What's buzzin Hive!
Oh my, look at the price of HIVE these days! Are we mooning yet?π How about now?π It feels nice to see a price bump. For a few years I watched my stake grow and the $ value decrease, it was a bit depressing but I didn't pay much attention to price because this is a long term game but it's a nice reminder why we all do this scary hodling. Alright this is the day I have been dreading and avoiding posting about because my camera died in one of the most beautiful places in the world in the worst possible time...I still hold a lot of sadness, I felt like I lost a piece of myself, it was more than a material thing to me. It was the end of an era.
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First I want to go over a quick area we visited but the day wasn't picturesque, to be honest I'm not sure the area was all that photogenic, at least in the winter months but worth mentioning because it's a beautiful hike nonetheless and close to the town of Jasper in the Parkway area. This was the day after the toe incident but @silvergingerman was ok for a bit of a hike and this is the one he picked out, I personally thought it was more of a summer hike but sure, lets go... We are here to explore anyway.
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The area is called Valley of the Five Lakes and we opted for a 2 km loop hike, seems easy right! We ended up missing that turn and ending up on the longer 4.5 km loop but well worth the extra couple of steps. Once again, felt like we were the only ones on the trail, it was a gray day but mild out...Perfect for hiking. The trail took us around a series of lakes, some so deep emerald green it was mesmerizing as the sun reflected and exposed all the stillness at the bottom of the lake with the clearest water we always expect in the Rockies. There was a lot of up and down, some places were a bit of a challenge and the trail is narrow/rough in some areas so I would say suitable for medium level of fitness and mobility for this hike.
As we were admiring the first lake we encountered we picked up a straggler. This young lady was out venturing on her own being new to town and not wanting to get lost. She was going to turn around but then asked if she could tag along. We informed her that we were already on the wrong trail so if the intention was not getting lost, we were not a very solid plan. She found the thought entertaining and joined us. Funny enough, little did she know she would get schooled on Jasper's hotspots by a coupe of tourists! πππ Honestly, this trail isn't very well marked so know where you are going beforehand ( like a trail app) or you could be walking for a couple of days ,this is a long trail if you miss the turn. Not the most photogenic as you can see but the walk amazing and I highly recommend this trail, especially for the summer and I can't wait to return to explore further. On the 4.5 km loop, we covered 4 lakes (the 5th one was the 1 km loop we originally missed).
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Alright now the main event! This was day 7 and the day were due to leave, always a bittersweet moment for us. Neither one of us say it but we are both a bit sad on this day. Luckily, Jasper was going to give us one of the best parting gift one could ever ask for. On the forecast, it looked cloudy but it was still early. We had other plans in mind for the day, I can't even recall anymore as this day suddenly became so eventful, on our way to our alternate plans, we saw CLEAR BLUE SKY over one little spot...but not just any spot. The Maligne region! Could this be? After a decade of coming here, it's always cloudy, foggy or smoky and the view is not quite the conditions I want. Today was going to be my day! So I thought...
Just before turning into Maligne Lake road, we found some wildlife. Our favorite Mountain Sheep come down from the mountain in the morning to lick the road as the morning sun melts the overnight snow in the valley. It could possibly be the same gang that we encountered on the near-by hill a couple days before with the juvenile with a few added males. Out of nowhere, the herd started to run into the road and along the truck. The new truck is a Ram and the first trip to the Rockies with it, a proper initiation!
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Heading up the road we didn't see much for wildlife until passed Medicine Lake. I wanted to see Medicine Lake as much as Maligne but this time of year it's a little tricky. Medicine Lake is called "the bathtub of Jasper" because it's not a real lake. The Maligne underground rivers can't carry all the summer melts so it backs up and pools into something that resembles a lake. In the fall and winter as the glaciers stop melting, all the water has a chance to drain into the canyon and completely empties out like a freaking bathtub. How amazing is nature! Much of the water gets carried underground from this point and to this day, only a fraction of it's course has been identified as the water gets carried down the mountain, much of it still remains a mystery since nobody can accurately trace it all even with dye tests. It's quite the watershed network.
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From Medicine to Maligne is where the chances of having Moose encounters are getting greater. They prefer to spend the winter high up on the mountains as their main predator, wolves get lower into the valley where more of the herbivores spend winter. High up on the mountain doesn't contain much vegetation for such large animals to eat but they are equipped with whatever necessary to digest and thrive on rough winter foliage like pine trees and shrubs but will still lose significant amounts of body weight waiting for nutritious vegetation to return in the spring.
