On Friday morning (August 7th) we woke up to an absolutely beautiful day and were so excited the weather had cleared up so that we could see Jasper National Park in its full glory (aka see the mountains without cloud cover.) We celebrated by making pancakes, eggs, and hot chocolate and then shared them with our good Canadian neighbors who had helped us the night before (when our van got stuck going backing up our trailer).
After breakfast the kids and I needed to use the restroom (which was near the lake) and so we took a short little hike around the west side of the lake to get a better feel for the lakes size. It was gorgeous!
Then after breakfast cleanup we headed out to explore the North East side of Jasper National park. Mostly we just loved driving through these enormous mountains that never seemed to end!
This lake took my breath away! I believe it is called Medicine Lake and in July the surrounding mountains caught on fire after lightening struck. I actually thought the contrast of the burnt trees with the green lake looked pretty cool and the other dead orange looking trees I just pretended were evergreens whose leaves were turning color. ha ha!
Our first stop on our drive was to Maligne Lake where we had lunch (homemade quiznos) with chip and fruit, and then Adam took the kids on a hike around the lake while I pumped a bottle and fed Jamis.
On our way out, Dawson and Ady said they needed to use the restroom, but the restrooms near the lake had a super long line and we knew it would be awhile, so we drove up to the upper parking lot where a bigger restroom was. The kids went pee and then got back in the car, but just as Adam was getting in the car he excitedly whispered, “Look a bear!” and he got out of the car to go chase it! I was so confused why he was running towards it and not away from it and yelled, “where are you going?” He guided me around to where the bear was and tried chasing it towards the car! It was just a baby black bear, but his technique worked and the bear actually crossed the road right in front of us and then as we were leaving the park we saw it again off the side of the road. This time we were able to get a picture and we followed it for about 3 or 4 minutes as it meandered near the road. So cool! The kids still talk about this and named it as one of their favorite memories from our trip!
Then we headed back the way we came (and loved a different view of the park) before heading to the South West side of the park.
