To Maligne Canyon and Maligne Lake we go!

Monday - May 23, 2016

When we went to bed the night before, it was gloomy, overcast and drizzling.  That's not we woke up to!  Being that I slept in the "living room" of our "suite" (I do lurve quotation marks - they're so pretentious) I whipped open the curtain and saw this:

Tada!  Pretty awesome view, eh?  (being that this is a Canadian view, I feel compelled to speak their language).  I threw on some clothes and stepped outside onto our shared balcony to take in the view.  It was still kind of cloudy, but the skies were blue and clear and it didn't look like rain.  Huzzah!  (I don't know why I said that.  The moment seemed to call for it)

Our stay at the Pyramid Lake Resort sadly did not come with luxuries such as breakfast, so we had purchased breakfast foods before we left Calgary at the Walmarts.  We had toast, rolls, apple turnovers (at my request), fruit, and cookie butter!  Because everything is better with cookie butter!

Our lodges came with a coffeemaker, but we are always suspect of prepacked weird coffee, so we bring our own instant coffees with us when we go on vacation.  And our own electric kettle.  Yes, my mama stuck a whole electric kettle into her suitcase.  How else do we get to have instant noodles in the middle of the night?!  On top of that, because we are crazy in an awesome way, we also brought frozen bottles of Coffee-mate with us.  Hazelnut flavored.  Because you never know what might be available in a foreign country.  Even if it is Canada and they have almost everything we do, and then some.  But we sucked down our (instant) caffeine (the best drug evah!) and ate our breakfast and hit the road!

We climb into Marge (I have dubbed the white Toyota Sienna as Marge.  Just because) and lumber our way down the mountain to head to Maligne Canyon, our first stop of the day.  Just as we are about to turn out of the resort's property, we see this:

Is this a deer?  Elk?  Caribou?   No idea, but it had a white butt and no tail.  Still awesome!  So we drive.  And drive.  And drive.  I also used the Gypsy Guide, and it was magical - it syncs up to where you are based on your phone's GPS and gives super accurate directions, tips, and history.  I was probably the only one in the car listening to it, but I was driving, so I got to choose.  It actually gave better directions than the car's navigation system, which was already kick ass.  

While I drove, my mom diligently took photos with her phone out the car's windshield.

And...we notice a car stopped on the road.  Which we're already driving on very slowly due to the proliferation (supposedly) of wildlife.  Well, there is no supposedly, because we see this:

bear butt!

It's our first bear sighting of the day!  (We ended up with three bear sightings - this was the only one where we could get good photos - the other ones were obscured by trees in a way where we couldn't pull our camera up quick enough -  but we saw three!)  The last time I saw a bear was at Yellowstone in 1998.  From a bus, where we all ran to one side of the tour bus trying to plaster our faces to the window.  That bear was far.  This bear was about 30 feet away.

Because I get too excited, I stop off at a viewpoint first before we hit Maligne Canyon.  I turned left one turn too soon, though in my defense this turn was about 20 feet before the actual turn into the canyon.  Oh well, we still got a fantastic view of the surrounding area.

Mr. Bendi also gets to explore

One of my favorite things about Parks Canada?  They are super duper dog friendly.  When we brought my Bento to Yellowstone, he could basically hang in the parking lot - so when we went to visit stuff we would strap on a dog backpack and he'd sit on our backs because he wasn't allowed on the boardwalks.  In Canada, dogs are allowed almost everywhere as long as you pick up after your dog - which was awesome because Bendi got to do almost everything we got to do (except for the Glacier Explorer and the Maligne Lake Cruise.  He napped in the car then).  He had SO.  MUCH.  FUN.  And we had fun watching him explore.  Out of all of us, he had the most energy and was in the best shape, despite being chubby.  