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Grizzly bears are also a threat to the moose population but they hibernate so not a concern in winter. Bears are not big hunters and prefer eating berries but they are opportunistic and will not shy away from an easy pray when they come out of hibernation or preparing for such. This story is actually part of the boat tours if you ever take the ferry to Spirit Island, the largest bear to ever roam Jasper was in the Maligne region. He was once an average bear but the rangers noticed he hadn't moved location in about a month and had concerns he may be injured or sick (they have tracking devices due to being close to endangered). When the crews checked on him, he had found himself a moose carcass he had been chowing down all this time. After hibernation, they went back to check on him and he had become the dominant Boss Bear of the park as the largest ever recorded for the park's history and still holds that record. I'm not sure if he's still alive but haven't heard otherwise, the park are required to announce such things to the public for transparency of operations.
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Wolves on the other hand, do not hibernate and as food get scarce, they get more desperate and bold. Often they will prey on the juveniles since they can't run as fast or fight back as fiercely as their parents. Some calfs are born early in the spring and will have a likelier chance of survival compared to their later born counterpart that become more vulnerable to predators with their smaller size and will make so much more difficult with the limited food and the exhaustion from trekking in deep snow. Calves will stay with their mother for their first winter for that reason. Although they risk getting injured themselves, the mother will do whatever she can to save and protect her young from the opportunistic predators often resulting in the heartbreak of watchin her young get killed. Nature can be so darn cruel.
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Wolves don't generally like to hunt high in the mountains during winter because it's so much work to travel thru that snow but human activity and our roads has made it easy access for them adding stress to already at risk populations of Caribou, Maligne region being on their main migratory route with an active herd roaming the hills. I have never seen a Woodland Cariboo (reindeer) outside of a zoo and the are very elusive. Jasper has 2 herds, both in trouble and not expected to survive without human intervention via a captivity breading program they are now exploring. Trails that are in their migratory patterns are generally closed around their travels to give them as safe access as possible why it's important to check on the government website for trail closures before commuting to a set itinerary.
On a less grim note , being the icon for the Maligne region, there is quite a few on the road if going at the right time of day(right before sunset), they have some curious behaviors. A few months back, the world was taken by storm by a funny sign that said "DON'T LET THE MOOSE LICK YOUR CAR" and news stories came out in various countries. Well my friends, this is they...lol. We drove by that sign just before and I wished I could have taken a picture myself because it actually is pretty hilarious but it's not a joke. Moose require salt in their diet and the road is the perfect place. Often times they are attracted by the cars and those who get too close, the moose will lick the entire car and you will likely be trapped there for quite some time because they do not move or scare easy in this area. Bunch of salt junkies! That being said, as funny and entertaining as it may sound, they are already a danger being on the road. Having them consistently associating vehicles with food is both extremely dangerous for the animals and drivers alike.
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Here is a video that I woke up to on a couch nap soon after the trip. Not really my thing normally tho but it felt special to me because I could tell right away where they were filming this. I had to go find a link on youtube to share here for those of you who might be interested on a show following and tracking different moose families high on the hill. The show is called Nature of things with David Suzuki, I'm not sure who the narrator is but it's not David for this one in case he's not your cup of tea and this is beautifully done (may contains disturbing content for some like children), this is nature in it's raw state. It's a full documentary, so sit back, relax.
After our moose distraction, we continued our journey up to Maligne Lake for a day of hiking. We had no set plans with @silvergingerman's poor little toes, those little piggies really didn't want to go to the market! Alright, enough bad jokes for now... We got there, and it was as magnificent as I had hoped. Clear blue skies and the best distance visibility I have ever gotten here in winter. It generally is just greyish and overcast all the time being so high up in the mountains that the snow capped mountains and the sky becomes hard to distinguish on photos. I could tell my camera was working like shit all day, in my heart I knew this was it, after this trip I best get a new camera before it decides to go at the most inopportune time, I was telling myself.
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Everything started off well, we got on our way to the lake and of course had to stop to take pictures of the famous currently deserted boathouse. We normally don't see much tourist activity up here in winter since everything is closed for winter because of unreliable accessibility issues and avalanche risks on the road here but adventures can still access at their own risk and the road is maintained daily but the only thing available is self guided tours in the trail network in the region. Obviously, being an important region of the park, there is no shortage of trails, long or short, flat or at elevation. In the summer, there are boat tours, photography workshops, a restaurant, trinket shop, canoe rentals along with various other interactive and learning opportunities with animal skulls, horns, furs, etc...
