Spring Break 2022 - Alberta - Day 6

This morning AK, JK, AA and Lola headed up the Jasper SkyTram to check out the views from the top of the mountain. It was a short 7.5 minute ride to the top, approximately 1000m higher than our starting point. The views were amazing of Jasper, the mountain range and the snow. AA really enjoyed himself, hopefully he got some good photos (so we can get printed for our vacation photo wall).

The wind was sure cold up there, so we didn't go on the summit hike to get even higher, and the snow was pretty deep.  We saw a few people try but they turned around as it was too challenging. 

AA and Lola purchased some souvenirs and had fun taking photos with Hooty.... We got a mountain Goat for LK, which she named Goaty when we gave it to her when we got back.

After lunch at the hotel, we headed to out to try and see some wildlife.  First stop was a drive along Pyramid Lake....still no wildlife.  But the view from the small hike was amazing.  The lake was still pretty frozen (except for a small portion at the bridge). We did the short loop hike on Pyramid Island then headed back to the car to head south to check out Athabasca Falls. 

About a 30 minute drive outside of Jasper we followed the big blue truck, in hopes of being excited to stop along the highway at some wildlife.  Still nothing.  The falls were pretty amazing, as the blue water flowed through the rocks creating the falls.  The hiking was pretty icy, but we managed.  The kids really enjoyed the views and had fun taking photos.

On the way back to Jasper, we found 1 lonely deer on the side of the road, which wasn't too exciting.  We also stopped at the Jasper sign heading into town.

We saw the ski hill along our drive.

Back at the hotel, Lola made supper, we played some games and had a very enjoyable evening together.  Even played some Mario Party, Sushi Go, and Skip-bo. We tried our best to eat the food out of the fridge so EK and JK don't have to take too much food back with them. 

We all packed up as much as we could this evening as we are going our separate ways in the morning.  The Blue truck is starting the drive back to Manitoba tomorrow, while Lola and AA have a flight to check in the evening.

Lola asked all what the highlights were this evening:

AA - SkyTram

Lola - Skiing the first day (in all the powder)

LK - Skiing and while in the big chair seeing us.

AK, EK - Skiing the second day

JK - the mountains.... just the view of the mountains.

We are sad to go home and will miss the mountain views, but most of us are ready to sleep in our own beds.

Night, Lola.

Spring Break 2022 - Alberta - Day 5

Todays adventure was to Maligne Canyon.  LK was too small to do the tour, so EK and LK stayed behind looking for wildlife and a park. 

The 4 of us ventured in the blue truck and headed to the starting point.  We met our tour guide, that no one knows what her name was, and headed along the trail to the check out the canyon.  Typically you would be able to walk down in the canyon but it was closed for the season, as there was too much melting in the last couple of days. 

We made it to the 3rd bridge, and our tour guide decided that we should have put the ice cleats on our boots as the trail was very slippery, so we turned around to head back to the starting point.  That was a good decision as the trail was very icy.  So icy that most of the time AK was sliding down the hills on her bum.  

The Canyon was very cool, deep, and had ice and water falls at every bridge.  We went all the way to bridge 5 where they had a shuttle bus ready to take us back to the beginning. Towards the end we walked along the rivers edge which had rushing water, while the beginning of the canyon just had ice on the bottom. AK did very well for an almost 3 hour hike.

Along the way, we learnt about the rocks, plants, animals and we even tried to skip some rocks. AA tried the fresh mountain water!

We made it back to the hotel to have lunch prepared by EK. Hot dogs and fries were on the menu.

After lunch we all had a rest as we have been going pretty hard. After that we headed for a walk downtown to do a little shopping. But we got rained on so headed back to the hotel. LK was excited to go in the car with AA and Lola.

We coloured for a while, ordered supper of pizza and steak (for Lola). 

After supper we headed to the pool, had a good swim, then kids headed to bed. 

Adults played phase ten and then headed to bed. We had a great day enjoying Jasper, but EK is disappointed we haven't seen much wild life.

Tomorrow is our last full day in Jasper.... going to miss these views.