Day 54 Jasper National Park, Canada Whistlers Overflow Campground

Captain’s Blog

Sunday

July 26, 2009

It was a quiet night in the overflow campground so we both slept exceptional well. Ron thought we should leave the MH at the overflow, take off for the day and then spend a second night there. I was not sure if that was ok because everyone was packing up and leaving except us. I had visions of the gate being locked when we got back.

Ron felt comfortable leaving the MH where it was so off we went.

Our first stop was the Pocahontas Coal Mine or what’s left of it and a hike to Bowl Falls. We began the very steep hike to the falls and about half-way up we had to turn back because we were being swarmed by nasty biting mosquitoes and black flies. Back at the car we sprayed with bug spray and made the hike around the abandoned mine. There were remnants of old buildings and a blocked mine shaft but not much else. One had to imagine what it had been like. There was not even one picture available to look at but those pesky mosquito’s were still biting despite the bug spray.

LINK:

http://www.pc.gc.ca/pn-np/ab/Jasper/visit/visit20_E.asp

Upon completing the hike we headed to the parking lot. About fifty feet from the lot Jewel stopped and would not budge. She did not want to go back to the car. Ron finally had to go get her and carry her to the car.

We then drove to Maligne Lake, the largest lake in Jasper National Park. It was a beautiful lake and we walked around the area stopping at the boat launch to take in the views. Jewel wanted nothing to do with that ramp and tried to back off of it .

We then stopped and had lunch by Medicine Lake considered a rather peculiar lake because the Maligne Lake flows into it but there is no surface outlet. Instead the water flows underground for many miles emerging in places like Maligne Canyon and Beauvert Lake. The mountain ranges around the lake and the aqua colored water were spectacular.

Then it was on to Maligne Canyon a steep walled gorge of limestone bedrock. We walked the mile over footbridges and rocky surfaces to see the gorge but is was only visible in a few areas.

On the way back to the campground we ran into a herd of goats on both sides of the roadway blocking traffic.

When we arrived at the campground there was our MH and a pop-up camper – no one else. There was a note on the step under a large rock telling us to vacate before 1PM so they could lock the gates. Guess what, it was 4 PM and they hadn’t locked the gates – Thank God. They wouldn’t let us spend another night there because they had openings at Whistlers Campground – same type of site with no hook-ups for $27.30 instead of the $10.80 we paid at the overflow. What a rip-off!!!!

We saw signs when entering the CG warning us about an angry Elk. Well there he was looking a little peeved. We kept on moving and set up at our no frills site for the night.

We’ll be leaving tomorrow for a new adventure.