Weather, shmeather!

 The weather forecast for today was not good!  It was raining when we got up and there were very low clouds.  Rain was going to last all morning and the clouds all day.  But, as they say “weather, shmeather!”  (Do they say that??  Not sure, but it sounds good to me).  We had reservations for a tour to go to lake Maligne, and so we boarded our small bus, hoping for the best.  We lucked out! 

 On the way up to the lake, we drove through the forest that was devastated by the fires of 2024.  The extent of it is hard to comprehend.   Thousand of acres destroyed, including a lot of the town of Jasper itself.  Most large animal within the park survived (bears, elks, moose) because they could move away and/or stay near the river, but most small animal (squirrels, etc) died.   Only one human died ( a 24 year old firefighter), but many houses were destroyed and there are still large areas of temporary trailers where people live now (our driver said that these are in fact very nice and that people are dreading the day they go away because they are a good deal).

  

 Part of the problem with the fires was that a lot of the trees had died and dried up before it, because of the pine beetles.  In order to get rid of them, the temperature needs to drop below 10 for 2 weeks straight, which had not happened in a while.  So there were a lot of dead trees.  You can still see them (the red ones) in areas that did not burn down.  Luckily, 2023 was very cold, and the infestation is under control.  But that did not help with the 2024 fires.  

 It is nice to see the undergrowth growing back, and flowers blooming amongst the dead trees.

   Also, all the luscious undergrowth is wonderful for elks and mule deer.  

 We stopped by “disappearing lake” so called because it literally disappears in the summer- not because it dries out, but because it drains through underground caves.  It had a couple of nesting bald eagles.   But we have many bald eagles back home, so no need for pictures..

 We continued along the Maligne river - named by a French fur trader because it was so rough (maligne meaning wicked in French), to the famous Maligne lake.

   It was still quite overcast when we got there, but the clouds were starting to lift.

The lake is so clear that you can see the trouts swimming in it from the bridge.  

  

I went for a hike (duh…..) and Joe took a boat ride around the lake.

I went up to the well named Moose lake, where a moose was indeed wading in the water!  I stayed there quite a while just staring at it!  

 There were also interesting duck, which Merlin seem to think is a Barrows Golden eye, but I don’t know…..

 The wooded trail to the lake had an amazing variety of moss and lichen (and everyone knows how much I love these) in its almost rain forest-like undergrowth.  And I even found some morels!!!! (Did not pick them up, but was tempted….)   

 During my walk, the sky brightened end up and by the time I made it back to the Maligne lake, the typical mountain-scape for which it is famous was in full view.

 Joe went on a boat ride around the lake - the most well known feature of which is spirit island.

 We came back by 3:00pm, which gave me time to walked through downtown Jasper…..  don’t blink….  It is very small, in part by design:  since it is in a national park, there is no development at all - only people who have a job in town or in the park are allowed to live here, and there is no new construction (except to replace what was lost in the fire).  But also, it never was much of a town:  I was created by fur traders, and then grew as a railway stop, but as the fur industry died down (because all the bisons had been killed and the beavers had been brought to the edge of extinsion), there was nothing else to replace it.  

 OF course, it had long been inhabited by First Nation people, and then grew as center of town has a memorial to they history.   

It is pleasant though, what with the beautiful background and beautiful skies!

Th Rockies!

We left Sun Peaks early, again with that feeling of “ this would be nice for a few days”, which I think is a good thing:  means that we are stopping in very nice places.  Today was a long day driving from the Shuswap Highland to the Rockies - but an easier drive than I had expected.  I thought the road would be mountainous and twisty, but instead, it follows the North Thompson river almost the entire way, and is thus in a valley.  The The road is mostly flat and pretty the entire way, weaving through bucolic landscapes. 

On our way, we first stopped at Wells Grey provincial park, in the Cariboo mountains - no, I had not heard of either one either…. But it never ceases to amaze me how many truly wonderful places I’ve never heard about:  This is a huge park, where we could easily have spend a week:  there are lakes, trails, mountains and wonderful sights.  It is known for its many waterfalls - of which we managed to see two: the Spathats  Creek Falls, and the Triple decker falls - they were magnificent! The other ones would have required more serious hiking…. How I wish we had the time…. (Then again, the point of a road trip is to see a lot, and quickly, which by definition means we cant really linger….). 

