A visit to Maligne Lake

If you’re ever in the Jasper area a must is a visit to Maligne Lake which lies about 28 miles out of town up a well-paved road along which you’ll have the chance to sight elk, moose, and bear. If you’re a cyclist it’s a wonderful road to ride as it’s a steady climb of 3-5% with occasional grunts of 10-12% thrown in just to make you forget that there may be a 300 pound hungry carnivore lurking off the side of the road as you whiz up the grade at 5 mph.

Photo by Sophie Mabry

I’ve been to Maligne Lake now four times and have seen it in glorious sunshine to pouring rain. Either way the Lake offers incredible scenery. On our first trip we kayaked halfway down the lake and camped and then the next morning, before the tour boats arrived, paddled to Spirit Island which is probably one of the most photographed spots in the world and deservedly so. If nature built cathedrals, sitting in a kayak at 6 a.m. on water as smooth and reflective as a mirror and staring in wonder at the towering peaks that surround you is a good excuse for a pew. The silence on such a morning is deafening, at least until the tour boats start arriving around 9:00. I know not everyone has the wherewithal to kayak the long miles back to Spirit Island so definitely take the boat tour. They are about 1 1/2 to 2 hours long and of course they have a guide pointing out all there is to see along the way.

Photo by Sophie Mabry

This trip I haven’t put paddle to water on Maligne though haven’t given up hope of still doing so. I did have the chance to bike it. Once at the top I had a chance to capture some of the scenery and had a chat with a Canadian lady who remembers visiting the lake in the 70’s when the road was still dirt and the amenities weren’t quite what they are today. She fondly reminisced about the lake before it was “discovered” by the tourist hordes (myself included) from around the world. There is no lodging at the lake today but in the early 1920’s some enterprising folks did build a lodge which today houses a fancy restaurant where you can enjoy a delicious meal while enjoying the spectacular views.

If you have your own non-motorized boat (canoe or kayak or even SUP though it would be a long long trip subject to changeable lake conditions on a paddle board) there is a separate parking lot and launch area to get you out on the water away from most of the congestion of the regular car and tour bus parking lots. There’s also loads of hiking trails available and plenty of picnic tables if you’re blessed with a sunny day.

Having experienced the Jasper area, including Lake Maligne, in the summer makes me curious about how staggeringly beautiful it must be here in the winter and buried under a blanket of white. I watched a Nature episode that followed a Canadian biologist who tracked a moose and her calf for an entire year and the winter scenery was amazing. Maligne is a big lake at 14 miles long and has depths
of more than 300 ft. And it does freeze over come winter. Folks were talking the other day about seeing the Aurora Borealis lighting up the nighttime skies the other night and I can only imagine what  the Northern Lights would look like over a frozen Lake Maligne. But that’s for another trip...