Jasper and Banff National Parks Day 2

Day 2: Hiking at Maligne Lake

We woke up in Jasper, hopeful that the weather would hold out long enough for us to begin our Skyline trail hike. Even checking the weather before rolling out of bed, it looked like we’d be good to go until at least the next day. Opening the window blinds revealed a very different story, however. Right outside our window, the rental truck was already covered in some snow accumulation, and the large, puffy white flakes showed no signs of slowing in the near future. It was decision time.

We only had the hotel for the night, and upon checking out we were informed that they didn’t have any availability for that night, so unfortunately spending another night at the Tonquin Inn wasn’t in the cards. We had approximately an hour to make our decision, as we had signed up for a hiker shuttle to pick us up at the northern trail head at 9:15AM and drive us down to the southern trail head at Maligne Lake. We made out way to the Bear’s Paw Bakery to ponder our fate over a homemade scone, cinnamon sticky bun, and morning glory muffin.

After sipping some coffee and consuming some carbs and sugar, we ultimately decided that, while we probably COULD do the hike… we weren’t fully prepared for camping in the snow, and we also weren’t comfortable with the possibility that the above treeline trail may get snowed over as the day went on… making navigation difficult. Also… we weren’t sure that it would really be fun to hike this supposedly most scenic trail in North America and not get any views. Our decision was further confirmed to be good when we called the shuttle to cancel, and they said, “we were wondering what your plan was.”

We were able to find a same-day deal at the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge, which included a $50 gas card and a $50 resort credit. It was one of the only last-minute lodging options in town… and since we were on our honeymoon… we didn’t mind the splurge (thanks to everyone who gave us money towards our honeymoon… you kept us out of the cold!). With our lodging taken care of for the night, we grabbed our map and guidebook and picked out a day-hike so we could walk off the aforementioned carbs and sugars (and eat some of the backpacking food that we had bought the night before.)

We ended up driving ourselves down to the Maligne Lake trail head, which was almost an hour drive out of town. We did the Bald Hills trail, an approximately 9 mile loop through evergreen forest, rising to an open rocky peak with panoramic views all around. The hike began on an old fire road, rising fairly gently into the forest. We passed an older couple pretty early on that had apparently just seen a bull moose cross the trail right in front of them. We had yet to see any large wildlife, so we were on the lookout as well.

As we climbed higher, the trail left the fire road and entered the woods, where it took off on a steeper slope. As we climbed, the snow cover got heavier, and before we knew it, we were in a winter wonderland. With the evergreens coated in snow, it felt more like a Christmas TV special than a mid-September hike.

As the trees got shorter, we began to see a ghostly outline of a round hill above us. As we began up the steep slope of the hill I stopped for a moment to take a photo of Casey, then I turned around and could just barely make out the mountain range just across the valley… and it was literally breathtaking. We climbed higher, getting further above the low cloud cover, revealing more of the mountains surrounding us. They looked like islands floating on a sea of clouds, and the snow just made them that much more rugged.

We stopped for a bit on the top of one of the balds and had a snack… but we didn’t’ stop for long, as it was quite cold. From the top of that first bald we could see the rest of our path, looping back down the other side, and up towards another rocky peak.

At the top of the second peak we ran into a little chipmunk in probably the most epic pose I’ve ever seen a chipmunk in. It was just sitting at the edge of rock, overlooking the oncoming snow and clouds. It cocked it’s head a bit as we passed, but just turned back toward it’s rugged domain… uncaring of our presence. As we crested over that final peak, the wind started to pick up a bit, and the snow started getting heavier… indicating it was time to make moves back to the bottom. We took the fire road the whole way down, which was much easier going than the steep path we had taken to get up the mountain.

We did, of course have to stop and see the trail head for the Skyline Trail. We snapped a quick photo and vowed to one day come back to overnight when the weather is a little more cooperative.

 

We drove back along Maligne Lake road to the Fairmont. Our room wasn’t quite ready yet, but it was no big deal for us… just across the lobby was a nice big bar situated next to a fireplace with open views to the lake outside. We ordered up a couple of beers, and then after seeing the skillets of nachos that some other patrons had ordered, we had to get one of our own.

I will say… the Fairmont isn’t the cheapest hotel in town… but they really do make you feel special. We had great bartenders we even shared some 18 year Highland whisky with us. The front desk staff was accommodating and welcoming, and I was getting texts from concierge asking if there was anything they could do to make our stay more comfortable and special.

The Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge is laid out kind of like a summer camp. There’s the main lodge surrounded by lots of smaller lodges. Our room was in one of those surrounding buildings. It was a short walk from the main lodge, but the grounds were beautiful… especially by the lake shore. They even have free boat rentals for guests, however we were unable to partake in that amenity due to the winter weather that we had escaped from.

While the Fairmont had some very good dining options, we opted to drive into town and buy some beer for the room, and order room service. On the way into town we saw our first large animals of the trip… a herd of Elk! Cars were stopping on the side of the road to take pictures. We briefly stopped and took the best we could, but it was getting dark.

We got our beers at a local beer store and headed back to the room, ate our dinner, and headed off to bed. While we didn’t get to stick to our original plan, I think we did pretty well for ourselves. The nice part about not doing the overnight is that it opened us up to some other experiences that we wouldn’t have had otherwise. Instead of setting up a tent in the freezing cold and snow on a mountain in the Canadian Rockies, we got to dine in our warm hotel room and snuggle up into a comfy bed to get a good nights sleep for the day ahead.