Maligne Lake and Canyon

Started the day with breakfast at the hotel and then we headed out to hike Maligne Canyon.  We also had tickets on a cruise out to Spirit Island in Maligne Lake.  AllTrails describes this as an in and out hike from bridge 5 to the top that takes an average of 1 hour 15 minutes.  So we should have had plenty of time to get to out 2:45 cruise, even with about a 45 minute drive, since we were starting around 12.  However, that turns out to be the average to go ONE way, not both as it seemed.  We realized this on the way up and turned around at bridge 2.  I spent a good part of this hike on hold with Pursuit who was running the cruise, and no one ever picked up the phone.  I was on hold for 30 minutes.  So basically I was trying to enjoy the hike, which was really nice, while feeling let down by both AllTrails and Pursuit.  Was doing my best to not get aggravated.

We ended up rushing to the lake only to miss our cruise.  We were a bit delayed on the way because there was a big elk on the side of the road,  One of the better reasons to miss a boat, I think.  Determined to not let it get to us, we just booked a spot on the 4:15 cruise and got something to eat in the cafeteria.  As it turns out it was no big deal, the later cruise was pretty nice and according to the guide and captain the views were better as some of the wildfire smoke had cleared.  It's a casual cruise, guide had some good info and it was interesting to see spirit island.  You can't actually go on the island as it is sacred to the local tribes.

After the cruise we headed back to Maligne Canyon, driving to the top and walking the part of the hike we didn't complete earlier  Glad we did, as the most spectacular falls are there above bridge 2 and bridge 1.

We then stopped at Medicine Lake for another spectacular view and walked down to the water.  A bonus was seeing a Hoary Marmot right there by the parking lot.  Let me walk within about 15 feet for a pic.  Dude just didn't care.  Of course this is the point where my camera really was broken from when I dropped it on the Maligne Canyon hike.  So, no Marmot picture here.

We then headed into Jasper for dinner.  We ate on the balcony at Earl's Kitchen.  Nice meal with fantastic view of the mountains, crazy how late the sun is out here.  All in all, a great day, despite the time crunch at the start.