A wildlife safari in Jasper was something different, and we saw lots of elk.
Valley of the Five Lakes is a lovely, relatively easy hike, passing five lakes of vivid blue and green.
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The small town of Jasper got its name from Jasper Hawse who was sent, with Francois Decoigne, in 1813 by the North West Company to build a post at Brulé Lake. The site became known as Jasper House and the town that eventually grew up here was known as Jasper.
The Two Brothers Totem Pole is a famous landmark in Jasper, and a nice link to the indigenous people. It replaced the original Totem Pole, the Raven Totem Pole, which was carved in the 1870s in Haida Gwaii by Simeon Sdiihhldaa, a Haida Chief of the Raven clan. It arrived in Jasper in 1915, one of many along the northern rail route of the Grand Trunk Railway. It stood for 94 years but had deteriorated and was taken down in 2009. It was repatriated to the Haida in its birthplace Old Massett Haida Gwaii on June 21st 2010.
Parks Canada commissioned a replacement and the Two Brothers Totem Pole was carved in Haida Gwaii by Jaalen Edenshaw and Gwaai Edenshaw. It is 12 m tall and tells the story of two Haida brothers who travelled from Haida Gwaii to the Rockies. One remained in the Rockies but the other returned home.
Missing his brother he eventually travelled again to the Rockies and found a house where he had left his brother. Though the brother had died he had passed his culture on to his daughter.
On the top of the Totem Pole is a carving of one of the brothers. Below is a raven with the face of the daughter/niece held in its tail feathers. Below this is a mountain goat with the other brother resting between its knees. On the bottom is a grizzly bear holding a dragonfly in its claws.
We took a small group wildlife tour in Jasper. We'd had an excellent lunch at the Jasper Brewing Co. - great beers and fish and chips.
With an hour to kill we wandered into the local museum which traces the region's history to the indigenous people, the early explorers, traders and settlers, through the development of the railroad to the first days of tourism.
Our driver/guide on the wildlife tour was Joe, descended from metis who are people with a mixed European and indigenous parentage. He was a mine of information, not only about the local wildlife but also on the indigenous people and history of the region.
We spent the first half an hour quartering the town as there were eight bears there but we didn't see one; we may have been a bit early for the. Joe had seen one in his neighbour's back yard the previous day, in his apple tree eating the apples, he had some good videos.
We stopped some was off the road where Joe produced a number of artefacts such as animal skins - beaver, musk rat, etc. - horns from sheep and antlers from deer and elk and a colourful Metis textile sash. He spoke about the various wildlife and also about the indigenous people and their traditions.
We saw a Bald Eagle but no mountain sheep or goats despite an extensive search! We did, however, see lots of elk, including several impressive males. Each mature male has his own "harem" of females.
Before leaving Jasper we had a terrific breakfast at Cassio's: blueberry pancakes with lots of maple syrup for me, and classic eggs, bacon and hash browns for Andrew. On the way in we'd seen a large herd of elk on the edge of the forest: an impressive male rounding up his females and warning off two young males who then proceeded to play-fight.
This is a really lovely hike south of Jasper, steep in places but mostly very easy walking. It's a circular route of under 5 km through woods and past the five lakes, all with their own character. Lake colours range from blue to emerald green and we saw otters too!.
We did the trail in a clockwise direction, heading through woods and crossing a steepish ridge before reaching the first lake.
At the third lake a number of otters were hunting for fish and we stayed for quite a while watching them.
It was a lovely still day so we saw wonderful reflections in all the lakes.