Roadtrip in the Canadian Rockies – day 4: Canoeing on Maligne lake

On our fourth day of roadtripping through the Canadian Rockies, Augusta and I had made it from Banff National Park to Jasper National Park, and we were both craving a new way to experience the Rockies. We’d been on plenty of hikes already and seen countless gorgeous lakes, but we had yet to actually be on a lake. After a bit of researching, we settled for Maligne Lake, the largest natural lake in the Rockies with a length of 22,5 kilometres. It’s known for its clear azure water, surrounding mountain peaks and views of three glaciers. We figured it would be the perfect place for a morning of canoeing!

Canoeing on Maligne Lake

That morning, we slept in till past sunrise as we’d had too many short nights and just needed to prioritize sleep over sunrise once. We then drove towards Maligne Lake where we’d booked a canoe for a two-hour morning trip. We met three caribou on the way!

When we arrived to the boathouse, we were told that the two-hour fee was in fact the same as a whole-day fee, so we could be on the lake for as long as we wanted! Thinking we’d maybe go for three or four hours, we didn’t think to bring food and also forgot sunscreen, which turned out to be a very silly mistake as we ended up spending seven whole hours on the lake!

But there was just no way we could not spend that long. Maligne Lake is one of the most beautiful places we saw in Canada, in fact we both agreed that this was our favourite experience on the entire trip. The reflections of the mountains, the pure azure colour of the lake and the glaciers in the distance that came closer and closer, made the whole scene feel like something out of a fairytale.

We’d heard that Spirit Island, located approximately in the middle of the lake, is one of the most beautiful spots in Jasper, and that’s also where all the tour boats on Maligne Lake go to. But for us on a canoe, the island was four hours away and we wouldn’t have been able to make it back in time before the boathouse closed, had we tried to go there. I really wanted to see the island, but we got pretty close and still were able to see the glaciers that are viewable from the island. It was absolutely stunning, and I’m so thankful that we got seven hours instead of the two we were expecting!

We ended up canoeing approximately 24 kilometres in total! Our arms were already exhausted after the first five hours of canoeing, so the last two hours were not as fun, especially because the wind had picked up and the waves had gotten much rougher. But we pushed through and made it back just half an hour before the boathouse closed!

A walk along Maligne Canyon

Although we were absolutely exhausted after the canoe trip, there was still one more place we wanted to explore in the area; Maligne Canyon, the deepest canyon in Jasper National Park, with a depth of more than 50 metres.

On our drive there, we were rewarded with the sighting of two black bears. There was a huge queue of cars and several (really really stupid) people had gotten out of their cars to snap photos. It took ages to get out of there, but it was really fun watching the bears!

There are six bridges that cross Maligne Canyon but we only hiked to four of them as we were just too tired to continue. It was a beautiful place with several dramatic waterfalls, and it was a really nice, chill walk to finish off an adventurous day.

After our little canyon hike, we drove into Jasper to get some much-deserved pizza! We spent the night in the car amongst caribou at Whistler’s Campground, where we had the first and only shower of the week, washed some clothes and had a sleep-in which was much needed!