After breakfast we heard a presentation by Kirsten. She was a talented storyteller and regaled us with tales of Early Canada and the brave people who explored the wild, untamed land. We trooped to the bus and drove further into Jasper National Park which encompasses 4,200 square miles. We explored a small island in Pyramid Lake —before others got there. We moved on to Maligne Canyon which was a roaring river that had cut a deep canyon through limestone and then ate lunch at lodge there. Somewhere along the way we saw a elk with a huge rack and a mother elk and her yong laying along the road. Then we did a drive-by of the Jasper Lodge. The Queen has stayed there. Diana and Charles honeymooned there. Guess who is going to honeymoon there soon?? Then we changed from the local bus to a long-distance bus and hit the road west. One last impression of Jasper was the increasing number of dead pine trees —victims of the pine bark beetle. Of course, lots of dead trees puts them at huge risk for fires. They plan to clear cut around Jasper this winter. Although the mountains around Jasper were high and rugged, most of the mountains we saw today were tree covered. We stopped at Mount Robeson for half an hour to walk around. During our five hour bus drive, we went through areas that had had big fires, small fields of alfalfa (irrigated), and signs that indicated hay and cattle operations. Most of the time the rail tracks were beside us as was a river. Many of the farmhouses looked like double wides or similar module homes. Now we are in Kamloops where the North and South Thompson Rivers join and eventually flow into the Pacific. We are on Pacific Time. We are glad to be on the bus and on time. Good Night.
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