Maligne Lake is 22km long making it the largest of the Canadian Rocky Mountain Lakes. It is possible to paddle the length in a day. However, a more enjoyable experience would be to break the trip up like we did into a multi-day canoe trip. It's hard to put into words how beautiful Maligne Lake with its majestic mountains and changing colours of the waters are. It is one of those places that needs to be experienced.

Fisherman's Bay is tucked into a small cove on the East side of the lake. There are 8 campsites here. Each one is large enough for a single tent. Campsites 3 & 4 are the closest to the lake and have the best views. There is one assisted accessible campsite as well. After a frosty start to our day, the best part was soaking up the warmth of the sun on the beach.

Each of the campsites along Maligne Lake have a logbook for people to record their experience. They can be fun to read through. I enjoyed reading about Charlotte Louise's canoe trip to celebrate her 9th Birthday. It took her and her family 4 hours to paddle to Fisherman's. I imagine that they likely stopped at 2 or 3 of the picnic areas along their journey. If you were wondering if this is a family friendly canoe trip, take it from Charlotte Louise who loved her experience that it is.

One of the nice things about exploring Maligne Lake on under your own paddling power is that you get to stay and enjoy every moment of the day and night.
Like enjoying the golden hour and watching as the sunlight hits the top of the mountain before it ducks behind the range for the night.

Watching the sunset over a mirror-like lake with perfect reflections is fantastic. It is so nice to just be still and watch the changing colours of the sky and the mountains. I understand why the Stoney Nakoda First Nation people call Maligne Lake the Lake of Healing. It is place that is good for the soul.

The sunset views on Maligne Lake are beautiful and so peaceful. Equally as awe inspiring are the starry nights here. Jasper National Park is the second largest dark sky preserve in the world. Meaning that on a clear night, there is no better place for stargazing than Jasper. In fact, the skies are so fantastic here that you can easily see the milky way!

We were so fortunate to have a perfect evening for a stunning sunset on Maligne Lake. The waters were calm and without a single ripple making for a perfect reflection of the mountain and the sky onto the water. So quiet, calm, peaceful and magnificent.

The veil of mist separating the relfection made me think of the saying, 'As above so below'. This phrase popping into my head seems fitting when I later learned that Maligne Lake is a very spiritual place for the Stoney Nakoda First Nations people. In fact, they believe that the mountains are the physical manifestation of their ancestors.

Boat tours run daily from May until just after Thanksgiving in October. The cruise takes visitors on a 1.5 hour - 2 hour tour and stops at Spirit Island. Depending on the tour visitors will get 15-30 minutes at Spirit Island. The tours are accessible as well. Guides share information about the history, geology and wildlife of the area.

The Maligne Lake Boat Tours don't venture beyond Spirit Island. However, paddlers can. Our trip plan was to paddle all the way to the far end of the lake and to spend two nights there at the Coronet Creek Campground. We were happy that beyond the midpoint of the lake we would no longer need to deal with waves of the tour boats.

Spirit Island is a beautiful and peaceful spot that has a certain heaviness about it. This is likely due to the heartbreaking First Nations Romeo and Juliette story that occured here. Spirit Island was the meeting place for a young couple that had fallen in love. Like Romeo and Juliette, they were from rival tribes.When this young Juliette's father (the Chief) found out he forbid her from ever returning to the island. It is said that our Romeo, heartbroken still continued to visit the island never knowing what had happened and waiting for his love to return. In fact, he continued to return to the island for the remainder of his life and eventually died here. It is believed that his spirit is still on the island waiting for his Juliette to return. Because of this, Spirit Island is a signficant spiritual location for First Nations people. As such, you cannot walk on Spirit Island. However, you can walk along a short trail on the mainland and take some incredible photos of it.

Spirit Island is about a 15 minute (2km) paddle from Fisherman's Bay Campground. Making it an easy place to paddle for a sunrise or sunset visit when the touru boats are not running. Since the days are short this time of year, we decided to paddle back to the campsite while there was still some light to guide our way. This was our last evening on the lake. All of the people that we were with at the Coronet Creek had paddled all the way out earlier that day. We didn't see anyone paddling in and there was no one else at Fisherman's Creek. This was also the last day for boat rentals and tours on the lake. It is quite possible that we were the only two people other than the Romeo spirit on the lake that evening. It was all at once an awesome and eerie feeling.

Another day, another incredible reflection on Maligne Lake. We loved our time canoeing on Maligne Lake in Jasper National Park. Honestly, we couldn't have asked for better weather, calmer waters and prettier views. We would absolutely do this trip again. If our next trip is another Thanksgiving journey, then I think we have picked up a few tips on how to have a backcoutry feast from some of our fellow campers. I did pack mini pies for us, however by night 4 we were onto dehydrated camp food. The lesson we learned, when canoeing you don't have to think like a backpacker. Instead purchase a good quality, bear proof cooler so you can stretch how long your fresh food lasts.

We knew it was time to head home when it began raining as we paddled out. Fortunately the wasters were still calm. It would be warm if not for the rain. Thankfully we had everything we needed to keep ourselves and our gear dry. I really appreciated having my paddling jacket and gloves. Naturally, the sun came out as soon as we finished canoeing and began to unpack. In the end it turned out to be another beautiful day in Jasper National Park, Alberta Canada.