Fun things to do in Jasper National Park

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Maligne Lake (at 22.5 km long) and Spirit Island is one the photographed locations in the world. From April to October, you can take a boat tour to the island and also admired the surrounding beauty of the lake and the surrounding peaks and glaciers. You can hike around the lake and there are a variety of hiking trails available for all abilities including the famous 44 km Skyline Trail. In winter, cross skiing is available.

Town shuttles are available to Maligne Lake from Jasper.

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This lake is in Jasper National Park and not far from Jasper. Medicine Lake is a shallow lake and is part of the Maligne Valley which is glacial fed. The lake has a geologic anomaly with affects the lake where the Maligne River stops and suddenly disappears below and yet in the summer the lake can easily fill up from the melting snow in the valley and mountains.

Maligne Canyon is a gorge which are formed by the forceful waters of the lower Maligne River. You can follow the trail that takes you downstream by crossing the six bridges and some bridges down to the river itself. On the 2nd bridge, the canyon is over 50 metres deep and it's a sight beyond of the canyon and towards Athabasca Valley and the bridges there are several waterfalls below in the canyon.

There is a tea shop at the beginning of the trail and various picnic spots.

*Unfortunately I don't have any digital photos of Maligne Canyon. Hopefully on a future trip!*

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Jasper, and what nice buildings there were here. They looked very sturdy with local stonework in the architecture.

The Tourist Information Centre was set in the park in one of these buildings, a must for information on what to see and do.
It is located at 500 Connaught Drive and is open seven days a week.
Tel : 780-852-6176
Opening hours vary throughout the year, so please check

April 1- June 9: 9:00 am - 5:00 pm
June 10 - September 5: 8:30 am - 9:00 pm
September 6 - September 30: 9:00 am - 6:00 pm
October 1 - October 31: 9:00 am - 5:00 pm
November 01 - March 31: 9:00 am - 4:00 pm

Jasper, I thought was a little cheaper than Banff, we did manage to find a good reasonable cafe for our meals.
The town is not overly large, and we found it quite easy to walk around.

Peak season is the months of July and August, so you need to book accommodation well in advance.

I loved these falls!
Located on the Athabasca river with the Columbia Icefields as its source, I imagine there would be a lot of water going over them at anytime.

It had rained heavily all night, and it still was light rain when we were here.
The result was a thundering waterfall, full of fury and might, so powerful and mesmerizing to watch as it swirled around rocks and over and down the narrow gorge. The falls are only 23metres high, so not real high, but the high volume and sheer force of the water has made these falls A MUST VISIT. So powerful is the water, that over time, it has eroded the the softer limestone beneath, carving interesting features, including and a short canyon.

There are a few viewing platforms, go to all of them, as they give different views.

Be careful walking, as there is plenty of spray coming off the falls, and the steps would be slippery even on a fine weather day.

The Tangle Falls are located on Tangle Ridge and are a spectacular series of cascading waterfalls. We saw them with a small amount of water, and then the next after heavy overnight rain, they were really gushing then! These are pretty Waterfalls.

You can't miss them as they are right on the edge of the Icefield's Parkway, about
97 km from Jasper......
OR
6.4 km south of the Icefields Center.

There is a large parking area across the road from the falls, with ample parking.
Watch for traffic when crossing the road to view the falls.

We were driving the Icefield's Parkway when we came across a lot of car's stopped and people with their camera's out. A quick look, and we could see why, there were Mountain Goat's feeding by the side of the road.
Well, we joined the other photographer's, as this was the 1st time we had seen them.

They were nothing like the photo's I had seen, where they were white and fluffy, but they were a dirty white and their coats were falling off them, it must have been the time of the year for malting, they looked a pretty miserable lot!
The only one that looked nice, was the little, fluffy white baby.

We found out that Mountain goats gather here to lick the silt for its calcium and sulphate content, ingesting so much that their droppings turn silt-white instead of the usual black. This deposit attracts the mountain goats and is a great and easy place to see these animals, right near the highway.
Another plus is the view towards the Athabasca River Valley, pretty good!

Medicine Lake in my view was beautiful. The Lake is approx 7 km long and is a fairly shallow lake. The lake is part of the Maligne Valley watershed which is mainly glacial fed.

When we 1st saw it, the water was dead calm, and the reflections fantastic.
There wasn't anywhere to park, so we decided to take photo's on the way back. BIG MISTAKE!
Lesson learnt. Take photo's straight away, as when we came past on our way home, the wind was up, and the lake was no longer calm!

Medicine Lake is also different to other lake's, in the sense that it is not actually a lake, but rather an area in which the Maligne River backs up and suddenly disappears underground. Sometimes, there is no water left in the Lake at all! Early Indian's thought that the "spirits" were the cause of this, now we know different.
The underground system is one of the most extensive in the world.