Day 5, All things Maligne :)

It’s actually pronounced maleen. someting we just didn’t get to grips with till right near the end of the holiday. We woke the girls up early, got them strapped into their seats and drove to the sixth bridge of the maligne canyon for breakfast. it was a beautiful early morning drive out, and when we got there we were alone, to set out brekkie on a table, wander too and fro over the bridge, and paddle our feet into the icy water. Have to say it might be a little while before we goet photos added to this post. i think we took about 1000 that day – or so galoka says . We explored, looked played pooh sticks, giggled and then, having finished breakfast we drove up to maligne canyon.

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It was clearly going to be a scorcher of a day. we parked up and went out to see a parks canada interpretation going on. It was a bear awareness and pelts, claws, spray, bells etc to be discussed, and what to do should we meet one. i became determined to purchase bear spray we looked at the info boards about geology, well i did, and nudged sb into reading them too. I Like canadian info boards :).

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it was outrageously hot and we set off downhill. the general idea is that you walk down hill without noticing what a sweat and struggle it will be to come back we started at the second bridge – mostly by mistake and walked down to the 4th bridge, stopping to look at views, be cooled by spray – particularly at the 3rd bridge and marvel at the depth of the canyon, and that there was ice down there. BB stared to be a bit unhappy with the walk as we got by the fourth bridge. It was hot and thirsty work and she has the littlest legs and to be honest, we had walked down loads and loads of steps.

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We didn’t take the same route back though, we took a side path, which happened to have a geocache part way up, and by a mixture of looking for things, spotting birds, plants etc we found that we were most of the way back up. the final push for bb accomplished by the thoughts of an icecream at the cafe

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So we sat on outside tables at the cafe, with the canyon rushing to one side eating icecreams and suddenly the walk didn;t seem to have been so busy BB didn’t fancy seeing bridge 1 though,so SB and DH did that whilst we looked at some of the fossils and then went back to the motorhome. I remember visiting maligne canyon with my parents, candaian family, and obviously my sister. She made such a thing of wishing on rainbows in her last year that whenever I see one I think of her x x the carpark was completely full, so a careful drive off up to Medicine Lake when all back.

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unfortunately when we drove into the stop at medicine lake our soil pipe had come loose and dragged along the road like a wriggly snake, and was no longer fit for purpose. we had a spare, but i was a bit worried how much rental place would charge for replacement. oh well! we got various different lunches each and went out to eat, but it was way too hot by the tables so went down by the lake and sat on some rocks. The lake is stunningly beautiful, as are most lakes in the mountains, and the pull off is a perfect place to park with a view right down the lake, mountains all around . great having lunch with such a view. near to us was a tree where carpenter ants had carved out huge sections. when i had finished eating and put down my plate they came and took some crumbs. we weren’t sure if this counted as feeding animals within the national parks! so took the plates up to the motorhome. BB saw some beautiful ducks, but they had gone before we all got down to the lake shore. We saw a pika, and the girls had great fun walking along logs as beams – some were fairly high off the ground! Logged the earthcache and then got back in the motorhome to carry onto maligne lake.

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driving up towards maligne lake we went past lots of signs telling us to look out for caribou. I did keep looking out, but i didn’t see any. A parks ranger explained that there are very few of them in the herd, and that they are only just replacing themselves with the good years and they live on a v specific age lichen, so that they are hard pressed fmr where to live. Anyway, i didn’t see them . But we did see a bear wandering along the road edge it was a black bear, though cinnamon coloured and obviously considering going down to the lake.

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we drove on and found loads of cars pulled over and parks canada rangers flagging us down. there was another bear! a black one down by the lake happily feeding, and due to the slope and distance they were allowing people to get out of cars and look. parking the camper off road means it did tilt v worryingly down the slope. i was a bit concerned it would tip right over! so we got out and had a good look at the bear munching near the lake with our binoculars – good for DH remembering to pack them . we drove on, and were amazed to pas another bear, this time with cub on the other side of the road awwwwwww. particularly good for the girls to see as well. v cute. we definitely stayed v much in the motorhome rather than upset a mama bear

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finally we drove on to maligne lake, and it was getting a bit late. there is a famous boat house there. I had thought we might go on tour boat to the end of the lake and back, but BB was desperate to row herself – eek! they had rowing boats, canoes and kayaks, and because all 4 of us could go in the rowing boat, that’s what we went for. the lake water is freezing – ok, its about 4 degees – so you are strongly advised not to fall in! I did wonder whether we would ever get away from the boat house we turned so many circles!! SB wnt on her own, the bb and dad, then me [i am pleased to report we went in a straight line then!] and eventually we went to that first headland you see on pictures. we giggle and laughed and took loads of pictures and it was utterly fabulous even if we took an hour to hardly go anywhere [SB says the tide was against us!]

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our time was up, so we went back to drop the boat off – i nearly fell in getting out – whoops] and then up to the chalet for coffee for adults and cake for kids. finally back to the motorhome when it was getting eveningy. on the way up we had passed a drive in with picnic place that looked lovely, so we chose to have dinner there. bB got tos stroke ‘chickmunks’ so was v hppy, as well as ground squirrels, and i cooked oven chips and beans . ’tis v nice motorhoming. i keep looking ‘em up on ebay. not sure that they would be so fab in uk with tiny roads and carparks etc…

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driving back we were lucky enough to see more bears another mummy bear with 2 baby bears, they were gamboling along, all completely ignoring the motorhome. we watched them till they disappeared into the scrub. we also saw elk and then a coyote crossed the road as we neared wabasso campground. And as a final treat we saw a grizzly as well, the girls were asleep by then shattered by such a long day.

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I think this may be one of those perfect days.