Valley of the Five Lakes Trail

Herewith another tale of red chairs.

On the afternoon of Thursday, August 18, 2016, after completing our hike to Clavell Meadows, we found the trailhead for the Valley of the Five Lakes.  Our reason for doing this was simply to find the red chairs, but in the process we found one of the prettiest hikes we have ever taken!

So let's get the red chairs out of the way.  Here we are, sitting in the red chairs, gazing out over Third Lake.  Contrary to our usual practice of photoshopping two photos (one taken of Dave by Kathy, and one vice versa) to make a joint red chair photo, we ran across a young woman who asked if we would take her photo in the red chairs.  After Kathy obliged, the young woman took our photo.  So what you see is what you get in this case.

To get to the Five Lakes, we had to hike over three ridges from the trailhead at the Icefields Parkway. Once over the first ridge, we encountered a beautiful little stream valley with a boardwalk across the wetlands:

Up and over the second ridge, we found this beautiful little pond tucked between the second and third ridges:

Down to the level of the pond and we crossed another wooden bridge then climbed the third ridge:

On the north side of the third ridge, the trail brought us to the west shore of pretty Fifth Lake, and emerald green, calm in the afternoon sun:

A little further on and we discovered gorgeous Fourth Lake, tucked in among some of the mountains of Jasper National Park, and in a very reflective mood:

Hiking a little further and we found fetching Third Lake, it of the red chairs:

We hiked around Third Lake and were soon passing the shore of the wonderfully green Second Lake:

Our trail circled around Second Lake and brought us a glancing view of pretty little First Lake:

The hike wasn't a difficult hike, but it presented us with more lake beauty than any other hike we've taken.  We headed back to our campground filled with the warmth of having been pleasantly surprised.

However, the Five Lakes weren't to be our last pleasant surprise.  As we headed north out of the park, we found the ubiquitous mountain sheep trotting alongside the road in their usual spot, but this time feeling relaxed and willing to let us snap a photo without hurtling off into the brush on the side of the road:

This was our last day driving into the park for hikes, and we felt Jasper gave us lots of gifts to remember it by.  Next up:  Yoho National Park and Kootenay National Park and lots of stuff in between!