Day 15 - Cavell Meadows Trail & Moose Hunting (the viewing kind)

After a few inactive days, we decided it was time for a bit of a longer hike today. We headed to a hike we'd heard about called the Edith Cavell Trail. This led us south of Jasper and up a long, windy road to the start of the walk.

This started by leading us to a glacial lake at the base of the namesake mountain of the trail. A glacier hung over the edge of the side of the mountain and from underneath a stream of water poured our forming a waterfall which fed the lake. The lake was surrounded by thick ice and had several large chunks of ice floating in it.

We continued up the path which we had thought would be a long but gentle stroll but turned out to be a steep slog up the side of another steep mountainside. This led us through the trees, through a flower filled meadow, and finally onto a steep stone and shale covered path which led up to the main viewpoint. We suffered our way to the top, but the view of the surrounding mountain range was certainly worth it.

On the way back down, we noticed several local animals. More Marmots, similar to those we saw at Whistler Mountain. There were also Ground Squirrels, Chipmunks, and yet more Pikas.

After completing the walk, we made our way back to Jasper to get something to eat and plan what to do with our evening. Yesterday we'd heard that we might have a decent chance of seeing Moose at the nearby Maligne Lake if we went during dawn or dusk. With the time to spare, we took our chances and headed there to find the elusive Majestik Møøse.

It's easy to forget that 'nearby' in Canada doesn't mean the same thing at home. The lake was only 20 miles away but because of the road types and speed restrictions it was actually over an hour away.

We arrived at Maligne Lake just as the sun was starting to set. We were encouraged by some warning signs about not approaching Moose, and set off along the edge of the lake to see if we'd be lucky. Unfortunately time wasn't on our side, and with the sun setting we had to abandon our search and head back.

... Or so we thought! Having given up and set off back to the lodge, we saw that another vehicle had pulled over at the side of the road. Experience had taught us that this almost always means they'd spotted an animal nearby. As luck would have it, it turned out to be a male Moose grazing in a meadow, along with a female that was hiding in the grass.

As the last of the day's light was fading we managed to get a couple of good photos, and watched them for a while before continuing on our way.