Maligne Canyon and Athabaska River

It was raining the next morning, so no point in hiking up a mountain.  Instead we walked along the Maligne River canyon. You can't tell from these pictures but it was very busy especially at the top end of the canyon where all the tour busses stop.  Also very muddy with the wet weather.

When we got back to our truck we ate lunch then headed down a short loop trail in the other direction along the Athabaska River.  This was a fabulous trail, mecifully unpopular, with lots of bird activity and lovely wildflowers, including the large and lovely wood lily:

Most wood lilies have one big blossom, this one sported two.

Other flowers were nodding onions, rein orchid, death camus and harebells.

Bird of the day :  pine grosbeak.

Jasper Calling

Last week we headed off for a weeks vacation in Jasper National Park.  It got clouded and rainier the further we drove.  We planned to check out the Ancient Forest east of Prince George, but drove by in the rain instead.  Some other time I guess. We camped that night at Mt. Robson Provincial Park, hoping if we got to Jasper early next morning there might be a campsite available.

We lucked out.  The sun came out after dinner and so did the the mountain.

Mt. Robson is the tallest mountain in the Canadian Rockies

Overnight there was a long and violent thundershower with hail bouncing off the trailer.  But this visit was much better than the last time we camped here 30 years ago.  It poured rain the whole evening and the wood was so damp Leo could not get a fire going.  We wound up spending the evening reading our books in the brand new, spacious handicapped shower.

We left camp at 9 the next morning and arrived at the park entrance at 10, but they already informed us that the only camping available was in the Snaring River overflow parking.

Soon after we passed a traffic jam with people crowding to photograph a bull elk with a truly magnificent rack.  Not wanting to contribute to traffic congestion we kept driving.  People were defiately not observing the park rule of keeping 30 meters away from wildlife.

Snaring River overflow like a big gravel pit, but you get to pay $15.70 per night.  Admittedly it's a gravel pit with a great view.  And some vans and tenters had nice spots camped right on the river.  There were outhouses and a few picnic tables but no fires allowed.

Scenic gravel pit camping

After finding a spot we drove back into town, parking spots were scarce so we parked quite a few blocks from the info centre.  Just then another violent thundershower started.  We waited patiently for 10 minutes then decided to brave the torrent.  Despite wearing raincoats and hats we were drenched by the time we reached our destination.

As the weather was sketchy, we settled for a short hike around the perimeter of the town.  When we returned to our campsite we stopped for water and saw a notice that a grizzly had just been seen near the campsite.  Later we walked along the Snaring River.  Saw some lovely wildflowers, but no sign of a grizzly.

Mountain Death Camus, new to me and flower of the day!

And the bird of the day was a merlin calling in the forest on the edge of town.

Side Trip to Fort St. James

On our way to visit Smithers we took a one day side trip to Fort St. James since neither of us had ever been there, despite its only being 40 minutes off Highway 16.

In doing so we checked a few items of our bucket list:  Fort St. James National Historic Park and we camped at a new Provincial Park:  Paarens Bay.  We also walked through nearby Sowchea Bay Provincial Park and made a short hike up Mount Pope Provincial Park;  Fort St. James has no shortage of provincial parks.

Sowchea and Paarens Bay are both lakeside campsites, we lucked out and chose a site at Paarens Bay with the campsite road between us and the beach vs. sites right on the beach at Sowchea.  But the sites at Sowchea were crammed right next to each other and our sites were the usual spacious provincial park sites with trees in between us.  We just had to carry our chairs across the road to enjoy the sunset with only a few other couples on the beach.

Our campsite at Paarens Bay

Beach at Paarens Bay in sunnier conditions

There's no shortage of beaches on Stuart Lake; there's also a beachfront campsite in town (no trees though), and the main hotel in town also looks over the water.

And the historic fort is of course also right on the lake.  We spent several hours checking it out.  You enter by walking down to the lake, then you walk up from the dock as the fur traders would have done.

 They say it's Canada’s largest collection of wooden buildings faithfully restored to the fur trade era.  We don't know though, we've been to Fort Selkirk on the Yukon River, and it has over 40 original buildings.

We had fun checking out the fur warehouse (full of real skins), 

the trading store, 

and Walker House, the administrator's home.

But the highlight was the chicken races where we got to lay bets on the winner.  

Some have suggested that this may constitute animal cruelty, but they didn't look any worse for wear to me.

Chickens get their reward

They basically get released from the chicken coop through the chutes and then run to the feed station.

Leo's chicken won and he got a 25 cent coupon reimbursed at the gift shop!

It happened to be our 28th wedding anniversary, so we celebrated by having lunch in their lakefront cafe.  I had the traditional beef stew, but Leo's Thai basil chicken, equally tasty, seemed less than authentic.

In the afternoon, we walked a short way up the Mount Pope trail to the first lookout through nice forest.

Heading back down the trail

All in all, thumbs up for Fort St. James!