De Smet Range Jasper National Park

The De Smet Range is located between the Athabasca River Valley and the Snake Indian River Valley east of Vine Creek. De Smet Range, Jasper Park, Alberta, Athabasca River.
       Panorama viewpoint: Roche a Perdrix. Can be seen from Highway 16 .          

"Western Lands Beneath the Sun"

Journeys End

In western lands beneath the Sun
The flowers may rise in Spring,
The trees may bud, the waters run,
The merry finches sing.

Or there maybe 'tis cloudless night,
And swaying branches bear
The Elven-stars as jewels white
Amid their branching hair.

Though here at journey's end I lie
In darkness buried deep,
Beyond all towers strong and high,
Beyond all mountains steep,
Above all shadows rides the Sun
And Stars for ever dwell:
I will not say the Day is done,
Nor bid the Stars farewell.

by J R R Tolkien

Maligne Canyon

A Slumber did my Spirit Seal
By William Wordsworth    
       

A slumber did my spirit seal;

I had no human fears:

She seemed a thing that could not feel

The touch of earthly years.

No motion has she now, no force;

She neither hears nor sees;

Rolled round in earth's diurnal course,

With rocks, and stones, and trees.

Pyramid Mountain

Pyramid Mountain is a mountain in Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada, named for its pyramid-like shape. James Hector named the mountain in 1859 due to its appearance from the Athabasca River valley on the eastern side of the peak.  The colors of the mountain look bronze with shades of red, orange and deep gray.

"Nobody Cometh To Woo" - Pyramid Island

Nobody Cometh To Woo

On Martinmas eve the dogs did bark,
And I opened the window to see,
When every maiden went by with her spark
But neer a one came to me.
And O dear what will become of me?
And O dear what shall I do,
When nobody whispers to marry me--
Nobody cometh to woo?

None's born for such troubles as I be:
If the sun wakens first in the morn
'Lazy hussy' my parents both call me,
And I must abide by their scorn,
For nobody cometh to marry me,
Nobody cometh to woo,
So here in distress must I tarry me--
What can a poor maiden do?

If I sigh through the window when Jerry
The ploughman goes by, I grow bold;
And if I'm disposed to be merry,
My parents do nothing but scold;
And Jerry the clown, and no other,
Eer cometh to marry or woo;
They think me the moral of mother
And judge me a terrible shrew.

For mother she hateth all fellows,
And spinning's my father's desire,
While the old cat growls bass with the bellows
If eer I hitch up to the fire.
I make the whole house out of humour,
I wish nothing else but to please,
Would fortune but bring a new comer
To marry, and make me at ease!

When I've nothing my leisure to hinder
I scarce get as far as the eaves;
Her head's instant out of the window
Calling out like a press after thieves.
The young men all fall to remarking,
And laugh till they're weary to see't,
While the dogs at the noise begin barking,
And I slink in with shame from the street.

My mother's aye jealous of loving,
My father's aye jealous of play,
So what with them both there's no moving,
I'm in durance for life and a day.
O who shall I get for to marry me?
Who will have pity to woo?
Tis death any longer to tarry me,
And what shall a poor maiden do?
                                                                  

John Clare (1793-1864)

Athabasca Falls

Psalm 42:7 (NIV)

⁷ Deep calls to deep
    in the roar of your waterfalls;
all your waves and breakers
    have swept over me.

Columbia Icefields

The Columbia Icefield is the largest ice field in the Rocky Mountains of North America.  Located in the Canadian Rockies astride the Continental Divide along the border of British Columbia and Alberta, Canada.

Tangle Creek Waterfall

Tangle Creek Falls is one of the most commonly photographed waterfalls in the Icefield Parkways between Jasper and Banff National Park. This is because of its incredibly easy access along the Parkway itself. The watefall has a drop of 114 feet and has cascading tiers of 14, then 18 and then 13 feet respectively. Tangle Creek Falls are 7km north of the Columbia Icefield Centre.

Bow Lake "A Joy Forever"

A thing of beauty is a joy forever.
Its loveliness increases; it will never
pass into nothingness ...―John Keats

Cabin On the Athabasca

This was the view from the cabin where we stayed for four days.  There were nature trails along the river bank.  It was a beautiful spot to experience the park.

