We were picked up at 8:30am and driven with 26 others in a medium size bus to the incredible Maligne River Canyon, where glacial waters carved out a 50 meter deep path throughout the rocks.
It started to rain as we approached the bus. We managed to avoid the rain today.
It started to rain as we approached the bus. We managed to avoid the rain today.
On our way to Maligne Lake we stopped at Medicine Lake, which has an inflow of water but no apparent outflow. The river downstream is nearly always dry but comes to life again before hitting the canyon. There is a vast underground cave system which soaks the water through, so that the people of the first nations were puzzled by the lake emptying itself and called it bad medicine.
At Maligne Lake we went for a short walk as the rain stopped and admired the surrounding snow covered mountains. There was fresh snow up there.
At 12:30 about 50 of us climbed into a launch which took us most of the way up the long thin lake.
Our guide was Claire, who hails from Canberra and did Australia proud. She was very vivacious and friendly and we found it great to be able to hear every word because she had no foreign accent!
We disembarked at Spirit Island which is famous for this picture which has featured in many promotions for the Canadian Rockies ever since it won a photographic competition. We were not allowed on the tiny island.
It rained again on the way back into town and stopped as we alighted in the shopping centre. Our driver was called Dave and he had a Welsh accent and reminded us of Kaye Baker's manner of speaking.
We called in at a cafe for lunch and Malcolm asked for a lime milkshake but the closest they could provide was this:
It is a kale and honeydew smoothie. I had never tasted kale but knew its reputation. It tasted all right and presumably is healthy. There were at least twenty shops selling souvenirs and we shopped until 6pm. Malcolm bought a $3 hat (number 5 this trip) and Lyn bought woollen socks for the glacier walk tomorrow. We found a shop that sells lime milkshakes and 43 other flavours but they were $7:50 plus tax.
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