We get back in the car and make the correct turn into Maligne Canyon.  It's a series of bridges you hike to (it's paved pretty well) and you get different viewpoints of the waterfalls and the canyon - and there were lots of people there!  But it was beautiful.  Grace and Edward only saw the first two bridges - we made our way to fourth bridge before we turned back.  We were there for over an hour, but it was a lot of fun.  It wasn't hard walking, though some parts were a little steep - but we noticed (for the first of many times) how clean this places was - and how everything was so well maintained and how fantastic the railings were.  Even the bathroom here was clean!  And had flushing toilets!  And soap and paper towels!  (it's the little things)

And of course, because we are awesome (or awesomely lame), we had to take our obligatory lopsided unflattering selfie.  Because that's how we roll.

Also, have you seen my most awesome 4th favorite shirt?  My geekiness is truly astounding.  But I LURVE this shirt!

The trail is a little weird, the first bridge you encounter is actually the second bridge - but you can loop around and come back to the first bridge.  It's a little weird and hard to describe, but the reality is much more beautiful and serene than can be captured in pictures - even when it's crowded.

After we finish with the canyon, we head towards Maligne Lake, which is about 23 miles away from Maligne Canyon on curvy mountain roads.  On the way to Maligne Lake, we see Medicine Lake, which is really pretty - but what's really interesting is that it disappears in the fall and winter because of the sinkholes beneath.  It's just that during the summer the glacial melt runs into the lake faster than it can drain, so a lake is actually created, whereas when the glacial melt slows down, the lake shrinks until it disappears into the sinkholes beneath only for the water to surface in Maligne Canyon.  Cool beans!

Being lazy, we did not get out of the car - but we pulled over into the lot and took a photo out the windshield.  Pretty.   :)

as you can see, being spring it means the water level isn't very high  yet

We had purchased the Ultimate Explorer Package through Brewster before we went, so while we had tickets for all four attractions (Banff Gondola, Glacier Skywalk, Glacier Explorer and the Maligne Lake Cruise), we still needed to stop by the ticket booth/desk to obtain a time, especially for the Glacier Explorer and the Lake Cruise.  We arrived at 2 pm (thankfully it was kind of cold, Bendi was fine in the car with the windows cracked - we walked him, fed him some snacks, he drank his water and he slept - he was still sleepy and confused when we returned to the - still cool - car hours later.  You can't do this in the summer when it's kinda warm, but being that it was in the 60's, we didn't have a problem leaving him in the car because it never got anywhere near hot in the car), I booked ahead to the ticket office and got tickets for the last cruise of the day leaving at 3 pm.  This was actually perfect because we hadn't eaten yet!

So we went to the Maligne Lake cafeteria and ate lunch.  I was impressed - it was a nice big, bright and clean space with rustic wooden furniture.  Plenty of seating, free water with nice sized plastic cups (see the ones we used) and the food was actually pretty dang good!  The bread was soft and chewy and the pastries were very tasty.  My mom and Grace got the beef stew and both of them enjoyed the soup and ate all of it.  It's soup and sandwiches and pastries and cookies - but it's done well in a very nice environment.  And the view can't be beat!  We were there pretty late for lunch, so there weren't a lot of people, but we got a great table by the window so we could eat and look out onto the lake at the same time.  They also had a cute souvenir shop there (where I purchased a Maligne Lake ornament for myself) as well as clean bathroom facilities that flush!  Every time I see a clean flushing toilet I take advantage, because you never know when you'll see one again in a national park!

So we ate, and we were happy:

After we all eat and drink and use the facilities, it's close to the 2:50 pm time we were told to assemble near the dock.  We all get on with no problems and we fit into two rows without having to sit by strangers (because I am strangely antisocial and incredibly awkward, this pleases me).  The ride out to Spirit Island took about 30-35 minutes with a guide narrating about what we're seeing.  It's a nice ride and we could go out the back and take photos if we want.  The guide was also funny as well as informative, so I had a good time.

this is not the dock, but the cute little (much photographed) boat house off to the side

And we arrive!  Everything that relates to this tour/cruise is about Spirit Island, blah blah blah.  Well, what's so enthralling about this island?  That's really an isthmus because there's a strip of land attached to it?  Well, it's not about the island, but the backdrop, what's known as the Hall of the Gods.   The island is this tiny isthmus with like, 20 trees, but he backdrop is magnificent!