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If hiking in the main area, you don't need much for extra gear, it's pretty public but to venture in the trails, having a bear bell, bear spray and a first aid kit is a wise plan. We weren't sure how far or where we were headed to, this entire day adventure was unplanned and more so a "it looks really nice up there, lets drive an hour to find out" kind of endeavor, we actually had other plans originally. Most of the ice was frozen and accessible so we did walk on the lake for a bit because we could! I really just wanted pictures of the boathouse from the perfect angle to get the mountains behind it. The temperature was pretty mild and we were dressed for the apocalypse so we were prepared for spending the whole afternoon here.
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Once getting passed the main building, there is a small hill that goes up to the restaurant, I advise any history enthusiast to make the short climb here, not only for the impressive vantage view of the lake and the perfect selfie, also there is a short interactive self tour with the local history on Fred Brewster and his team along with other important figures in the area that created what we can experience here today. Fred Brewster used to run private fishing trips and used to get here on horseback and over time helped turn it into an international gem. What really put this location on the map was a Kodak campaign for their new technology that featured the most remote wilderness exhibiting Spirit Island in a large print displayed in Grand Central Station for many years. Now the company "Brewster" is one of the most important and recognized name in the Rockies' touring industry full of off the beaten path experiences.
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After the learning platform, it was time to decide which direction we would go hiking. We agreed on moose loop because it's a short trail and only a few kilometers to do. We made our way to the road and stopped on the bridge for some glamorous snaps, it looked all so perfect with the river still unfrozen, I was able to get some reflections that soon just turned to ripples in the wind, got here at the nick of time! Getting back on the trail, it was time to make it to the canoe/boat launch for another set of pictures. There it was, the unfortunate moment that nearly brought me to tears. My camera died here, in the most beautiful place in the world on the most beautiful day. AAARRRGGG... I'm still bothered by this but all is well, I have a new camera now, this isn't the end of ladybug but definitely the last pictures my D7000 ever took.
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We decided on an alternate trail that we haven't taken here before (we have been on 4 different hikes over the years here so far), this one is called Upper Moose Lake Loop and is much longer than the other and not an actual loop, well at least not the whole way but seemed to be mostly going flat around the lake, perfect for injured toes and my broken soul. The view was out of this world as we got closer towards Spirit Island (there is no way to reach it by foot) and the background mountains didn't look so fuzzy.
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The hike was pretty easy and we spotted many animal tracks from foxes, moose, rabbits, but no sightings, not that I would have been able to take pictures for you. I highly recommend this hike above many others if you are ok with a longer hike, I have to return on this hike especially in the summer. I wish I could show you and it would have made for an epic post to have that material but the pictures with the iphone were just not the same quality or even close so I will not include them. We didn't do the full trail, we walked for a few hours and then turned around to have enough daylight to make our way back to the common area. During our walk, we encountered crews doing the same fire management activities as explained in a previous post, cutting and burning hazardous trees for a safe evacuation in the event of an emergency given this is actually a really remote part of the park.
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I wish I could tell you it's the most beautiful hike there, but it really isn't! The trail head is also the at the beginning is also where one can join in to do a portion of the internationally coveted Skyline Trail that would normally take over 4 days to do in full, this is a junction to have a taste of it in a more manageable day hike up to a vantage point. Obviously, be aware of where you are going or once again, you could be walking a lot longer than you wish to if you miss a turn. I haven't been on this trail yet but it's certainly is on the summer bucket list, at least the shortened portion. That was our experience for the day, we were heading back home to Edmonton after this hike. What a trip! Then we got locked down. Now things are starting to slowly open up, perhaps another trip in the near future? My new camera needs testing, I can't think of a better place!
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What a beautiful lake, covered with snow. Those snowy-covered mountains are just gorgeous, truly heaven...
It was truly heaven, this location has so much to offer both in beauty and knowledge!
ThatΒ΄s not a post, thatΒ΄s a little book actually :) A beautiful one (despite the unfortunate camera moments). Stunning wildlife & landscape shots. Really glad to see some major curators enjoyed this post too ;)
Thank you! I know eh!! It felt like writing a book too lol. That moment was hard omg but it forced me to grow when I was trying to delay, 10 years for an elctronic...it had a phenomenal life.
