another time.....
Until Later,
Candy and Johnny
