The sun lifted above the horizon to fill our day with white. Yes, it snowed, locally heavy last night to 5cm. We opened the window to a woman brushing snow and scraping ice off her car. Drinking coffee from our breakfast table looking out on the mountains with fresh snow on them - it’s pretty good!
We got our car from the snow less undercover car park and we were off to explore. the town and then the surrounds.
We weren’t even out of the town when we stopped to let two white-tail deer cross the road. Well, one did and the other was like an emu constantly changing lanes and indecisive. It finally made it in the headlight of some large utes (trucks).
We got on to the Maligne Lake Rd, with only a few tyre tracks in the cover of snow. The trees glistened with fresh snow and not even 5km along the road, two more deer which stuck out well on the white road. The rules here are: Don’t stop for wildlife on the road and don’t get closer than 30m. These two little deer were unfamiliar with the rules and we drove along side of them for a photo, they didn’t want to move.
As we approached Medicine Lake there was only one set of tyre tracks in the snow. The weather was cold, but pleasant, the trees and mountains were white and we literally had this normally busy part of the parks to ourselves!
At Medicine Lake, the Maligne River, a broad braided stream valley, seasonally low flowing (it has the greatest flow in the spring run-off) actually disappears. It was weird to see the water just disappear into an underground network of caves. This is one of the largest underground river systems in North America.
Having the park to ourselves meant we could stop in the middle of the road, take photos and suck it all in, such as stopping along side the river above the lake. 
Maligne Lake is deep, up to 96m and is glacier fed and under this bridge I saw a nice trout. 
We went for a stroll on the snow covered path along the lake edge and we found the culprits who put those tyre prints in the snow. They were leaving though. We had it to ourselves, for now. Animal tracks littered the paths, mainly squirrels and the odd bird and now two more humans. The view of the mountains and green colour to the lake and the isolation made it pretty special. Tan played in the snow!
I touched up the snow covered 3D model of the mountain range to make it more realistic.
In the car park I had a little play and all I can say is the snow and ice can be very slippery. I have greater respect for the road surface now.
After our walk we saw three more people and the road looked more traveled. As soon as we got in the car the intermittent snow flurries turned into a quick snow shower, Good timing. Tan was driving on the way back when I said “Stop!”. A bighorn sheep was nibbling on snow on the road. He was not moving for anyone. Tan approached slowly and we passed within 1m of him. I snapped a quick shot. This wildlife stuff is great. At least with roos they get scared and hop off these things are big and don’t have any worries with cars.
At Maligne Canyon, the water appears and cut through soft limestone. Waterfalls to 38m are present and the walk along the canyon and across the bridges was pretty, albeit slippery with all the ice on the smooth limestone. 
Back in the main river valley the suns display on the mountains made them like big ice cream sundaes!
A quick detour via town and we took the road to Whistlers, the base of the gondola which was closed for the summer tourist season. The views of Jasper town were impressive and snow was 8cm thick and really fluffy and light. 
On the way back we saw another five deer and just past the entrance to town, our first elk. Two does were eating grass on the hill on the side of the road. On the way through town we spotted two bull elk, majestic on the side of the road. They walked off out of view and we were stopped on a corner (damn tourists) so we were off again. Patricia Lake was also nice but the wind coming off the lake surface was the coldest Tan had been for the day.
Back in town, we were on Elk patrol. Within minutes we spotted the two bulls, eating grass on the verge outside of houses across from the fenced in playground. We worked out why some people have big fences in town now. We had to laugh when one of the bulls broke through the gate on one house making a racket. We were in our car across the road when some one peered at us from the curtain. Minutes later, the elk ran out of the yard through the broken gate with an irate man throwing sticks at him! He joined his mate on the verge two doors up seeming non-plussed by the event. 
About 500m up the road in the car park, there were another seven elk eating away and then further along another three having a fresh grass feed. 
The fence in this yard was pretty ineffective. 