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Thank you!!
That is quite an amazing amount of wildlife seen in short order. You captured some very good angles and images of an area in Canada that is so filled with a sense of real western Canada. Thank you for sharing this to the world with your own unique perspective. @phortun is right you post is a booklet, I say that could be published to attract tourists. I look forward to traveling through that area again after reading your booklet post. Thanks.
Thank you for your kind words! Happy to hear you have already been thru the Rockies and plan on returning, it's a great place. The intentions behind my "booklet posts" is basically me solving my own problem for the next person. I live near by but it's such a vast landscape and every time I try to plan a trip I get bombarded with mostly information to expensive tours but very little about self guided activities, history, or what to expect on trails and the Rockies are so much more than a series of overpriced experiences (some are still cool but others unnecessary). The true wilderness is self guided and that can be overwhelming and causing visitors to miss out on hidden gems.
The wildlife YEEESSS. It is the best area of Jasper for wilderness, the animal tour available actually comes this way, there is also many Grizzly and Elk sightings on this very road but more at the bottom of the mountain.
Yes, I agree the self guided walk in the wood being good for the soul is best when one wants to walk alone. There are sooo many paid adventures there that it is overwhelming to approach and it makes it seem as though it is pay to play or walk, which is not the case. A simple trail map will enable the wandered to find millions worth of experience on a sheet of paper. I used to camp out by the river years ago off a road around a bend...not sure if that is still 'allowed'. perhaps it is best to let the tourists pay and leave the trails empty for those who do some searching and find the free beauty that they bring one to. Happy trails, thanks for posting a good reference for next time I am by that way. Regards.
Reality is, most tourist will continue to do the convenient touring laid out in front of them regardless of costs associated, it's pretty expensive to vacation here already. Those that truly want the "western Canada backcountry experience" as you mentioned can without feeling as lost so I don't think it would drag that much more traffic on the trail then what is currently, just maybe better prepared. Lots of people get lost and injured or dead in the backcountry by not knowing what to expect and being ill prepared.
Prepared is key. It is surprising how often i hear of people needing rescue because they did not think too much about where they were going. It is also funny to see people walking up to wildlife on the road and getting charged by the animal or the COs for doing so. Perhaps as your book post grows tourists will read it and learn. Or you could sell it to them for a few buck like a zine at the local shops.
Exactly, and rescues out there are not easy. Since every time something happens in the rockies we hear it on the news and there are some pretty tragic things and yes often comes down with lack of preparedness and underestimating the hazards. It's popular but it's still the wilderness and unforgiving.
I have thought of one day maybe publishing trail guide books based on my stories here of the different parks in the future when I have enough knowledge and material for each location, there is so much to explore! I do want to sell some swag in the shops, I already talked to them and they would accept it but I have to bring a finished product to them. I didn't put much effort towards that yet tho since I'm pretty shy about my work still.
The walking up to the wildlife burns me especially when they do it in crowds, I hate it, it really stresses them out along with being extremely dangerous, there has been some attacks. Sometimes the animals walk up voluntarily out of curiosity in my experience and running away is the absolute wrong thing to do, there is different scenarios with animal encounters but knowledge is power and respecting safe distances established by the parks should be a must when one can help it.
Many people think that walking in the mountains is easy as seen on the Tell-a-Vision. I hope your work can help save some lives and keep the rescue workers warm by the fire. I suppose your shyness makes you do a really good job of gathering the necessary information together. That is good to hear they shops are already accepting of work that should produce. It will help all involved. there are very good self publishing option these days and registering an ISBN is quite cheep.
There are too many videos of people disturbing the wildlife, when there is an attack it seems justified by the animal and not the human who provoked it. Perhaps that could be an entire chapter or two in your book about respecting animal space. 2 meters maybe, hahaha.
I hope to see your book some day. :-)
Thanks for your efforts to educate and inform people of the risks, that can be mitigated.
Wow it's so beautiful. I come from Vietnam, a tropical country, so I have never seen something like this before.
Thank you! I'm probably has fascinated by tropical countries as you are with my mountains! I have never seen tropical anything! I hope you enjoyed the mini virtual tour!
We went to Maligne Lake last summer for the first time. The drive there was actually pretty interesting as well. Great pics as usual!
Thanks! Oh lucky you! It's quite the experience, I absolutely love the drive, we often do it with no purpose at all just to drive thru it if we have daylight left to kill but not enough time for another activity! What activities did you end up doing/visiting in the area? Did you see any fluffies?
