Great Trails - Part 2

Wonderful Canadian Hikes

In the previous post I fought gloomy February blues by remembering warm days and excellent hiking trails from our 2007 trip to the Canadian Rockies. Now it's early March and still chilly. So I'm going to keep digging up good memories with three more Canadian summer hikes.

We stayed in Jasper for a few days and explored the surrounding area. Our first hiking trail, near Lake Patricia, was often lined with beautiful birch trees. (At least they looked like birch trees to my non-expert eyes.)

The hiking trail began next to Lake Patricia and proceeded into pleasant forest.

This soft trail through silvery trees would have been a great running trail if it wasn't also swarming with mosquitoes!

The beginning of our next hike to Stanley Glacier passed through unsightly remnants of a forest fire. Although the initial portion of the trail was not particularly scenic, trees eventually thinned, and the view opened to reveal our final destination.

At the far point of the hike we reached a scenic valley where a glacier descended in the upper left and a sunlit waterfall glistened on the cliff in the center.

Ahead, mountains seemed to block the way.

We encountered a friendly marmot who allowed us to approach closely.

Our last hike near Jasper was in the Valley of Five Lakes. Here is the beginning of the trail.

Soon we walked through birch and pine forests.

The trail then passed a series of small colorful lakes.

 The following magnificent scene came near the end of the hike.

Winter drags on now still, but I feel better after looking at these pictures.