Day 2 and 3

This elk (not sure????) was hanging out in our campground with her baby.  They were beary friendly and were happy just to chomp away at the grass.  The rangers tried to get the elk back to a more natural area using hockey sticks with streamers attached to scare away the elk.  It kind of worked but we often saw her in the campground.

 
My roommates woke us up early today to take us to a place called Maligne Lake.  The drive to Maligne Lake was beary pretty in fact some of my animal friends were on the road.

This guy was happily walking along the road.  Not scared of cars at all.

You have to look hard to see the Pine Marten but he is there.

The hike was beary scenic.  The clouds were out and we got rained on many times but when you could see the mountains they were amazing.  The lake had a nice blue-turquoise color in it.   

Mountains on Bald Mountain trail - Maligne Lake

Malgine Lake

Maligne Canyon

Of course Maligne Lake flows into the Maligne Canyon (our next stop coincidentally).  A Belgium missionary had trouble trying to cross the river in the 1800s and named it Maligne River, which apparently means wicked in French.  Ben, have you learned this in your French lessons yet?

 My roommates treated us to the good life.  We were allowed to visit the Fairmont Jasper Lake Lodge.  It was beary relaxing, a fox could get used to this lifestyle.  Of course the cheapest room was $499.00 a night so I think it's a little out of my price range.

Fairmont Jasper, Front Entrance

Off to the Ice fields.  We had to leave all the nice animals in Jasper and start heading down to Lac Louise.  The drive was amazing (of course it would have been even better if I could have driven).  So many mountains to the left and right.  We did the touristy thing and took the ice fields bus and it was on Canada day.  Everyone was beary patriotic and had lots of Canadian flags, pins, and t-shirts.  I asked the tour guide if I could drive the ice bus….no luck…perhaps if I had a Canadian T-shirt on she would have let me.   Anyway, we tasted water right off the ice and enjoyed cooling down on the ice.

 

Next stop was Wilcox Pass.  It was a nice hike and get this.  Halfway up there were chairs for people to relax on.  We met some aggressive goats (I hid in the backpack with Monkey) but eventually they let us through on the trail.  It was worth the encounter with the goats, the view was amazing (one of the best on the trip).  Remember all that rain in Jasper, well apparently it helped clear the sky.  It was worth it for the views.