Cross Country Skiing in Jasper

Suffering a Croatian vacation hangover Chrissy and I hunkered down inside the house early this winter season. It was good to get grounded again but eventually we started going a little crazy. Looking for a relatively inexpensive weekend getaway we decided on Jasper National Park for some cross country skiing.

Leaving straight from work on Friday we arrived at the Lobstick Inn and settled in for an early morning on the trails. 

After a big breakfast we grabbed our rented gear from Skis Please (fantastic service), jumped in my 'all terrain car' and headed out to the Athabasca Falls Loop.

The area received about a foot of snow earlier in the week providing a good base on the groomed trails. The Classic cuts pathways were not well defined yet but I think we ended up benefiting from some earlier hardcore skiiers who had recently come before us.

With the snow hanging off the pines we couldn't have asked for a better setting.

Our first time out in 2 years we didn't push ourselves to hard and only went about 7 total kilometers. This left us plenty of time to goof around in the lovely weather.

Calling it a day we hit up some giant nachos at De'd Dog and finished the night with a nightcap and game of crib back at the hotel...we are a wild party! 

The next day we got a quick ski in close to town at Whistler's Campground a simple 4.5km loop. While maybe not as picturesque as Athabasca Falls it did have some cool segments like the narrow trail between the campsites.

Feeling more refreshed then tired we decided to treat ourselves to a needed beverage at the Jasper Park Lodge on the way out of town. Chrissy had a hot chocolate and I got a very cool honey lager beer. The honey is actually harvested from the bee hives on the roof of the hotel, shipped to the Big Rock brewery and then specialy brewed only for the Hotel. Besides being an awesome novelty it was a great tasting beer.

Jasper Park Lodge was undergoing renovations but was still decked out in full Christmas decorations. We couldn't help but marvel at their giant gingerbread house with some very impressive stats.

Sad that our weekend was over we were comforted by the fact that Jasper wasn't too far away and we would be back again someday soon.

Trip to Maligne Lake

Final stop on the Jasper field trip (more here and here) was a visit to Maligne Lake.  I had never been there before but have of course seen the near iconic photo of  Spirit Island  many times. Chrissy had visited previously but couldn't quite remembered when she had last - needless to say, it had been a while.

The first thing that struck us was the high water levels. Even the Curly Phillips Boathouse, originally built in 1928, was temporarily out of service as it was flooded out. I wonder how many times its been flooded out like this and how much of the building has been replaced due to this type of wear and tear?

Funny enough the boathouse isn't even where the tour boats are docked. As we are both poor and or cheap, we declined taking the boats to Spirit Island. It will have to wait for another trip.

 Instead we decided to walk around and explore the trails and other buildings.

It is a good thing we decided to visit when we did as just a week or so after we left the road to the Lake was shut down with a mudslide. It's something I could definitely see after witnessing just how high the water was.

Bonus:
On the way back from Maligne Lake we stopped at Jasper Park Lodge for a quick drink and upon exiting the resort we witnessed a momma bear and a couple of cubs walking between the road and forest.

Also on the way back to William A Switzer Park we came across this monster along the side of the road.

Overall, it was a great camping trip and I am glad to say that Chrissy and I are still together after the trip.

Maligne Canyon

From our campsite we took a short drive into Jasper National Park. We stopped briefly in the town and then headed out towards Maligne Canyon and Lake. 

 

First stop - The hiking trails along the river of the canyon.

In the distance below you can see a dodgy looking bridge crossing the water. (Un)fortunately, the trail was closed due to high water levels so we chose a new route.

But first, stretching out the calf...ooh, it's a deep burn.

Our alternate route seemed to be straight up the side of a mountain. It was pretty grueling and we considered turning back on occasion. However, when we got to the top we were treated to a great view. You could even see the Jasper townsite from the peak.

Top of the world Ma!

Maligne Canyon is a beautiful spot and the hiking trails were in great shape. Highly recommended.