See the dinky island?  And look behind it, because there's nothing sexy or exciting about it.  But the peaks and glaciers behind it - glorious.

We got about 20 minutes here - they tell us to stay on the trails, and there are two trails: one that's along the shoreline of the lake and one that leads to a higher viewpoint (kind of a steep climb, not bad at all) that gives us the glorious image above.

We climb up and of course, take our crap photos.  

Including our crap selfies:

Either you can't see our faces, or you can't see the background - but the point is (which I distinctly remember arguing with my parents about when we were standing there) is that WE WERE THERE.  Who cares that the background isn't fantastic?  We have other photos to show the background, but these photos show that we were the ones who were actually there and saw it and took the photos - that we didn't jack them off the internets!

We look down and see Edward and Grace by the shoreline:

Wanna see what they were taking pictures of?  Here's a broader (and crooked) look:

We go down and take pictures by the shoreline too - it's a completely different perspective.

Our boat people honk the horn (there's another boat that arrived just minutes after us) and we dutifully head back to the boat and climb on.  After another 30 minute ride back, we arrive at the boat docks again.

While others use the restrooms (it'll take about an hour to drive back to Pyramid Lake) mom and I decide it's a good time to take another selfie!  It's after 5 pm at this point, so we head back to the car where Mr. Bendi was napping, took him out to pee, fed him more snacks, and we drove down towards Jasper again.  Tonight's plan for dinner was to head to the grocery store to pick up some food, as well as to pick up more breakfast food.  We all had unusually large appetites (okay, maybe not me, but other people) probably from all the walking we've been doing, so we actually needed more food than expected!

We stopped in at Robinson's - it was quite nice!  It wasn't very large (compared to grocery stores we have in So Cal) but it was laid out well and had a nice selection.  I ended up deciding to make shrimp pasta - we bought a package of frozen shrimp, another of frozen scallops, a jar of Rao's vodka sauce and some linguine.  Throw in some minced garlic sauteed in olive oil, you've got dinner!  Easy to make, but quite tasty - and within my limited culinary repertoire.  My mom thought we needed some greens, so she bought some broccoli that we sauteed with garlic and olive oil.  It made for a fairly low key dinner along with some dinner rolls we bought, and who doesn't like carbolicious pasta?  

We ate and ate and ate (we didn't want leftovers, and I don't like to underfeed, so I overfeed) and we drove (yes, drove - it's a big lake!) to the parking area for Pyramid Island to be able to relax and take in the beauty of this amazing place we were staying at!  People who come to Jasper drive up to the lake just to walk around and take in the views - of course we have to do the same!  The water was pretty calm, enough that the reflections are pretty decent.

We walk along the path and then hit the bridge to the island.

The island isn't big, but it's got some picnic tables, some benches, a gazebo and some seating areas.  There are also what looks like pews - I don't know if they have sunrise services or weddings, but it was a nice place to sit and gaze at the lake and the snow capped mountains.

We decide this is a good place to get pictures!  (of us)

We explore around the island a bit and find that the other side also has fantastic views.

We spent about 30 minutes wandering around the island and just looking at the views.  When it starts getting darker we troop back to the car to return to our snug lodges.  While they were not luxurious, there was something idyllic and serene about staying there.  Maybe it has something to do with this view out the window.  At 10:00 pm.  

Snug in our lodges - full, warm, tired and satisfied, we slowly drop off to sleep.  We still have more stuff to do tomorrow!  The next day, we take the Jasper Skytram up to the Whistlers to get the mountain climber's view of the Rockies.  Without climbing, because we're lazy.