The smoke from the wildlife fires was still covering Jasper’s sky, so we had to give up the idea of taking a sky-tram ride to the Whistlers Mountain (2,463m) as we would see nothing anyway. So, instead, we hiked through the Maligne Canyon, and then drove to the breath taking Maligne Lake hoping to catch a boat tour. We arrived there only to learn that, due to a long winter, some parts of the lake were still covered with ice, and that the tours would start… the following day.

Well, the wildlife fires and then the floe on the lake – it was guaranteed that things would not always go as expected. But we were mentally prepared, and it did nothing to douse our spirit and energy.