We just went on a short 1 hour hike, was pondering going for a boat tour, but the weather was only mediocre so decided not to. Was with my son and he wasn't much into hiking that day, so it was more or less a quick out and back.
For sure, the boat tour is expensive enough that you want to do it on a clear day. I went once and it was smoky, not as good pictures as I had hoped but still got nice photos out of the deal because it was just starting to roll in. A few hours later, you couldn't see anything anymore in the distance. I tend to get lucky like that, right place at the right time.
One hour hikes are cool too, even if you just sit next to the lake for an hour, it's amazing. There is a lot of deer and moose there. I don't always go on long hikes every time. Not every day has to be a hiking day, it gets rough. hope you have the chance to return and dedicate more time to the entire area, the canyon too. The whole road is full of hidden trails all the way to the lake. I can spend quite a few days on that road alone in the summer and see something new everyday for a week.
Sorry about the D7000, but it got to go out in a great spot! Beautiful photos of the area. If you don't mind my asking, what did you replace it with? Did you make the jump to mirrorless?
Thanks! I knew it was inevitable. I went mirrorless with a nikon Z6. I'm probably gonna make a post about it at some point when I go out with it. I have been lazy since I got it, it was pretty cold for a bit so I was hiding out but it's warming up now.
Very nice! How do you like it so far? They're a little different, but have nice features.
I got the Cabin RP last year to tide me over until the high res stills one gets released, but it's taking forever.
Yeah, well I wanted the high res one too and it's out for Nikon , Z7 (45 megapixels) but since I wasn't fully saved up and a bad time to pay twice as much for a camera. The files are so freaking large I don't think I would be able to even load them on the blockchain, I already have a hard time to load the ones from decade old technology. Yeah, I settled for the Z6 (24mgp) to tie me over, maybe I'll stick with it maybe I'll end up upgrading. I'm not sure. I also wouldn't mind running a two camera system so I don' have to constantly change my lens so much. I'm not really sure yet tho. Try this one for at least a year and convert a few lenses before I fully decide.
I was lucky, the new upgraded version (z6-i) was announced the day after my old camera broke plus all the Christmas sales together, I saved almost $1000 from the former price, at least the timing was good...lol. So I don't have the newest model but I'm ok with that.
I didn't try my camera much yet, only a few pictures around the house, so far I like it but I didn't do anything very technical with it yet. Now that it's getting nicer out, I was thinking to go around the city mural art hunting to see the colors in action and going to the bison for some tele shots to really test the camera.
Do you like mirrorless better than DSLR? you had lots of time to test it out. Any tips?
This post has so much wonderfullness it's a overload on someone's love of nature i had to scroll down this post serveral times to take in all the beauty what a place to visit.
Thank you! There is a nature overload for sure, experiencing it too. I generally go for 7 days at a time and super-pack all of my day using every hour of daylight available, I get to see/experience a lot each day. I'm glad you enjoyed it!
Places like this are on my bucket list and hope to get to some of these places once we can travel freely again. Be looking forward to seeing more of your beautiful posts.
AMAZING π OMG
I absolutly LOOVE your pictures, such amazing envirement and I wish I could be at that lake... So beautiful.
The mountains covered with snow is so beautiful, I wish we had mountains here to but we dont.
The wild life seems exciting as well and I never captured anything like this myself but now I feel like I need to get me a moose π lol
You captured it all so well and all the information made me feel I was there. Thank you for sharing and have a wonderful week. Cheers πΉ
Thanks, that is so sweet of you! LOL Go get your moose girl! I know, I love the wildlife there but I have the unfair advantage of having been there so much I know where they hangout and when so I prepare to be around. I moved across the country for these mountains, thy are a sight to behold indeed. π
Sorry to hear about your 7000....What a great post! I love the old pics interwoven in the story, people were a lot tougher back then...lol
Thank you! Well it was inevitable, electronics don't last forever just so darn expensive to replace. Yeah they were tougher, imagine taking 3 days to get there with your bed on the back of a horse! I like taking pics of the displays with old photos. They look so rugged too.
I always take pics of the displays, plaques, ect..... great way to remember the stats and facts... I have a 7200 Nikkon, it's awesome...maybe you can get a deal on camera with a mirror, now that the mirrorless ones are out..lots of peeps switching....
Extraordinary show of snow photos i can imagine the adrenaline been there seeing these sceneries live what a experience.