If You Go Down to the Woods Today...

30/06/15

Our time in Athabasca has come to an end and I am absolutely delighted. We decided that we’d have a picnic so we headed to the number one restaurant in Jasper – the Patricia Street Deli where we got some delicious sandwiches to take away.  As Rory missed out on the tour last night I decided to give him the Gina McCune version. We came across some bighorn sheep and a few little babies (are they mountain lambs?) but we didn’t see any bears! When we arrived at Malign Lake it started raining! We’ve been really lucky with the weather so we can’t really complain. Instead we sat in the car and had a delicious car picnic.

When it started to dry up we ventured out and decided to walk along the lake. At first we were walking within 200m of another girl but she soon disappeared and it was just Rory and I, alone in the wilderness. You might think I’m joking but there was genuinely nobody about and the trails were small and overgrown. Surrounded by silence our imaginations started to run wild. To be fair, I was enjoying the peace and quiet but Rory thought we were highly likely to be attacked by a bear. His fear was infectious and when we came across a particularly rocky and overgrown section that led away from the lake and towards the interior we decided to head back. We never saw the other walker. Hopefully she didn’t become a tasty snack for a hungry bear!

On the drive back towards town we saw a bear! Slightly farther from the road but still within 20 feet of the car, he was walking through the forest, blissfully unaware of the massive bear jam he was causing and all the tourists who were desperately trying to get a good picture of him! Feeling very content we set off in search of our hotel. Located outside town Alpine Village is Tripadvisor’s top place to stay in Jasper and it’s not hard to see why. It’s more modern and luxurious that Storm Mountain, featuring a kitchen and a TV and while it wasn’t as authentic, it was still a beautiful place to stay. 

When Rory had finished fawning over the TV we headed back into town and had dinner at the Jasper Brewing Company. I went for a steak sandwich which was literally a massive steak on top of a piece of bread –this is definitely not a complaint, I love bread and I love steak especially when you put them together and charge $10 for it!