Misty Mountains Cold

 
 


FAR OVER THE MISTY MOUNTAINS COLD


Far over the misty mountains cold
To dungeons deep and caverns old
We must away ere break of day
To seek the pale enchanted gold.

The dwarves of yore made mighty spells,
While hammers fell like ringing bells
In places deep, where dark things sleep,
In hollow halls beneath the fells.

For ancient king and elvish lord
There many a gleaming golden hoard
They shaped and wrought, and light they caught
To hide in gems on hilt of sword.

On silver necklaces they strung
The flowering stars, on crowns they hung
The dragon-fire, in twisted wire
They meshed the light of moon and sun.

Far over the misty mountains cold
To dungeons deep and caverns old
We must away, ere break of day,
To claim our long-forgotten gold.

Goblets they carved there for themselves
And harps of gold; where no man delves
There lay they long, and many a song
Was sung unheard by men or elves.

The pines were roaring on the height,
The winds were moaning in the night.
The fire was red, it flaming spread;
The trees like torches blazed with light.

The bells were ringing in the dale
And men they looked up with faces pale;
The dragon’s ire more fierce than fire
Laid low their towers and houses frail.

The mountain smoked beneath the moon;
The dwarves they heard the tramp of doom.
They fled their hall to dying fall
Beneath his feet, beneath the moon.

Far over the misty mountains grim
To dungeons deep and caverns dim
We must away, ere break of day,
To win our harps and gold from him!


Far over the misty mountains cold is a poem found within the chapter "An Unexpected Party" of The Hobbit.  By J.R.R. Tolkien

Lady of Shalott

The Lady of Shalott (1832)    

By Alfred, Lord Tennyson   

        

Part I

On either side the river lie

Long fields of barley and of rye,

That clothe the wold and meet the sky;

And thro' the field the road runs by

       To many-tower'd Camelot;

The yellow-leaved waterlily

The green-sheathed daffodilly

Tremble in the water chilly

       Round about Shalott.

Willows whiten, aspens shiver.

The sunbeam showers break and quiver

In the stream that runneth ever

By the island in the river

       Flowing down to Camelot.

Four gray walls, and four gray towers

Overlook a space of flowers,

And the silent isle imbowers

       The Lady of Shalott.

Athabasca Glacier

The Athabasca Glacier is one of the six principal 'toes' of the Columbia Icefield, located in the Canadian Rockies.

Mushroom Peak

Ecclesiastes 11:3  If the clouds are full, they pour out rain upon the earth; and whether a tree falls toward the south or toward the north, wherever the tree falls, there it lies.

Maligne Valley

Scenic views from Maligne Valley in Jasper National Park.  The valley is on the way to Maligne Canyon.

Peaks of the Mountain

In whose hand are the depths of the earth, The peaks of the mountains are His also.
Psalm 95:4

Still Waters - Lake Edith

“We can make our minds so like still water that beings gather about us that they may see, it may be, their own images, and so live for a moment with a clearer, perhaps even with a fiercer life because of our quiet.”
― W.B. Yeats, The Celtic Twilight: Faerie and Folklore    

Tangle Ridge

When Your Are Old
by William Butler Yeats


WHEN you are old and gray and full of sleep
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;

How many loved your moments of glad grace,
And loved your beauty with love false or true;
But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face.

And bending down beside the glowing bars,
Murmur, a little sadly, how love fled
And paced upon the mountains overhead,
And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.

Icy Turquoise Waters of the Athabasea River

The most amateur of photographers will get a perfect picture at any angle of the Athabasea River running through the mountain ranges and valleys of Jasper National Park in Alberta Canada.

Maligne Lake

 
 
The above photographs are just a few of the magnificent scenic views I saw on the boat cruise to Spirit Island.  Maligne Lake is regarded as one of the most mesmerizing lakes in Jasper National Park, Maligne Canyon and Lake, the pride of the town of Jasper, is famous for its deep blue water surrounded by snow-capped peaks dotted with glaciers.