Jasper's Mount Edith Cavell and Pyramid Lake

Cruising through the many lakes in Jasper National Park, we took a winding, switchback road for 18 miles, up to Mt. Edith Cavell.  It was worth it!  The First Nation peoples called the mountain “the White Ghost” because it always has lkkkkkkkkkkkkkkl,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,. (Smokey just helped me type, by walking across my keyboard).  Anyway, the mountain peak is always covered with snow.

Edith Cavell was a British army nurse during WW1, stationed in Brussels.  She treated all wounded, no matter which side they fought on, and refused to leave her station after Germany took over Belgium.  What she really did, though, was to help over 200 allied soldiers escape.  She was executed for espionage in 1915 by a firing squad.  In 1916, this mountain and its glacier lake were named in her honor.  And what an honor it would be – a large glacier hangs heavily on the mountain side.

Waterfalls from the melting glacier tumble down the mountain.

They feed the blue lake below. 

Luke walked to the edge of the lake – ice flows are in the water and it is just beautiful beyond words.

Back at the campsite, we found our first little elk.  Well, little as elk go – she is as large as a good size horse!

On Thursday we drove to Pyramid Mountain and lake.

A bridge connects the mainland to the small Pyramid Island.   As we walked across the bridge, we noticed this mom loon and her two little ones.  The young ones don’t dive yet – mom still brings food up to them. The water is so clear we could follow mom swimming underwater searching for food.

Great view from the island.

 We saw several of these lilies.  I didn’t know they grew here.  This one is different from the ones I am used to seeing at home – look at how far apart the petals are.

 And finally tonight, our first little whitetail deer.  She was relatively little!

 We have to move campsites tomorrow morning, as we extended two days here.  Sightseeing tomorrow afternoon, and then a long day of sightseeing on Saturday before we leave.

We did have pizza - great pizza, better statue in front of the pizza joint ... 

 Smokey and I are both much better.  My cold has almost run its course.  The pharmacist here recommended a herbal syrup to help break up my cough.  Seems to work well and no drugs to interact with anything!  She said it’s extremely popular here – called Nin Jiom.  Smokey got a new antibiotic from the vet in Jasper.  That seems to be helping her a lot.  She is playing this evening and eager to go out and hunt the wild what-evers at the campsite.  Neighbors brought over all of their left-over wood this morning before they left, but unfortunately, it rained this evening when we planned to build a fire.  Oh, well, in the true spirit of pricing everything, it costs $8 each time you build a bonfire.  But that does include the wood!  Maybe tomorrow or Saturday night we’ll get that fire going. I’m planning to go back into town tomorrow to a wifi hotspot and post…hope it works!