the wandering chickAbove and Right: The Saskatchewan Glacier
...the Icefields Parkway
We knew it was going to be a truly gorgeous drive, and so in planning our trip to Canada's Banff and Jasper Natl Parks, we set aside one whole day to do the 143-mile trip up the Icefield Parkway. It's an easy 230 km - a wonderfully wide, mostly two lane (with ocassional turn lanes), open stretch with minimal curves and climbing.
The parkway is Alberta's Highway 93 and it runs parallel with the Continental Divide. The Rockies are at their best, many, even in September, still snow covered with the last winter's fall. There are crystal-clear glacier-fed lakes, water falls, glaciers and mountain peaks, none of which would be easy to pass without stopping. The parkway is named for the Columbia Icefield, one of the stops along the route.
We left Banff around 8:30 am, and at 6:30 in the evening, we were rolling into Jasper. It was an amazing excursion. There are few places in this world where it would take 10 hours to travel 140 miles.
Canada's most spectacular drive
Crowfoot Glacier and Crowfoot Mountain
Above and Right: Bow Lake
Bow Summit is the parkway's highest peak at 6,850 feet. Nestled in its crooks is Peyto Lake, one of my three favorites on this trip.
A well-prepared backpacker. I hope she didn't have a very successful catch.
Waterfowl Lake
Above and Left: Waterfowl Lake
Mistaya Canyon
The Columbia Icefield, for which the parkway gets its name, straddles the imaginary Continental Divide and is the source of eight major glaciers, three of which are visible from the parkway: the Saskatchewan, the Dome and the Athabasca.
The most visible is the Athabasca, above left. A walking path leads to the foot of the glacier, giving an up-close view of its massive size and reinforcing the concept that it is, indeed, melting at an alarming rate.
this is the path through the moraine leading up to the Athabasca Glacier. It's relatively steep, rocky and (at least the day we visited) a windy climb. Once you get to the foot, the actual glacier (that you can see just as well from the road) is blocked off by rope for safety purposes. There are, however, informative panels to read and the opportunity for better close-up shots, if you're a camera buff.
Move just a short distance from the receding icefields and you are in a meadow covered by the last remnants of summer, with flowery knolls and green pastures.
A view of the Icefield Parkway from above, at the top of one of the few wide-swinging switchbacks
An unnamed (as far as I know) mountain along the parkway
Above and Left: The area of Parker Ridge, known for one of the better hikes along the parkway.
The upper Sunwapta Falls
There's one area along the parkway we found that the mountain goats like to hang out. The only other wildlife we saw along the route was a black bear earlier in the day, but he was working furiously collecting berries and soon got too deep into the woods to get a good view.
Athabasca Falls
Taken from the parking lot of the Athabasca Falls
How appropriate that some of my last shots along the Icefields Parkway would be of cairns, one of my many favorite novelties I encounter along my journeys. This collection was being built along the bank of the Athabasca River at the Athabasca Falls.
To view other pages of the Banff and Jasper Natl Parks, please go to the Canada home page.
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