We continued traveling north on the Icefields Parkway to the small town of Jasper which lies 230 kilometers from Lake Louise. Jasper is much less developed and more rugged than Banff and Lake Louise and has the feel of a close knit community. We certainly had more encounters with wildlife near our campsite in Jasper National Park. Mitch, on his morning run, had his path blocked by this guy below.  This is mating season and bull elks can be very dangerous now.

But elk have many predators (in addition to human hunters) to worry about. A grizzly, cougar, or wolf left this remnant of his/her elk feast.

Throughout the Rockies there are many great hiking trails and one of the favorites we took was the Valley of Five Lakes Trail just outside of Jasper. It really captured how beautiful it is here on a fall day. Below are some of the scenes on our hike.