2018 Calgary Road Trip: Day six

Day 6 August 14

Memories:

Grace: Chipmunk climbing onto my lap, collecting glacier water

Danny: me trying to move the log

Gordon: Hot Springs

Therese: Elk in the campsite, Danny finally admitting that he enjoyed the hike 

Last night we were able to see the tram ride all the way up to the top of the mountain - one of the highest in the park. It looked like a beautiful ride as well as a lot of cool things to see on the top. But by the time we woke up the next morning, the smoke was so thick we couldn’t even see the mountain! So over a leisurely breakfast of Crepes, Strawberry Compote, Sausages and Hashbrowns, we planned a new strategy for the day. One of the spots the tour guide app recommended was the Valley of Five Lakes Hike. It sounded like a pretty moderate hike with a lot of close up scenery. Before heading out, we drove into Jasper and stopped at another bakery to pick out some pastries to eat along the hike. 

We had the usual anti-sun screen temper tantrum which lasted about 20 minutes but did not slow down the hike. The first part of the hike lead us though a pine forrest which smelled just like Christmas the whole time. Then after a wooden boardwalk/bridge, we broke through to our first lake. The hike climbed up the mountain to reach each lake so there were some pretty challenging spots but the views were definitely worth it. We were able to dip our toes (those who wished to do this) into glacier fed lakes. The views were stunning. We’ve learned that the beautiful blue and green color of much of the lake water is due to “glacial flour” glaciers slowly grind away the mountain rock into a fine powder which is washed into the lakes. This material absorbs all colors on the spectrum except for reflecting the blues and greens that we then see in the water color.

The mid point of the hike and also the most scenic was over the prettiest lake - also the hardest to hike to. We stopped to eat our snacks and relax. Grace discovered that a chipmunk had set up residence under the red Adirondack chair (which are placed all around the park to mark scenic spots). She was eating her double chocolate brownie when the little creature peaked out for a look. Before she could make a move it was in her lap! We take the ban on feeing wildlife very seriously so Grace quickly grabbed her treat and I took a picture! We must be the only people who don’t feed that thing because it was fat!.

 

After soaking in all the scenery and beauty we headed back to our beautiful campsite. We had a camp favorite: camp pad Thai which Danny has decided he now likes. Instead of rice noodles we used ramen noodles (I didn’t tell the kids they were part rice flour but also part millet and some other healthy grains.) It was delicious although we agreed that our homemade sauce is better than the jarred stuff we brought along. 

During dinner Danny started calling out excitedly: “Look, look, it’s, it’s…” We finally looked for ourselves and saw three elk casually strolling through the campsite across from us.

After dinner, the adults were pretty tired and ready to call it a day, but the kids held us to an earlier promise we made to go to the Miette Hot Springs. It wasn’t appealing to me because it was already 7:00 and the drive was about 45 minutes. Fortunately, we had the tour guide app to point out attractions along the way. This brings us to my one regret which was not stopping at the sand dunes along the way to get some glacial sand. At least Grace braved the icy water earlier in the day to gather some glacier water from one of the five lakes. 

The hot springs are no longer located at the actual hot springs location, rather the water is pumped in, cooled off to a safe but still hot temp and then chlorinated. The result is two large hot tubs that resemble small swimming pools. One is shallow for kids and the over is about 5 feet deep. There is also an option to soak in a cold pool fed from a mountain stream to enhance the effect of the hot water. Needless to say, only Danny was brave enough to do this. After about 20 minutes, we were poached and relaxed. As fate would have it, there was an ice cream shop right there at the hot springs! So we fulfilled our daily obligation and headed home. It was well after dark and after bed time when we got back to our campsite, but the solar tent lights were on to welcome us home.