MALIGNE
The French word of the day is “chauve”, which translates to bald in English. As in, “My hair may be gray, but at least I’m not chauve.”
We visited a different part
of Jasper National Park the next day.
After a breakfast of egg sandwiches, we drove up past Maligne Canyon to
Maligne Lake. Maligne Lake is the
largest lake in the Canadian Rockies.
It is very scenic, as it is surrounded by snowy peaks. Originally we thought we might canoe there,
but the lake is so big, it would be hard to see much of it by paddling. An outfitter offers a 90-minute motorboat
cruise on the lake ($40), but we never got around to doing that, either. Instead, I decided to explore the area by
hiking. Christy wanted a break from
hiking. She dropped me off at the trailhead
at the end of the road and headed back to Jasper, where she planned to rent a
bike.
Most of the hike to the Bald
Hills was boring. The trail follows a
rocky jeep road through the forest.
Vicious biting flies added some extra misery to the event. The tedium of the first part of the hike was
broken though when I met another couple hiking the same way. They had both been born in Edmonton, but had
each grown up in Portland, Oregon. They
had met in Portland, and were spending the summer touring Canada by train. They had started in Vancouver and were
slowly working their way east, stopping whenever they reached a place they
wanted to explore. Their most recent
stop had been in Jasper. They started a
backpacking trip right there at the train station. After a road walk, they had picked up the Skyline Trail near
Maligne Canyon. They had hiked all the
way to Maligne Lake, and were now on their way back. I was very interested in their hike, as Christy and I would be
concluding our vacation with a backpacking trip on the very same trail the
following week.
I hiked with them for a
while before we parted ways at a junction.
I continued to climb, and reached the site of a former fire tower near
treeline. The hike was much more interesting
beyond this point. Soon I was climbing
an extremely steep trail toward the first of the Bald Hills. I struggled to the summit of the first hill
just after noon, but retreated a short distance to have lunch out of the
wind. From my perch below the peak, I
had a great lunchtime view of rows of jagged peaks, with the length of lovely
Maligne Lake squeezed between them.
I explored farther after
lunch. I crossed the summit and
followed the ridge. Another steep climb
led to the second peak. The view here
was similar, though perhaps a little better to the west and north. A deep gap interrupted the ridge between
this peak and the next one. I didn’t
have to think long about continuing before I decided to head back. I had seen a fair number of people already,
but passed even more on the way back down.
For variety, I took a footpath down instead of the old road. The footpath was steeper and rougher, but
much more interesting than the fire road.
I finished my 8-mile hike on the shores of Maligne Lake, where I met
Christy. Christy had a disappointing
day. It turns out that none of the bike
shops in Jasper rent road bikes. Plenty
of places rent mountain bikes, but Christy was leery of mountain biking on her
own. In the end, she gave up on the
biking and went shopping in Jasper instead.
So, any money we saved on the bike rental wasn’t really saved, after
all.
We stopped at Maligne Canyon
on the way back. Maligne Canyon is an
official stop on the tour bus circuit, and building afternoon clouds had done
nothing to scare off the tourists. We
dodged and weaved our way through the crowds in an attempt to get a better look
at the canyon. Maligne Canyon is rather
unique. It’s not particularly deep, but
it’s very narrow. It looked more like
something you’d see in Utah, except for the stream rushing through the bottom
of it. Unfortunately, the canyon is
also extremely difficult to photograph.
I made a futile effort before giving up and heading back to camp.
Continue reading about our adventures in Jasper as we go swimming and then visit Cavell Meadows.
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Please remember to Leave No Trace!