Maligne Lake and Canyon

Hi Blog!

On Tuesday, August 16, 2016, we decided to spend the day in Jasper National Park driving the old Maligne Road.  We had several stops planned along the way. First up, our red chair photo at a small picnic area next to the Maligne River.

The road follows the Maligne River up the Maligne Valley. We stopped to admire Medicine Lake along the way. The First Nations people believed that the lake was "bad medicine" since the water disappeared every year. Turns out, there are sinkholes in the bottom of the lake. In the spring and summer, the lake fills up faster than it drains. By the time the dry months of fall and winter come, the lake is pretty empty.

Before long, we arrived at our trailhead. We decided to hike up the Bald Hills Trail, since it would give us some of the best view of Maligne Lake.  Dave is pointing the way!

The trail started out on an old fire tower road which made for a great shadow selfie!

Before long we were out of the woods and working our way up the Bald Hills. The area is named "Bald Hills" because the height of land consists of four or five hills whose crests are above treeline, offering many routes for hiking an extended distance in an alpine environment.  More and more of Maligne Lake could be seen in the background as we rose in elevation to the alpine zone.

We reached the summit of the first hill. Since we had other stops to make, we decided this would be our turning point.  Below, Kathy adds a stone to cairn to celebrate reaching the summit.

To appreciate the 360 degree view we had, just click on the link to the You Tube Video - Bald Hills.

Here, Dave takes his turn on the summit with Maligne Lake in the background.

The trail continued to the next bald hill, but that would be for another time. So many trails, so little time.

We took one last look before heading down. Maligne Lakes is famed for the color of its water, the surrounding peaks, the three glaciers visible from the lake and Spirit Island, a frequently photographed islet. You can take a boat tour to Spirit Island, but we decided to save that for another trip.

The hike back down to the trailhead was a very social experience. The Bald Hills Hike is one of the most popular hikes in Jasper. We were glad we got an early start. Before heading back down Maligne Road, we took a short stroll along the lakeshore. Unfortunately, with the increasing cloud cover, we didn't get to see the milky green color Maligne Lake is so famous for.

As hordes of tourists were streaming up the valley, we were going down. We were afraid we wouldn't be able to find a parking place at the Maligne Canyon Trailhead, but we got lucky; just as we pulled in the parking lot to turn around, an RV pulled out right in front of the trailhead. It was just a short walk to the first bridge over the canyon.

Maligne Canyon is seen as different and odd geologically. Flowing out of Medicine Lake, the Maligne River flows about 15 kilometers as a full size river, but very quickly disappears into seeps in the ground and completely vanishes from the surface not far from the lake. The smaller streams that feed the valley below that point rebuild the river by the time it reaches the top of Maligne Canyon. The river drops down into the canyon and intersects the bedrock layers where an underground river flows. At this point, numerous large underground streams join and greatly amplify the water flow. The canyon is constantly deteriorating from the churning and swirling water.

On our way back to camp, we noticed a large crowd of stopped vehicles by the shores of Lake Jasper. If you look really close, you will see a bull elk standing in the middle of the lake. Lake Jasper is so shallow, you can walk across it.  And he did!

Wildlife always seems to punctuate our drives into and out of the park.  It makes for great anticipation on a ride which is nearly an hour's length just to get to the area of the park where we can branch off to our particular trailheads.  Despite the repeated, long drives, we never tired of the scenery.  And every day on our return, we could look ahead to our next adventure!