As we got closer to the Rockies, we got to experience the typical weather of the mountains:  changing from minute to minute.  We got some rain, but also really gorgeous skies! (Top picture).  But it means we did not stop at Mount Robson Provincial park, although it suppositely provides great views of the mount it is named after (the highest mount in the Canadian Rockies), but it would clearly have been in the clouds.  So we just continued on to Jasper, crossing into Alberta (and changing time zone).  

As we got near the town of Jasper, we saw many remnants of the devastating fires of 2024, where the entire town had to be evacuated, the park closed for 6 weeks, and about 1/3 of all structures in town were destroyed.  Wild fires are a constant worry in this part of the word.  In fact, as we were leaving Sun Peaks this morning, we were startled by a loud alarm on both our phones, with immediate evacuation orders.  Luckily for us, it was in the area we were in yesterday, near Liloohet.  But it really brought the point home.

We did not have time to do any sightseeing around Jasper today.  The town itself is not very charming (possibly because of the above mentioned destruction), but we will be doing much more tomorrow.  

We were too tired to go out, and just grabbed a roasted chicken and salad at the local grocery store, and had dinner in our room.  It was lovely.  

Below are some of the flowers and fungi I found on the trails today.

From the Cascades to the Shuswap highlands (???)

We said goodby to Whistler on another beautiful day, catching the reflection of the skiing slopes on Green lake.  

 We continued north along the Cascades, where there are MANY reflecting lakes, so we did not stop at all of them.  

 

 The road over the Cascades is very pretty, but also really steep and winding.  Joe did a fine job at managing all the hair pin turns, while I tried (and mostly failed) to capture the landscape.  

 We stopped at several view points and lakes. 

   Once on the other side, the landscape changes dramatically because it is so much drier.   In fact it starts looking like Arizona, or maybe the dry part of Wyoming.  It is definitely not as pretty as the Pacific side, but it is interesting in its starkness.  We stopped in the little town of Lilooet, where the very friendly young woman at the visitor center said that there was basically nothing to see in town, and that we should go to a lake further down, and to the Hat Creek ranch - which was already on our plans.  The town of Lilloet was  born from the Fraser river gold rush in 1858, which makes sense.  What makes less sense is why people stay there now……. Although, from the road above the canyon, it does look quite striking.

(See top picture). 

 So  we stopped at the Marble Canyon lake, which is indeed very pretty, has cristal clear water, and loons!! 

  

We then stopped by the historical Hat Creek Ranch, which is a restoration of a 1860 ranch and road house, and well worth the stop.  It also has some of the history of the original first nation people, who still live in this area.  The are many different tribes, with difficult names - my favorite being the Ts’Kw’aylaxw - I have no idea how to pronounce that!  Here are a few pictures of the ranch. 

 

 The blacksmith made me a nail - I’m very happy with it!   

  On we continued though Kamloop, which is a largish city that I had never heard of, and puzzled me a bot - this is a dry and remote place - what do people do here?  again - the town owns it’s existence to mining, and there is still mining going on (copper and gold).  But tourism is listed as its main industry and i struggle to understand why.  It is on a pretty lake, but in a VERY arid climate.  It is just not that pretty.  It is however almost halfway between Whistler and Jasper, and people stop there on the way.  We choose to bypass it and instead stop at Sun Peaks, another place I had never heard of.  It is a large ski area, built in the 1970’s to look like an Alpine village and it is very pretty.  

  Also, because it is higher, the temperature was very nice - here is what the car dashboard read in Kamloop (That’s 90 Fahrenheit- I have it packed for that!!!!). I am so ignorant of where we are that I had to ask google if we were in the Cascades or the Rockies.  

 Turns out- neither.  We are in the Shuswap highlands, a range i just learned about.  But isn’t it what road trips are all about??? Discover places you don’t know anything about?  I went for a bit of a walk, and got the wrong directions from two very friendly locals, who sent me the wrong way, but in different ways….  Of well I had a nice walk through an alpine meadow and met a cute ground squirrel. 

We had an early dinner (the fish tacos were excellent!) and have another long driving day tomorrow - this time, we should make it to the Rockies!