September 10
Today we saw up close the devastation suffered by the town of Jasper during the 2024 wildfire. With one-third of the town being destroyed, no one was left unaffected. Folks are still healing emotionally and are happy to have tourists visiting. The area is in the process of rebuilding but two years in there’s a lot of work still to be done.
The Jasper Park Skytram is an aerial tramway that travels up the side of a mountain called The Whistlers in a brisk 7 minutes. We were set to take it up for a view of the scenery from above, but weather conditions weren’t great. We had wind and rain off and on most of the day, so we decided to drive the Maligne Valley to Maligne Lake and see what that would bring.
The good news is that with the weather changing so quickly from moment to moment, the lighting on the landscape did as well. One minute we’d see a mountain covered in clouds and the next thing we knew the clouds parted and sunshine came streaming down across the vast landscape, causing the peak to glimmer in the brightness.
The trip to Maligne Lake consisted of many stops for brief walks at various other lakes along the river with our jaws slackening as we looked up, down and all around. How many times can you say “Oh wow, look at that!” In one day?
At each stop we thought we’d seen the best of Jasper. But ending up at Maligne Lake, we realized we hadn’t seen much at all.
It turns out that most of the park has no roads and is completely inaccessible, on purpose. Staring up at those mountains in the distance from Maligne Lake one can only imagine what it must look like. I’m glad it’s being kept wild.
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