[Sunday, 24 March]
I started a bit late after a good night’s sleep. My new friends from last night showed up in the kitchen and dining room even later. We contemplated the day and decided to go our separate ways. One of us — a young German woman — would stay behind as she’s already found a job here managing part of the housekeeping crew.
I picked up a warm drink in my Kleen Kanteen tumbler, filled the other with chicken soup, and headed out through town, eventually driving up to Maligne Lake. I was expecting that the lake would have already begun melting, but the ice was pretty solid and a number of people were out cross-country skiing. I put on my new AUhike micro-spikes and went for a walk on the lake.
Working my way back, I also stopped at the bottom of Maligne Canyon, near Bridge 5, where I enjoyed the start and end of the nice hike this summer. Maligne Canyon flooded last week, so the ice hikes of winter are now over. The regular trail seemed to be a bit of a “worst of all worlds,” with a combination of ice, snow, and mud. I decided to skip it this time.
I wandered around downtown Jasper a bit, exploring the train yard. When I was here over the summer I only had one day and didn’t explore much that wasn’t on or near the main road. After today’s experience hiking on ice, I decided that a pair of hiking poles were in order and picked up a replacement set for the ones I left behind. Then I got some snacks, ran into my friends from the hostel at the food store, and stopped for fuel.
Dinner was at the hostel. One of the two steaks I brought with me from Seattle, along with a nice salad and roast potatoes. Two of the people I met at games night had been told that the northern lights were a possibility, so we decamped to the outdoor campfire area and set up chairs to wait and see. Fortunately, the Jasper Planetarium had pretty good links to sites telling us exactly where and when the aurora was most like, and also what the overall starscape was on that night. We never did see the northern lights, but did see the International Space Station, Jupiter and Venus. I got some decent shots of the moonrise over mountains to the south. It was cold out, and once the peak aurora viewing time passed with nothing visible, we all decided it was time for bed.