Maligne Lake Road, Jasper

I couldn’t resist the temptation.

Going north east on the Maligne Lake Road takes you all the way to Maligne Lake. I have visited that lake many times before. It’s a 44km drive till you get to the lake, however it’s a slow 60 km/h road which you don’t want to speed through as wildlife frequently pop out of nowhere. I’m not in the mood of running over some deer or elk.

Due to lack of time, I’m not going to travel the entire road. Instead I drove to one of the picnic sites along the road. The site happens to have a beautiful stream running right through it. I’m sitting now on the edge of the stream, a big log in front of me just inviting me to cross the stream and go into the unknown.

The water is ice cold, running barely 1 meter below me. All the sound I can hear is the sound of water flowing. Very clear water. Pure water, possibly originating from some glacier (Gord, what’s the name of this stream and where does it originate from?), making its way to the Athabasca.

I breathe fresh air. Around me I can only see trees, bush and snow‐peaked mountains. Some chipmunks running about looking for food. Hopefully they don’t become food themselves as there are bears in this area.

The connection between human and nature is the most basic, purest connections that exist. Relationships between people are subjective, full of mutual interpretations and expectations; the relationship between man and nature is pure and unbiased. When you need time to think, time to get a hold of things, time to cope with difficulties… just go out to wonderful mother nature and spend some time with yourself.

They say that time is the best healer. I disagree. Nature is. This stream I’m sitting by right now heals much faster and much better than time. A few breaths in this fantastic environment and you feel rejuvenated again.

I should move to Jasper… or somewhere closer to it than Ontario.

Goodbye Jasper, I miss you already.

To celebrate this moment, here is a picture that was taken two years ago. It’s similar to the one on my profile page but… well, just see. Put yourself in my shoes, sitting on that rock and looking down onto this heaven. Now tell me that nature isn’t the greatest.