Canada - Day 10 - 30th June

We were booked on an organised trip today – we were picked up at 08:15 – there was already an Australian couple on the bus who were good fun and easy company.

After we had picked up about 18 people we headed up slowly to Maligne Lake where we were going to do a cruise down the lake. Our guide and driver for the day was Joe and was both very informative and also highly amusing had us laughing most of the day and also crying at the bear attack stories he told (good news is only 2 people in 20 years have actually been killed by Bears).

After about 10 mins we saw loads of Elk on a sand bank in the middle of the main river – there were loads of baby Elks which were really cute and later in the day we saw them swimming back across to the main bank of the river. Then 10 mins later we spotted a Black bear in the forest close to the road – John got some good video but he was to hidden by the trees to get a good photo.

It was at this point Joe started to tell the bear attack stories – as soon as a bear is seen all the cars behind stop and amazingly people actually get out their cars to photograph them – bears can actually run faster than a race horse so this is not a great move and I think the guides are kind of waiting for a tourist to be killed at some point even though there are notices everywhere saying BEARS ARE DANGEROUS stay in your cars. They are also worried that the Bears are getting too used to human contact which they are trying to stop as once this happens the Bears will start to attack more people.

We then got to Maligne lake and took a 1 ½ hour trip along it stopping at an island at the other end for 10 mins called Spirit Island. The trip was very pleasant as the weather is again very sunny and very very hot.



In the afternoon we made our way to Maligne Canyon which is an amazing deep gorge with a waterfall which is truly stunning – there are several pot holes in the gorge where the water just goes round and round like a vortex. Just before we arrived there we saw another black bear this time with 2 cubs – so cute – they look so cuddly which is why I am sure so many people think it is OK to get out their cars, but after another Joe story on bears attacks ensures we’d never get out the car.

After the Canyon trip we headed back to Jasper and saw the same black bear we had seen that morning – yet again loads of people were out their cars and one mad woman even followed the bear into the forest for that perfect picture – lets hope it didn’t cost her more than she bargained for.

We are now off up the Jasper Tramway to the top of one of the ski slopes in Winter for another spectacular view and then into town for a meal. Tomorrow we are up very early to catch the Train to Whistler then Vancouver.