Because we like the smaller town of Jasper much more than the larger, more tourist oriented town of Banff, we are spending most of our time in the Canadian Rockies near Jasper.
After finding Lake Louise still frozen over, we knew that Lake Maligne near Jasper would still be frozen, but we still wanted to make the drive to the lake. On the way up to Lake Maligne, the road passes Medicine Lake. The floor of Medicine Lake has channels that allow water to leak out. When the inflow is less than the leakage rate, the lake empties. In the spring and summer, snow melt produces enough water to overcome the leakage and the lake fills. The native people feared the area due to the "great medicine".
This fellow was feeding along side the road near the upper end of Medicine Lake.
As expected, Maligne Lake was still mostly frozen, but still spectacular.
Another side trip was south to visit the Athabasca Falls. This is a view of the Athabasca River along the way.
There were snow flurries moving through the area.
At a pullout near the river, we came across this group of kayakers getting ready to paddle down the Athabasca.
We think our friends Larry and Renee should get a pair of these!
The Athabasca River drops into a narrow gorge at the Athabasca Falls. Because of the narrow gorge and limited public access, getting images of the falls is a challenge.
