Day - 11 Smoky Atmosphere

waking up to a fiery red sun truly set the mood for what was to come of the day, we made our way into Maligne valley then headed further north into Hinton.

wildfire smoked sunrise

Waking up at mount Robson our amazing view of the mountain was replaced by a thick smoke screen covering the valley, a fiery red sun took the place of the normally golden sunrise. even after we made our way to the base of the mountain at the observatory, we where unable to see the top of the mountain, all due to the numerous wildfires happening further west into bc.

Maligne Canyon

After enjoying our morning we made our way back into jasper to go explore Maligne valley. we started off by stopping at Maligne canyon. A 4 km hike took us over and along the canyon where we could see the very narrow but very deep canyon. At 52m deep but only a few meter wide it was quite a sight to see. the fissure in the middle of the mountains looked almost surreal, looking down the canyon made us lose our sense of depth.

Medicine Lake

Making our way up the valley we stopped at Medicine Lake. A few years ago a raging wildfire devastated the area leaving only burnt pillars where the forest used to be. In the middle of the destruction, on a small island in the middle of the lake, we saw a bald eagle’s nest where the mother was protecting her young ones.

Mighty Maligne lake

our final stop at the end of the valley was Maligne lake, the biggest and most pictured natural mountain lake in the Rockies. Normally, its azure waters would reflect the nearby mountains and glaciers leaving an outstandingly beautiful sight, but the smoke covered the lake making it impossible to see the mountains and tainting the bright waters with a more somber tone. It was still a sight to behold with a seemingly endless lake disappearing into the distance with large mountainous silhouettes on each sides.

Back to off-roading the rental car

At the end of the day we decided to head on over to the public land use zone near Hinton for some free camping. The road going there was nice but when we arrived we had to do a fair bit of off-roading, avoiding rocks, ruts, and almost tipping the car over avoiding a large patch of water! Fortunately we didn’t flip it and made our way to an huge field with a gorgeous mountain view where we set up our tents while a friendly deer looked on.