Jasper: Sunwapta Falls, Chaba Imne (Maligne Lake) & Spirit Island (Day 7)

Spirit Island 

Spiritual places have always moved me, and today was no different.  This afternoon, we headed to Maligne Lake to take the boat tour to Spirit Island (the only other way to get there is to canoe or kayak, which can take 8-10 hours across an often moody lake).  This location has been widely photographed and shared all over the world; you will likely recognize it even if you never knew where it was taken.  When I first moved out on my own and was in university, we would have poster fairs, and I purchased a landscape large poster of this island, and had it up on the wall of my apartment for many years.  It seemed like a fabled place; somewhere so beautiful, remote and far away that I could never hope to get there. 

Samson Beaver's map,
gifted to Mary Schaffer

We boarded the boat and were introduced to our driver, Alex and our tour guide, Delilah.  As we rode to the "island" (it's actually an isthmus), she told us the history of the area.  The lake, known to the Stoney Nakoda people and other indigenous peoples for thousands of years prior to colonization, was a place of spiritual importance to them.  They knew it as the "lake of deep waters" or "lake of healing", and called it Chaba Imne (Beaver Lake).  They used it for spiritual ceremony in healing, as well as a gathering place and to hunt.  When Europeans arrived and moved the local people onto reserves, they lost their connection with this important spiritual location.

In the early 1900's, Mary Schaffer, an American botanist, artist, photographer and writer, heard about Chaba Imne from the friendship she had developed with the Stoney Nakoda people.  They had told her about its beauty and healing waters.  One of them, Samson Beaver, drew her a map from his fuzzy memory of having visited the lake as a child with his father for a coming of age ceremony, in exchange for flour, tea, sugar, a dress and a doll for his daughter.  Armed with this map, her best friend, a botanist, 3 guides, 26 horses and a dog, she set off to locate the mythical Chaba Imne (known today as Maligne Lake).  After a month of trekking through deep snow, rushing waters, tall mountains, and bushwhacking, they finally found it - the stunningly beautiful lake of legends. They were the first non-indigenous people to set foot on its shores.

Several years later, Mary was asked to return and survey the land. She gave many of the mountain peaks and other features names of the people who had helped her, including Samson Beaver - our boat passed by the majestic Samson Peak.  Jasper National Park was formed in 1907, and Mary fought hard to have Maligne Lake included in its boundaries, in order to preserve this location for generations to come and leave it undeveloped. 

Samson Peak

Spirit Island

History is, of course, complicated. In forming this national park, all indigenous people were remov
ed from their lands here.  Only very recently has the Canadian government formally apologized to the Stoney Nakoda people and welcomed them back to Jasper National Park, but much reconciliation work remains to be done. 

As I sat and listened to these stories while the boat rode by all the mountains and the clear turquoise waters of Maligne Lake, I felt very emotional.  What beauty, what complicated history, what spiritual significance.  The company who runs the boat cruise we were on, Pursuit, has developed a friendship with the Stoney Nakoda people over the last decade, and have modified their practices as a result. They used to take people onto Spirit Island itself, but after hearing from the Stoney Nakoda how sacred this place was to them, they no longer allow us passengers to walk on the island itself, but rather drop us off nearby on the mainland where we can walk around a few viewpoints and look out onto the island instead.  

Delilah (an indigenous person herself) also told us that, if we felt so moved, we could approach the shores of Maligne Lake, and ask the lake for healing, then cup some water and pour it on our head.  She also said that its tradition that if it's someone's birthday, they have to swim in the cold waters of the lake.

I am still 2 days away from my birthday, but I figured it was close enough that I should at least approximate, so when we got off the boat and took the obligatory photos from the viewpoints, we headed down to the shore and I took my boots off and waded in, ankle deep. Feeling a little unsure of myself, I spoke to Chaba Imne and asked for healing, and cupped some cold water onto my forehead.  Behind me, R happily gathered stones and threw them into the green-blue waters, taking it all in the way only a toddler can - present to the moment, to the stones and the wind and the splashes and sounds of the water, oblivious to the context around him. For a brief few moments, as I looked out at the long-dreamed about Spirit Island and felt the frigid crystal clear waters surround my feet, I too was consumed by only the sense of the present moment, and the inexplicable tears in my eyes. 

Standing in Chaba Imne (Maligne Lake); Spirit Island in the background

Earlier that day, we hiked Sunwapta Falls, back on the Icefields Parkway.   We had been unsure of what to do today before the boat cruise, and had a few options in mind, so I decided to ask R what he wanted to see - lakes or a waterfall.  He chose waterfall, and so we honored his wish and headed out.  

Sunwapta Falls (upper)

The upper falls are viewable with a very short walk from the parking lot.  They are definitely gorgeous, especially with that mountain backdrop, and you can also see the way it has carved the canyon walls.  The river goes around a small island of evergreens and pours out with a powerful force almost immediately in front of it.  There is also a lower falls, and R was in good spirits so we started the hike through the forest, a 2.6km round-trip journey that he - again - did entirely on his own. He bounded down the ever descending trail, delighted by all the tree roots in his way, singing "hiking we go".  There were several other people on the trail either coming or going, but it was quieter than most of the other trails we'd done.  Many of them would comment on R's boundless energy, amazed that he was hiking this trail at all.

Outdoors has always been his happy place, but we didn't realize just how much he loved hiking until this trip.  His pure joy in experiencing the world is a marvel and an honour to witness.  To him, everything is brand new; everything is an adventure.  Hiking the wilderness of Jasper National Park is no greater or lesser a novel adventure than kicking a ball in the park outside our house.  To him, the grandeur of the vacation he is on is irrelevant. And that is a fascinating perspective to witness.  

Throw rocks into
Maligne Lake near
Spirit Island

On the trail to lower
Sunwapta Falls

Travel takes us away from what we know, and immerses us in the unknown, which re-awakens our wonder.  But for him, that wonder is still ever-present, regardless of location.  I will try to remember that, after we get home and return to our everyday lives.

Picnic lunch stop along the Icefields Parkway
(Mt Christie picnic area)