I had booked a boat tour of Maligne Lake for today. This is a long, glacier-fed lake at a high altitude, with steep mountains on either side. All along the tour there are spectacular views of the mountains, glaciers, and the beautiful turquoise water of the lake.
Along the way, a guide gave a talk on the history of the lake and answered questions. The tours have been operating since around the 1930's, at which time the lake was also stocked with fish. In addition to the tour boats, there were quite a few people in small boats fishing, or canoeing or kayaking.
After the boat tour, I had planned to do a moderate hike in the area. However, it was rainy, and when I asked about the trail I was told it was still covered in snow at the top and very muddy. In fact, because of the late start to the summer this year, a lot of the higher elevation trails in Jasper Park are still closed. So instead of doing a large hike, I ended up spending my time in Jasper doing several smaller ones. The advantage is that I got to see more areas of the park.
After the boat tour I went to Miette hot springs. It's a few kilometers off the main highway, near the park boundary. When I got there, I first did a little hiking in the area. There is a short walk that goes to the ruins of the former facility, closed in 1984, and it continues to the source of the hot spring. You can feel the sulphur-smelling hot water coming out of the ground. From there, I continued on, hiking for an hour or so in the surrounding hills. When I was done walking I came back to the main hot spring facility for a soak in the pool.
On the way back to Hinton, east of Jasper where I was staying, I stopped at Folding Mountain brewery, about 15 km west of Hinton. It is a real craft brewery and restaurant. I tried their pale ale and it was quite good. The funny thing about the place is that, except for a few cabins nearby, it seems to be in the middle of nowhere. It was busy though, so people are coming from somewhere.
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