Follow the adventures of Paul Pitzers and Grace Pitzer

Canadian Rockies

7/6/2019

Icefields Parkway and Jasper

July 2 - 3, 2019

Leaving Canmore/Banff we headed north along the beautiful Icefields Parkway to Jasper. This 185 mile long road the took us over Bow Pass, an altitude of just over 7,000 feet. The views of the mountains and some visible glaciers were spectacular and we made several interesting stops. The first was Bow Lake and we walked down to the marina where people could rent small boats and canoes. The next stop was Peyto Lake, which is long and a gorgeous greenish color. The viewpoint was at the highest point on the Columbia Icefields highway.

We stopped for lunch at the Saskatchewan River Crossing and then continued on. Our driver drove slowly past the Weeping Wall, which was an area alongside the road where water falls ran down the faces of the cliffs.

We finally arrived at the Columbia Icefield, the largest sheet of ice in the Rockies. It is just 80 miles from Jasper. There we boarded another bus, which took us partway up the glacial valley to a place where we transferred to large ice buggies. They drove us the rest of the way up onto the Athabasca Glacier. They groom the glacier where people can walk, and the safe area is clearly identified. There are a lot of country flags spaced around so the tourists can have their picture taken with their country’s flag. We only had about twenty minutes to walk around and get our photographs before we had to load back up for the ride back to the base. This glacier is receding at a rapid rate, although further up it is over 1000 ft. thick.

The last stop was to see the Athabasca Falls. There was a marvelous view of the falls with a majestic mountain in the background. It was a beautiful end to the drive from Banff to Jasper. Since it was later in the evening when we arrived into Jasper, and since our lodging was a long walk away from the town center, we had an included dinner at a very nice Greek restaurant.

That was a lot for one day. The next morning in Jasper was a leisurely one. I took some time to get caught up on some blog and journal writing. At noon we shared a cab into town with another couple to avoid the long walk. We strolled all around the small town. It was raining fairly hard most of the time. The Via Rail Canadian passenger train had pulled into the town earlier so we checked it out at the station. It was running at least a half hour late. The station master said that the next train was going to be at least five hours late. Ugh. Guess that is why we are not traveling by train.

We visited with the owner of a Native American artwork store who shared the stories of some of the works he has collected. After lunch we met the bus for our afternoon drive to Maligne Lake. On the way we stopped at Maligne Canyon where the water flows very rapidly down through a slot canyon. It was well worth the hike along a muddy trail to see these impressive falls. Another stop along the way was to checkout Medicine Lake, which is four miles long and it drains in the fall. There were ducks swimming around and two eagles in a nest on the top of a tree along the shore.

We arrived at Maligne Lake in plenty of time for our scheduled 5:30 cruise on the lake out to “Spirit Island.” By the time we arrived there, the rain had let up a little and the clouds had risen enough for us to see some of the mountains. The lake is 14 miles long and the total cruise took about 90 minutes. That included 15 minutes to get off onto shore across form Spirit Island to take photos similar to the famous one that hung in Grand Central Station for a long. It is a sacred space for the First Nations people.

Back at the motel by 8:00, we heated up the leftover pizza from lunch and ate the sandwiches we bought in town earlier. Tomorrow we leave Jasper for Kamloops, a one night stop on the way to Whistler.