Valley of 5 Lakes, Lake Beauvert and Ewen Moberly Homestead

Selfie with one of the 5 Lakes

It was raining when we woke up the next morning so we just slept in till the unheard of hour of 10 am Alberta time!

Today we drove a few miles out on the Icefield Parkway to the Valley of 5 Lakes trailhead.  When we saw a lineup for the outhouse, we knew it was going to be a busy hike, that's what you get for sleeping in!

But it soon became apparent that most everyone was heading for the short loop to the lakes and if we headed off on the longer loop we'd avoid the crowds.  We climbed up to ridge full of big old Douglas firs.  Unfortunately, many of them had fir beetle.  (Between this and the 50% of pine attacked by pine beetle, it's a bit of a bushman's holiday for Leo.)

When we reached the lakes the trail got crowded and returned  in time to have lunch in the truck in the rain.


In the afternoon the sun came out and we circumnavigated Beauvert Lake, home of the Jasper Park Lodge and it's go f course

Bing Crosby golfed here when he and the pines were still alive

The trails were pretty fancy here, complete with adirondack chairs lete with cushions you could sit on and enjoy the view of the lodge and the surrounding scenery.

Beauvert Lake, Japer Park Lodge and Rockies

After having supper at the campsite we went for a wildlife drive at 9 pm further down the Snaring River Road.  To our surprise we came upon the unadvertised  Ewen Moberly homestead, one of 5 former Metis homesteads along the Athabaska River.  They were all expropriated when the park was formed.

Moberly homestead

The graveside of Mr. Moberly's mother looks to be still maintained by the family

You can imagine how painful it must have been to leave their home in this beautiful setting.