Day one of our road trip to British Columbia we headed from Edmonton to Jasper National Park, which is part of UNESCO’s Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks World Heritage Site.

Our first stop was Maligne Canyon which was an easy, self-guided, interpretive hike to do with kids in tow. We followed the trail over bridges and through mud, spotting new whirling, churning waterfalls around every bend. At points the canyon is over 50 meters deep!

Next we headed to the Jasper town site for a picnic lunch with a beautiful view of the alpine skyline.

After lunch we headed to the Miette Hot Springs. This is the best finish to a day filled with long walks and hikes! When I was getting tired and sore on the hike, I was repeatedly reminding myself of this soothing reward that awaits!

We encountered so much wildlife on our first day, elk, coyote, mountain sheep, mountain goats and squirrels galore. But, the biggest surprise of the day happened when we pulled into the hot springs car park and saw a black bear walking around right in between our car and the hot springs!

Immediately telling the kids to stay in the car we grabbed our phones to let our travel companions know.. but we had no service! Hoping they were not about to walk into the path of the bear (when we got to the springs we found out they would have walked up the path behind the bear to the springs none the wiser!) we grabbed our camera to get some pics of this amazing close encounter!

The Miette Hot Springs is usually the hottest hot springs in the Rockies, flowing from the mountain at 54 degrees and being cooled to 40 degrees. The afternoon we arrived there had been a lot of rain earlier in the morning so the hot springs were a slightly cooler 37 degrees but that was perfect for the kids to float about.

For more info on Jasper National Park:

https://www.pc.gc.ca/en/pn-np/ab/jasper/activ/itineraires-itineraries

Thanks for checking in,

Elyse

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