Canada Day! Tim Hortons and more!

 A lot more.  

But, really, Tim Hortons.  First stop was at Tim Hortons for a donut.  It was Canada Day, after all.  About half the town was out for Tim Hortons, as well, but we waited and scored our maple glazed donuts.

On to some serious sight seeing!

 But first, an unpaid plug.  The Dzurendas and us have become fans of audio driving tours you download onto your phone and then, as you go along, you get narration and stories.  Sounds cheesy.  It's not.  Well, a little cheesy, but so are we!  We have used these in several US National Parks and we got the one for the Canadian Rockies.  The particular brand is GuideAlong.  Used to be called Gypsy. Another good brand is Shaka.

The narrator's name is Gary.  Well, actually it isn't.  Or it might be.  He never says, but the Dzurendas decided his name was Gary, so that's that.

Gary said it was worth a trip off the Icefields Parkway to Mt Edith Cavell to see a glacier that ends in a lake.  Sounds good.  Off we go!

But, first.  A roadside elk.

There it is.  Looks little.

Maybe not so little.

The glacier and lake were deceptively large.  They looked quite small against the towering mountains that surrounded them.  But, once you got a closer look, you could see how massive they really were.

Tom hiked down and scored some glacial ice

Tenacious Trees

Excellent trail

Not little!  That's a person, there on the rock.

and there.

And on we go.

Gary told us Edith Cavell was a British Nurse during WWI who treated men from both sides.  Later she was captured, helped English soldiers escape and was executed by the Germans.  Famous at the time.  This mountain was named after her.

Where to next, Gary?  Athabasca Fall?  Okay!

Athabasca Falls is on the Athabasca River which flows north to the Arctic Ocean (eventually)

Falls exits to slot gorge

And a quick video.  Falls need a video to get a sense of the flow and noise and mist.

Gary was right.  Worth the stop.

We headed back to Jasper and decided to do a bit of Jasper NP to the north of town.  Maligne Canyon sounded good.

But, first, brake for grizzlies!

After waiting out a thunderstorm, we walked down to see Maligne Canyon.

This short bridge is over a deep canyon!

Looking down.

Someone needs to explain this.

The weather was kind of iffy so we retreated to town to see some lakes just a short ways behind the town.

Pyramid Lake

Pyramid Mountain

Of course, one of these lakes was Patricia!

Thus ended Canada Day.

Tomorrow, we have reservations to walk on the Athabasca Glacier!  Stay tuned!