Once again, like every other animal today they walked past the vehicle, close enough to touch.
We had seen enough elk and snow to last a life time but this is only our first full day in the park. We cant wait to see what fills our next week in Alberta!
We got our car from the snow less undercover car park and we were off to explore. the town and then the surrounds.We weren’t even out of the town when we stopped to let two white-tail deer cross the road. Well, one did and the other was like an emu constantly changing lanes and indecisive. It finally made it in the headlight of some large utes (trucks).We got on to the Maligne Lake Rd, with only a few tyre tracks in the cover of snow. The trees glistened with fresh snow and not even 5km along the road, two more deer which stuck out well on the white road. The rules here are: Don’t stop for wildlife on the road and don’t get closer than 30m. These two little deer were unfamiliar with the rules and we drove along side of them for a photo, they didn’t want to move.
As we approached Medicine Lake there was only one set of tyre tracks in the snow. The weather was cold, but pleasant, the trees and mountains were white and we literally had this normally busy part of the parks to ourselves!At Medicine Lake, the Maligne River, a broad braided stream valley, seasonally low flowing (it has the greatest flow in the spring run-off) actually disappears. It was weird to see the water just disappear into an underground network of caves. This is one of the largest underground river systems in North America.
Having the park to ourselves meant we could stop in the middle of the road, take photos and suck it all in, such as stopping along side the river above the lake. Maligne Lake is deep, up to 96m and is glacier fed and under this bridge I saw a nice trout. We went for a stroll on the snow covered path along the lake edge and we found the culprits who put those tyre prints in the snow. They were leaving though. We had it to ourselves, for now. Animal tracks littered the paths, mainly squirrels and the odd bird and now two more humans. The view of the mountains and green colour to the lake and the isolation made it pretty special. Tan played in the snow! I touched up the snow covered 3D model of the mountain range to make it more realistic.In the car park I had a little play and all I can say is the snow and ice can be very slippery. I have greater respect for the road surface now.After our walk we saw three more people and the road looked more traveled. As soon as we got in the car the intermittent snow flurries turned into a quick snow shower, Good timing. Tan was driving on the way back when I said “Stop!”. A bighorn sheep was nibbling on snow on the road. He was not moving for anyone. Tan approached slowly and we passed within 1m of him. I snapped a quick shot. This wildlife stuff is great. At least with roos they get scared and hop off these things are big and don’t have any worries with cars.
At Maligne Canyon, the water appears and cut through soft limestone. Waterfalls to 38m are present and the walk along the canyon and across the bridges was pretty, albeit slippery with all the ice on the smooth limestone. Back in the main river valley the suns display on the mountains made them like big ice cream sundaes!A quick detour via town and we took the road to Whistlers, the base of the gondola which was closed for the summer tourist season. The views of Jasper town were impressive and snow was 8cm thick and really fluffy and light. On the way back we saw another five deer and just past the entrance to town, our first elk. Two does were eating grass on the hill on the side of the road. On the way through town we spotted two bull elk, majestic on the side of the road. They walked off out of view and we were stopped on a corner (damn tourists) so we were off again. Patricia Lake was also nice but the wind coming off the lake surface was the coldest Tan had been for the day.Back in town, we were on Elk patrol. Within minutes we spotted the two bulls, eating grass on the verge outside of houses across from the fenced in playground. We worked out why some people have big fences in town now. We had to laugh when one of the bulls broke through the gate on one house making a racket. We were in our car across the road when some one peered at us from the curtain. Minutes later, the elk ran out of the yard through the broken gate with an irate man throwing sticks at him! He joined his mate on the verge two doors up seeming non-plussed by the event. About 500m up the road in the car park, there were another seven elk eating away and then further along another three having a fresh grass feed. The fence in this yard was pretty ineffective. Once again, like every other animal today they walked past the vehicle, close enough to touch.We had seen enough elk and snow to last a life time but this is only our first full day in the park. We cant wait to see what fills our next week in Alberta!
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