Jacques Lake in Jasper

Jess and I managed to get away for a quick back country camping trip in Jasper on a warm weekend in September. We decided to hike the 13 km trail from Maligne Lake to Jacques Lake. There's not much change in elevation as you stay in the valley between mountains the whole time but the trail is by no means flat and it's quite muddy and rocky so with a 25-pound pack on our backs it was still pretty challenging.

By the time we reached Jacques Lake, the sun was dipping behind the mountains and there was already a chill in the air. There was another group of campers spending the night at the same spot and we sat by a fire with them and ate our supper once we had our tent pitched.

We'd seen giant moose footprints in the mud that looked quite fresh but so far, no moose. Jess was really hoping to see some moose to photograph but since it was the middle of rutting season, I was pretty happy not seeing any.

It got down to about zero degrees so it was really cold for sleeping. I slept with my wool hood pulled down over my head and my sleeping mask covering my eyes and my sleeping bag pulled up to my nose so the only part exposed to the air was my nose. And then I stayed like that until around 9:30 in the morning because it was too cold to get out until then.

It turns out that we should have gotten up sooner because a huge bull moose walked right beside our tent while we were still in bed. One of the other campers was up and watched the moose wander around our tent for a while before heading off into the woods. Luckily for Jess though, a female moose was still around when we got up and she was very cooperative about staying put while he took lots of pictures.

By the time we had all our gear packed back up, the sun was high in the sky and it was a hot 27-degree day. It was a lovely day to be out in the mountains.