I arrived in Jasper in the midst of a snowstorm. The familiar town stretched out before me.

Excited to see my favorite spots blanketed with snow, I drove out the Maligne Road and visited mysterious Medicine Lake. For years Medicine Lake puzzled visitors because it completely disappears in the winter. With the discovery of subterranean caverns that empty into Maligne Canyon, the mystery was at last solved.
I've seen this lake many times in the summer, when it brims full with water. But this was my first visit to see it at its emptier stage. The bright blue lake had been replaced with little creeks and winding rivulets of water. Ice covered what standing water remained.

Tracks meandered across the lake's snowy surfaces.
The southern end of the lake is all rivers and ice right now.