Jasper Day One

I SAW A MOOOOOOSSSSSEEEE!!!!!!! But you'll just have to read on to learn more.

Today was a small group tour that took us to Maligne Lake. There were only 13 of us so it was a nice relaxed group. Sam was an excellent tour guide that tired hard to find us wildlife. He is studying wildfire management so he knew a LOT about the local fire (and several from years past). 

We started by driving through a quiet neighborhood where a bear had recently attacked an elk. We did see an elk.

We then made our way to Medicine Lake where a mountain goat was hanging around in the parking lot. Medicine Lake is known as the disappearing lake because it has no outlet. It actually drains into the Kar (?) system which is basically underground tunnels that the water moves along. At the end of the tour, we stopped where one of the "drains" is visible. 

loon

After medicine lake, we drove through the Maligne canyon where the Jasper fire really devastated. In fact, you used to be able to hike and such but no longer. Along the way we saw 4 bull elk - there are only 20 in the whole park! There was also a marmot hanging out on a rock near them.

Our destination was Maligne Lake. Sam drove us a little further down the road past the turn to show us his favorite view. Lovely!

After a quick lunch at the cafe (chili dog and white macadamia nut cookies - I'm on vacation, don't judge), we boarded Talana (all the boats had names - I forgot to ask where ours came from) and headed toward Spirit Island. I don't know what I was expecting but it wasn't that. Spirit Island is tiny! It is sacred ground to the indigenous people so we're not allowed on it. We wouldn't have all fit anyway! We hopped off the boat at the shore just next to the island, took pictures, used the flushing toilet (it had a gigantic row of solar panels but I was still surprised to have a flusher - most places outside of towns are pit). Then we drove back. Enjoy the sights. I think the view from Spirit Island is my favorite I've seen so far. Maybe second. That spot on the bike ride yesterday was amazing. Nope that was two days ago. Anyway...

my view at lunch

boarding the Talana

headed out

"first island"

the view at spirit island

Spirit Island (the little piece of land with about 12 trees on it)

me on the boat

We left Maligne Lake and headed back down the road. And then WE SAW A MOOOOOOSEEE!!!

I REALLY hope this video works. 

And then we saw a black bear!!! I didn't get a very good picture. Just wait though!

Our last stop was the Maligne Overlook where the Canyon and valley are visible. It was a good place to see the fire devastation. 

 That was it for that tour. I was dropped off at my hotel (next door really) and I had a little time to rest before my next adventure. My evening tour was specifically to see wildlife. It was a mini-bus that was just intended to drive around to where there had been sightings. Now I'd already seen a moose and a bear today, and a grizzly yesterday so I was happy but why not see what else we could find. M tour guide Kelly was actually a bear guide in Vancouver Island and is going this winter to Antarctica to polar bear guide! I'm going to let this be a photo dump or sorts but know we drove all over the place! No moose or Grizzly but basically everything else!!

Big Horn Sheep

It was a whole family who had come down to get some water

very protective ladies

cuz so  many younguns

golden eagle on his migration 

the back end of make big horn sheep (the far one has the circular horns)

soaring eagle

bull elk

marmot (this is way zoomed in and my camera made it look good!)

bald eagle 

friend shaped, not friend

bear in the tree!

Okay these bears is a funny story. We saw the first one while headed up a road toward a tramway. We turned around and headed back down only to see two bears running up the road and into the trees. No pics, sorry. It was a brown and a black colored black bear. Probably a mating pair. Or perhaps it was a male chasing a female in hopes. Kelly turned down a short dirt road hoping maybe they'd pop out up there. Instead one of them climbed a tree!! I did not see this and I was disappointed but when Kelly went back down the road we got a different perspective and there she was! We are pretty sure that the two running (one in the tree) were not the one we'd seen just earlier. So three different bears! Then just on the other side of the road about 20 feet was another bull elk. 

We also managed to see a lone female. Except then we saw a whole family!! Kelly joked that we were never going to get back to drop off (she had said we were headed back at least three times and we finished about an hour late!). 

we counted at least 10-12 and they're not all in this picture

one of several babies who are probably just a few weeks old

WHAT. A. DAY!!!! Tomorrow will be fairly lowkey with just an exploration of town and a rafting trip. Except it's supposed to be cold and rainy. Oh everyone today kept commenting about how nice the weather was and how lucky we were because apparently it's been raining or at least overcast for weeks. 

Oh yeah, I forgot yesterday that one of the pics on the drive was of the "tri-continental divide". There are two in the world - the other is in Russia. It's where water flows north, south, and west (I'm 99% sure). I never knew such a thing existed!!

(Sorry if there are typos etc. It's 10:30pm!!)

*Dad, I got your message. I'm glad you're enjoying. Anyone else who is following along too :)