The Hotel provided a good breakfast very similar to the Holiday Inn Express fare. We sat at a table with a nice older couple who told us they had only been married a year as they had both recently lost their first partners in tragic circumstances. They were from Alberta travelling through to Vancouver and upon hearing of our travels urged us to add Alaska to our list. This amused me as just before our Hotel is a turning with a road-sign saying 'Scenic route to Alaska'. I had looked it up online and Alaska is over 1000 miles away. It must be one heck of a scenic route to warrant signage that far away.
The Skytram was an older style cable car. There was only one going up and another going down at any one time. It was slow and took 7 minutes to get to the top. There was standing room only.
We had decided to then take the 45 minute trail to the very summit. The views were fantastic all the way up. It actually took us the best part of a hour as it was very steep and the air was noticeably thinner. We had several stops to catch our breathe as did everyone else doing the same thing. We get catching the same people up, overtaking them and then they would do the same to us. We know we are not the fittest people so it was reassuring to see that everyone else were also struggling. However we made it. I was very proud of Karen for doing so with the troubles she has with her foot.
It was quite windy at the top but not that cool. At 8000 feet we were above the snowline. We stayed a while and admired the scenery all around. The trail down was actually more perilous. Karen feels less confident walking downhill and in parts the trail was very steep and not firm. I walked slowly in front so she could lean on me. This was hard work on me and put a lot of pressure on my back so I was quite sore by the time we reached the Skytram upper station again.
From here we were driving the short distance back to Jasper and were on the look out for someone to stop to have a picnic where purely by accident we came across an unbelievably picturesque spot. It had some Adirondack chairs (which I love) on a sweeping bend of the river, with pine trees and mountains behind. It was absolutely idyllic and I could have sat there all day in the sun.
But it was soon onwards and upwards. We drove to Maligne Canyon. This is a very deep but thin canyon with water gushing at a force through the bottom. There are six bridges along a trail that criss cross it at appropriate points where waterfalls etc are present. We managed 3 bridges (the whole 6 was a 6 hour walk one way). The views from each of the bridges we got to was amazing and was well worth the climb back up to the visitor centre. Karen decided as a reward that she had earned an ice cream this time which we sat on a lovely patio overlooking the stream in the sun. By now the temperature had hit 31c, almost matching Norwich!
It was then a 45 minute drive to the Hotel where we passed more Elk and sheep. Karen did another quick load of washing before we set out for some Dinner. The restaurant we chose was next to a small Walmart so we had a quick dash round there where Karen bought some PJ's. We ate in Mr Mikes Steakhouse. My steak was average but Karen really enjoyed her Coconut Cod with Rice.
My peeve for the day though is the lack of decent Wifi. I know I shouldn't expect it anywhere in the mountains. But lots of places we have been advertise they have it but then you can never access it for whatever reason. Either don't say you have it or sort it out!