Today the rain had backed off a bit but so we went for a hike to Lower Summit Lake. The hike starts from the southern end of Medicine Lake & runs between two saw toothed ranges. About a mile in you come to Beaver Lake (above). It's surprisingly peaceful place considering how accessible it is. Of course there are no beavers in the lake because it's called "Beaver" Lake. The Rocky Mountain parks are odd. If you can drive to it with less than a kilometre of walk, it's loaded with tourists. Anything slightly further is nice & peaceful.
We saw a ptarmigan foraging beside the trail in full dark summer colours. He was going about his business with little regard for our intrusion.
More wild flowers. This one is an Indian Paintbrush.
The target of our first walk for the day was First Summit Lake (above). The trail continues to Second Summit Lake, Jacques Lake & then beyond. If you're really keen, you can continue to follow the "South Boundary Trail" the 165kms to the Banff/Jasper National park boundary on the Icefields Parkway. We weren't that keen to go past First Summit Lake. It's quite the nice setting but it must be much nicer with clear blue skies. The best part about the hike was the fact that it was just under 5 kms each way along a relatively flat trail.
On the way back to Jasper from the Summit Lake trail we drove alongside Medicine Lake (above). I just had to stop. The lake was dead calm & the reflections of the surrounding ranges... well, you be the judge (despite the cloudy weather). We've been to Medicine Lake a number of times & it has looked like a different lake every time.
After lunch, we set off on another hike to 1st Geraldine Lake (above). Our trail guide book lead us to believe it was a fairly short, moderately easy hike. Not the case. It was quite steep and the path was muddy & hacked up for most of the way to the lake. The lake was nice enough with a water fall at the far end. Unfortunately we were both a bit grumpy from the hike & it took the edge off the scenery a bit. The lake was surprisingly clear and was alive with some big trout.
For some reason we persisted with even more difficult terrain along the lake shore to the Water Fall at the far end. We did get there in the end & took a few average photos. Needless to say we were very glad to be back at the car an hour or so later. Was it worth it?.... Not so sure. The mountains have spoiled us so we're starting to get a bit hard to please.
