Day 19

The.fire damage in the National Parks is enormous, 81,000 acres of burnt trees with only the trunks of the trees standing. Being pine there is no regrowth so the land looks like an apocalypse has occurred. Believe they are still trying to decide what to do.

Mariah showed us where her staff lodges got burnt to the ground. The staff lodges are 3 storey log cabins, amazing how the ones next to hers escaped with not even burn marks, the photos with security fencing were where her building used to be.

We did a 2hr boat ride on Lake Maligne which is the Jasper Nat Parks largest glacier fed lake and they took us out to Spirit Island which is very small with only 23 trees on it. However its very significant to an Indian Tribe.

The island is a spiritual place for the Stoney Nakoda First Nation, who believe mountains are physical representations of their ancestors. The fact that Spirit Island is surrounded on three sides by the same mountain range is very rare and makes it particularly significant to the Stoney. They still visit it to perform certain ceremonies.

Like clock work, on the way home we got to see more Canadian Wildlife a big female moose, they look quite odd and i think big G should have given them a tail. Finished the day off with a nice swim in the hotel heated poolRead more