The day started with a drive from our Jasper hotel to Pyramid Lake. It was so clear and calm that Pyramid Mountain had a mirror reflection in Pyramid Lake below.

Close up of Pyramid Mountain.

This is nearby Patricia Lake with Pyramid Mountain in the distance. Patricia Lake is the site of an unusual military experiment that took place during World War II. In 1942 Geoffry Pike, scientific adivisor to the Chief of Combined Operations, Great Britain, suggested ships traversing cold North Atlantic waters could be constructed of ice, making them unsinkable. The Canadian government used Patricia Lake to conduct secret tests of the theory using scale models. It was found that it was technically possible to build such ships but the cost for material and labor made the effort impractical.

From Patricia Lake we drove to Maligne Canyon where a raging mountain river has cut a deep canyon in the bedrock. It was still early in the morning which gave rise to some eery mists.

A view of the mist rising from the river, from one of the bridges over the deep gorge.

Nancy and travel buddy, Charlie, checking out the Maligne River.

The Maligne River up close.

We left Maligne Canyon and drove toward Maligne Lake, passing Medicine Lake along the way. The Indians (First Nations) thought this lake was evil and the cause of bad luck or bad Medicine, hence the name Medicine Lake.

Passing Medicine Lake we saw the Rose-Marie tree growing on a rock in a tributary stream. This site was featured in the 1936 film starring Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy in which they sing Indian Love Song.

The Rose-Marie tree up close.

We arrived at Maligne Lake for our Lake Cruise.

Our lake cruise boats await us, snow covered mountains in the background.

We boarded our vessel with Mark at the helm and Coulter providing the guide commentary.

We back away from the dock.

On Maligne Lake we are surrounded by snow topped mountains and glaciers.

We pass a few people on the lake canoeing and angling for trout. Here's the canoe.

Here's the anglers.

Our travel buddy, Karen, hanging out on the back of the lake cruiser.

A glacier peeking through nearby mountains.

Another glacier looks down on the lake.

The glacier up close.

We dock for a few minutes near Spirit Island on the right.

Another view of Spirit Island.

Another look at Spirit Island

Bill and Nancy in front of the island.

We pull away from our mid-cruise dock and head back to the Maligne Lake Chalet.

Mountains and glaciers all around Maligne Lake.

On our way back to the dock we pass Frog Rock.

We leave Maligne Lake and drive back to our hotel, but big horn sheep have brought traffic to a halt.

The sheep come down from the mountain to lick the rocks along the road that have minerals their bodies need.

A park ranger pulls up with a noise gun and the sheep begin to move along.

The alpha male keeps an eye out on his herd and the goings on from his perch on the side of the road.

He finally decides to come down to the road and catch up with the others.

After the bighorn sheep show is over we drive back to our hotel in Jasper.

We drop our travel bags off and go into downtown Jasper, all six blocks of it, to see the sights. Nancy found a cool totem pole.

The Jasper Information Center.

The mountains near Jasper have a unique formation called The Reclining Indian. He's lying on his back. His head dress feathers are formed by the white mountain valleys on the left. He has a Jay Leno chin sticking out below his nose.

Tomorrow we board the Rocky Mountaineer train for a ride through the mountains to Kamloops on Day 7. Or return to Main Menu.