Finally, some wildlife. I was beginning to think nothing lived in this massive park. To be honest, we're not even sure there are mountains in Jasper given how low the clouds have been while we've been here. More on that later.

Our day started with a cloudy, snowy drive along Maligne Lake Road to board a sightseeing boat on Maligne Lake. The closer we got to the lake, the more snowy it became and some was even sticking to the trees and ground. This road is one of the most popular for wildlife viewing so we left a half hour early in case we saw something. We did not and arrived a half hour early to the foggy lake. Due to the fog, the earlier tours were cancelled. We waited at the dock for a while until finally they cancelled our tour as well. Bummer! However, with the fog, we couldn't really see much so it was probably for the best. The fog didn't stop us from enjoying some waffles at the Waffle House on the lake though! We didn't see any wildlife by the lake but we did see evidence left by the momma grizzly and her two cubs on the path near the boathouse!

On the way back to Jasper, our expectations for seeing wildlife were fairly low given our luck so far. But everything changed about halfway along the drive. First, a huge bull moose was standing on the side of the road as we came around the corner. We watched him grazing the ditch darting in and out of the forest for a bit. As we left, we noticed one of the cars behind us was now looking the opposite direction so we turned around to see a black bear down in the valley.

As we continued our drive home, our bull moose friend jumped out of the woods again one last time and crossed the road right in front of us. As we watched him cross we saw another black bear off in the distance as well! We stopped at a pullout to view a bald eagle nest and also saw the male flying across the valley. Right before we headed into our afternoon hike, we saw another small black bear foraging on the side of the road!

Our hike this afternoon was the Maligne Canyon hike. We looped counter clockwise to view all five bridges that cross the river. We started at the visitor center and hiked down the canyon on the ridge with great views as the clouds cleared and we saw actual blue sky! The hike back up the canyon followed the river closely which was beautiful. Throughout the canyon, springs appear out of the side of the mountain. By the time we made it to the top, the river was 150' below the bridge and canyon walls! Of course it also started raining about halfway back up the canyon and at one point I had Whitaker on my back and carried a very tired Ainsley. She's been a trooper. In all, the hike was a little over 2.5 miles!

On our way back, we saw another group of bighorn sheep grazing the ditches. Dinner was at the Jasper Brewery. Once again, the kids meals were huge and the kids devoured everything.

We leave Jasper in the morning and head back to Banff once again via Icefields Parkway.

Kevin