There is something about sleeping in a tent that I just love. The hard ground doesn't bother me at all and I have the best strategy to stay warm. Sleep naked. No one believes me when I tell them it's the best way to go but your own body heat will keep you warmer than clothes. I promise.
Beyond that, the crisp air in the morning and the dew that has settled on ever surface, the sounds of nature and the lingering smell of camp fire. I can't get enough.
The group got together again in the morning to make breakfast in one site. Oatmeal, coffee, sausage, eggs, bacon.. All the good stuff.
Having finished eating and cleaning the dishes we set off for our first lake of the day.
Lake Annette is a small freshwater body near Jasper Park Lodge, not far from the town of Jasper. As we would soon discover, the water is absolutely freezing even on a beautiful hot day.
Most of the adults went in the water to some degree. A bit of swimming, some floating on inflatable boats and a lot of standing around while our bodies adjusted to the temperature, inch by frigid inch. In the end R and I both dunked ourselves and lived to tell the tale.
The little ones splashed around in the shallows for a bit but mostly spent their time on the shore making sand castles.
When we had enough of the icy lake and the scorching sun we took our leave from the group again and headed for another lake.
From Lake Annette to Maligne lake is only approximately 45km, but it takes quite a while to get there. Narrow winding roads keep the speed limit fairly low. And as lovely as the scenery is there was nothing I could do to keep my eyes open. I have vague memories of doing the horrible vehicle-sleeping head bob, but after a while even that faded out and I was dead to the world. I guess it took all my energy to reheat my body after getting out of the lake.
As it would turn out, the reason my head stopped bobbing was because R was holding my face with one hand and driving with the other.
Seemingly 100 years later we finally made it to our destination. We got ourselves all ready and walked down to the water in search of the canoe rentals. They weren't hard to find.
We probably should have expected it going in, but it was absolutely crazy in the boathouse. Packed wall-to-wall with families of tourists wanting to explore the lake and capture the perfect photos.
It took us about 1 minute to decide that we weren't willing to wait in the madness and then we left. I was a bit disappointed considering that was the whole reason we came and we both really wanted to canoe.
Aiming to make the best of the situation we decided to explore the area. Maligne Lake is a really beautiful place, the little sister of Lake Louise in Banff National Park. Both have stunning views and hoards of tourists.
On the first trail we took a deer walked right out in front of us and couldn't have cared less that we were there. She went about her business of frolicking and munching and very kindly stuck around for some pictures.
We explored a little ways around the lake but didn't go terribly far because our friends would be wanting supper before to long and we still needed to drive at least an hour to get back to the camp.
It turns out that the drive is really lovely, I stayed awake for the whole way back. We got to see where a large forest fire had recently been put out and it was a pretty bizarre sight, not something you come across everyday.
Back at the camp, fire-grilled kabobs in hand and ready to relax for the evening. The fire masters got a big blaze going to sit around and chat and when everyone finished eating we played games too.
We have one afternoon left before returning home and we will make the very most of it!
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