Athabasca Falls.
After an arduous day and night at Spirit Island, we decided to get one more view in at Athabasca Falls before heading home. The only problem was that we were back in Jasper around 10am that same morning and didn’t want to photograph the falls without pristine sunset light. At this point we had two options, get a campsite or hotel and try to sleep, or rough it and attempt to once again sleep in the vehicle. The differences from the night before consisted of it being in the middle of the day, 30 degrees Celsius, in the middle of Jasper, and did I mention how hot it was? We checked out a few potential refuges but they were either too expensive or far away to make it worthwhile so we sweatily tried to sleep in the hot box called a vehicle. Needless to say, this was exorbitantly uncomfortable and after maybe the hour of sleep I accomplished there was a serious risk of drowning in the amount of sweat I perspired. Anyways, I woke up to Elliot in an equal amount of discomfort so we decided to walk around for a bit and eat lunch at the Indian restaurant in town.
Somehow we managed to pass the minutes until it was time to head to Athabasca falls. We made some KD in the parking lot and ate a nice, quiet meal on the far side of the parking lot away from the tourists. I had never been there so we meandered along the pathways scouting out where some potential photo spots were. Basically, the best spot for the iconic images is on the bridge. With that being said, the random stone formations are quite mesmerizing and shouldn't be ignored. We set up our tripods, made some images when the light was optimal and then packed up and started the walk back to the vehicle. Just as we approached the vehicle a cougar walked around the back end and locked eyes with us...
Which is exactly what I would say if this was a fictional style blog. Fortunately, there wasn't a cougar or any other dangers waiting for us. We began the long journey home with a stunning orange glow painting the mountainsides. Thank you all for following along with this adventure and looking forward to sharing the next one.
