Jasper National Park, Alberta Surprised by early first snow and bear tracks- but it did not stop us from hiking up the old fire look to get a panoramic view of Maligne Lake and surrounding areas. The snow actually gave the hike another dimension with the crisp white snow, green pines and clear blue sky. And it was considerably less people on the trail than in high season.
Maligne Lake is a beautiful lake about 45 km from the cozy town of Jasper. We have visited the lake several times and it is amazingly beautiful – but very crowded during summer season. People come from all over the world to see this clear blue lake surrounded by snow capped mountains and glaciers.
Jasper is bear country so be bear aware! We found these tracks at the trailhead this morning …
The first part of the trail you follow the old fire road. Some sections are a bit steep, but the road is nice and wide. Only drawback was the tall pine trees covering any form of view. Despite of the snow it was fairly firm ground walking up.
Reaching the old fire look out the view opens up and you get a nice view of Maligne Lake and mountain ranges behind the lake. As we had plenty of time and after a lunch break my husband convinced me to continue on to the next summit.
Views from the old fire look location with the Queen Elizabeth Ranges in the back
Lunch break
As said we decided to continue the additional kilometres to get to the second summit, that is where you get the true panoramic view. Wow was I surprised – after hiking fairly steep hills for about 2-3 hours we reached the summit and who do we meet? A young couple who had carried their sleds 610 meters of elevations to the top just for the fun of sliding all the way down again! The hike it worth it – at least the two sledders thought so!
We are heading for the summit past the fire look out. Check out the view!
My somewhat subjective hiking rating:
Trail: The trail starts at the parking lot at Maligne Lake and is well marked. From the parking lot to the old fire look out point you follow the old fire road. The road is steep at times and there is not much view until you get up to the fire look out. To get the 360° panorama view continue on to the next summit past the fire look out, the trail to the next summit is fairly obvious once you get to the fire look out.
Worth it? Yes – but you have to continue about 15-20 minutes up to the next peak above the to get the panorama view. The first 5 km are mostly along the fire road amongst tall pine.
Difficulty: Moderate + (at times a bit steep)
Length: 10.4 km roundtrip for the official trail + approximate 3 km for the next summit.
Elevation gain: 480 m (add 120 m for the next summit)
Duration: 5 hours
Kid friendly: The road is wide and easy to walk, but it is a bit steep at times.
You should always cheek conditions and closures before you set out on a hike, refer to Jasper National Parks homepage. If you are interested in doing the hike yourself check out the ACTIVITY MAP to find the location of the trail head.
How do you keep active after first snow has fallen?
Thanks for visiting!
I’m jealous! What beautiful country to hike and the views are amazing. We have lovely areas here as well but we see them every day so the lure of that kind of landscape really draws me in. I mountain bike every chance I get but when winter sets in and the temperature drops then hiking is my next favorite past-time. The only thing I dislike about mountain biking over hiking is that you miss a lot of stuff you wouldn’t hiking because of having to concentrate on maneuvering down a trail and the scenery flies by. They are both fun and a heck of a way to spend a day out in nature. 🙂
We feel very privileged to live only a 2 hour drive away from the Rockies – we try and go hiking as often as we can. There are endless options and they are always amazing. We have done quite a few hikes (more posts to come) but there are still soooo many we have on our wish list! I don’ t do any mountain biking, but the Husband does. He sometimes go mountain biking while I am at work – lucky guy! He might post some of his mountain biking experiences in this blog. I have invited him to do so:)
Would love to hear what kind of mountain biking you have in that area. We traveled to Colorado last year to mountain bike above the Colorado River and it was a great experience. A bit unnerving at times riding on a thin rocky trail with a hundred foot drop just a few feet away but it had incredible views. We’ve got plans to go again this year. 🙂 It’s hard to choose between hiking and mountain biking so I just do both as often as I can. Would love to hike the Rockies some day but just have to be on my wishlist for now.
WOAW look at that scenery!
I love HK, but have always wondered what Canada was like. Seeing your photos makes me want to pack my bags to Canada…sure we have some greenery here but nothing like what you’ve got.
Thank you so much for the nice comment! I have to agree, I never stop being amazed by the nature in the Rockies. Since I am not from Canada I feel I can brag about the area;) I haven’t visited Hong Kong yet, but I would think there is a lot to experience, especially culturally I would imagine! Thanks for stopping by!
Xo Xo Inger