Aug 31, 2026 – Day 8
Today’s scenery didn’t just impress — it stole the show. Top billing went to cerulean Maligne Lake, the largest glacially formed lake in the Canadian Rockies, and quieter (many of us thought, better) than its famous cousin, Lake Louise. This 22-kilometer ribbon lake fills a U-shaped valley here in Jasper National Park, carved by glaciers and dammed by an end moraine — the same recipe as Lake Louise, just bigger. The name has a backstory: early French explorers, spooked by the turbulent spring meltwater, dubbed it “malignant,” or wicked — a title that stuck to the lake, river, and canyon alike. Our cruise was anything but wicked: smooth sailing past sky-scraping peaks, dark forests, and the three glaciers still feeding the lake — Charlton-Unwin, Maligne, and Coronet. The grand finale was Spirit Island, a tiny islet that punches above its weight as one of Canada’s most photographed spots.
Back in Jasper, we traded lake views for mountain ones on the Jasper SkyTram, opened in 1964 to put a mountaintop view within reach of anyone who couldn’t climb one themselves. From the upper terminal (2,287 m), we could see the Colin and Maligne Ranges, Maligne Canyon, and the Icefields Parkway threading south past the Jasper townsite far below. We didn’t have time to hike to the true summit — the round trip takes about 3 hours — so we made it about a third of the way up before turning back, but even that partial climb into the alpine tundra above treeline delivered a spectacular view.
We capped the day with a birthday dinner (lunar calendar, July 19th) at Raven Bistro.
