A Bakery, A Tram Ride, and a Chipmunk

Jasper, Canada

We woke the next morning to sunshine and clear skies. Doug, our guest house host, had recommended "Bears Paw Bakery" for breakfast on Monday morning. When we found it people were lined up out the door. Everything looked so yummy that we bought something to eat then and there, and something to take with us on our hike. It was delicious! It even attracted a chipmunk (with no fear, I might add) on top of the mountain when we sat down for our snack.

Our host had also given us some hiking tips and he said if it was a clear day the first thing to do was to head up the Jasper tramway. It was clear, so that's what we did. After taking the tram ride up the mountain, we continued on foot up to the summit. It was quite a hike for our first day, but the views were amazing! Mt. Edith Cavell was quite a sight from where we stood, and we could almost see Mt. Robson (the tallest mountain in the area), but the top was covered with a cloud. We enjoyed playing in the snow, admiring the piles of stones (later we found out they are called Inukshuks), and just taking in the magnificent views. That hike filled our morning so we headed back into town. We picked up a few "lunch-type" groceries at a supermarket and headed to our B&B for some lunch.

In the late afternoon we headed to Maligne Canyon. There we enjoyed a totally different kind of scenery: i.e. a river running through a canyon, waterfalls, foot bridges, and lots of vegetation. We thoroughly enjoyed it. Afterwards we came back to town and found the "Jasper Brewing Company," where we ordered hamburgers and beer. The food was okay, but service was slow and prices were high...we were not impressed.