JASPER NATIONAL PARK - Canadian Rockies: Including Banff and Jasper National Parks - page 347

Oft-photographed Spirit Island is the turn-around point for tour boats on Maligne Lake.
Miette Hot Springs Road branches south from the highway 43 kilometers (27 miles)
east of Jasper. This junction marks the site of Pocahontas, a coal-mining town in existence
between 1910 and 1921. The mine itself was high above the township, with coal transpor-
ted to the valley floor by cable car. All buildings have long since been removed, but a short
interpretive walk leads through the remaining foundations. One kilometer (0.6 mile) along
Miette Hot Springs Road, a short trail leads to photogenic Punchbowl Falls. Here Moun-
tain Creek cascades through a narrow crevice in a cliff to a pool of turbulent water.
Miette Hot Springs
After curving, swerving, rising, and falling many times, Miette Hot Springs Road ends 18
kilometers (11 miles) from Highway 16 at the warmest springs in the Canadian Rockies
(780/866-3939, 10:30am-9pm daily mid-May-mid-Oct., extended to 8:30am-10:30pm
daily in summer). In the early 1900s, these springs were one of the park's biggest attrac-
tions. In 1910, a packhorse trail was built up the valley, and the government constructed a
bathhouse. The original hand-hewn log structure was replaced in the 1930s with pools that