Jasper National Park, Alberta The most beautiful part of the Maligne Canyon hike is to admire the formations made made mother nature – this narrow stone canyon have all sort of shapes you could not imagine water was able carve out! The water is thrashing it’s way down the canyon and lots of green moss is hanging down over the rocks. It’s could easily be taken out of one of scenes in ‘The Lord of the Rings’.
We decided to start our hike at the 6th bridge and walk up towards the canyon. This allows you to experience the less crowded part of the trail and also see how the canyon transition from nice and calm waters to wild and wicked waterfalls.
Ready to start the hike from the 6th bridge – looks like it is going to be a great day!
Beautiful scenery and clear green waters on the lower parts of the trial
If you pay attentions while hiking along this canyon you can see water coming directly out of the canyon walls! More about that later.
Expect waterfalls and lots of crossing of bridges. There are in total 6 bridges on this hike where you will cross the canyon offering stunning scenery. In addition there are several viewing platform. If you prefer ‘off the beaten path’ hikes this is not the hike for you, as you might already have caught up on. But Maligne Canyon is a natural feature in Jasper National Park and worth fighting the crowds for. We did the hike in peak season (October) and it was not too crowded.
When you get to the fourth bridge is when it starts getting crowded. The crowds park at the top of the canyon and most of them make it down to the fourth bridge, but not many go further. At this point you start to understand why the canyon is called Maligne Canyon – Maligne is french for evil or wicked. Check out the beautiful rock formations! Combined with the clear green water is it a stunning view.
Where does the water come from?
During the hike you notice that the river at 6th bridge seems to carry much more water than the falls at the top of the canyon, so where does all the water come from? Medicine Lake is the source, from the lake the water enters an large underground cave system and re-surfaces as springs along the Maligne Canyon adding to the water masses flowing down the gorge.
My somewhat subjective hiking rating:
Trail: Start from parking/picnic area at the sixth bridge and walk up towards the canyon. You will start with fairly calm waters and the further up you come the canyon will be deeper and more dramatic. When you get up to the third bridge it usually gets more busy on the trail as most of the tourist buses stop at the top of the canyon and the passengers usually don’t wander much further down than the second or third bridge. But I would high recommend starting at the sixth bridge as it is well worth the extra kilometres.
Worth it? Yes, rewarding with little strain.
Difficulty: Easy
Length: 7.4 km round trip
Elevation gain: Approx. 100 meters
Duration: 2-3 hours
Kid friendly: Yes! There are railings on the path when you get to the deeper part of the canyon. If you have small kids who can’t walt to far you can always start at the top of the canyon and just do the short loop.
Thanks for visiting! Comments are much appreciated.
This is so beautiful! 🙂
Yes this canyon is amazing, and thus also very popular:) It is also supposed to be very beautiful on winter when everything freezes up and you can actually walk on the ice in the canyon! We are hoping to be able to do that this winter:)
Exploring this type of landscape is right up my alley. I can almost feel my pulse rate rise staring at the beautiful pictures you’ve presented. One of my favorite things is to follow creeks and streams. It’s amazing the different types of formations and falls you can find and it always differs depending on the amount of flow on that creek on that particular day. Now where’s my pack? I’ve got to get my gear together and head out the door in the morning and start bushwhacking down the first creek I see. 🙂
Hehe..I just had to smile when reading the word ‘bushwhacking’. It was not a word I had heard before our honeymoon in Alaska this summer where we had a crazy tour guide and he used it ALL the time – and we were really bushwhacking as well! Back to the canyon – I could have posted lots of pictures of this canyon – it had endless opportunities for photos!
Well in these parts if you get off trail most of the time you have to literally bush whack your way through the briars and underbrush. We’ve got a lot of thick undergrowth in most areas so long sleeves and pants are a must if you want to go off trail much around here. 🙂 That canyon is the kind of scenery I hope to find every time I go off trail down some drainage or creek bed. 🙂
A friend of mine is obsessed with Canada, he told me about the amazing landscapes he had seen there. He wasn’t lying!
These photos are really great Inger!
Thanks! I fully agree with him:) Maligne Canyon is a beautiful spot and must see in Jasper National Park. But there are lots of crowds so a good tip is to visit early.