Ice Field Parkway and Jasper

Weather

     Let me say that we have had it all to this point  (except warm and sunny) -  wind (and a lot of it), sleet, rain and snow, yes snow! The temps have been mostly in the 40's with an occasional heat wave approaching 50 :-) We have learned to appreciate 50 degrees lately.

June 14th - Ice Field Parkway and the Columbia Ice Field

    All I can say is WOW - this is jaw dropping scenery and an experience we will never forget.
We left the Banff area early with plans (weather permitting) to stop by the Columbia Ice Field and tour there so we would not have to back track from Jasper. As we started onto the Ice Field Parkway, early on, we saw a black bear on the roadside and Kathy took photos but he would not cooperate and give her a full face shot....still exciting but no good photo of that one.

Leaving Banff headed to Jasper (Auburn fan lead dog)

Highway view leaving Banff

    
     The scenery was awesome on this drive even though the weather was pretty cool and a bit cloudy/foggy which made for some pretty interesting views of mountain peaks shooting above the fog. We did see some mountain goats at one stop but from a distance and they appeared to be shedding a lot of their hair on their neck.....not sure if this was normal or if something else was going on with them.

Mountain Goats - Long shot

     We stopped about midway of the parkway for fuel at the only stop available. I was okay on diesel but needed some gas for the generators. As it turns out,  it was good thing I didn't need much fuel because the cost of gas there was $6.22 (US) per gallon. (Ouch) Ed, on the other hand, had to fill up and got to enjoy the full effect of that cost :-(

     When we arrived at the Columbia Ice Field we ran into some folks from Chattanooga Tennessee, Jim and Sheila Lemons, who we had met in Glacier National Park and were also going to Alaska. They are meeting their caravan in Dawson Creek. So, we saw them again in Banff, now at the Ice Field and they are staying in the same campground as us in Dawson Creek. By now we are good friends and exchanging contact info.

Jim Lemons (left) taken by his wife Sheila

     At the Ice Field we purchased tickets that were good for a trip out on the Athabasca Glacier on an Ice Explorer, a walk on the Glacier Skywalk and a boat ride on the Maligne Lake up near Jasper (next day). We spent about three hours total at the ice field and what a great experience. We learned a lot about the glaciers receding, etc... and it was cool (no pun intended) just being on them and learning how they are formed.

Not a lunar landing but felt like it!

Panoramic view from the visitor's center

     The ice explorer vehicles cost over 1.4 million and the guide said that each tire is $5K and they have six. (Might help explain the ticket cost....but worth every penny). We were surprised to learn the tires only hold 14 psi of pressure. There are only 23 of these vehicles made and 22 are here, one is being used by the US government for research in Antarctica. In our trek up to the glacier we traversed a 32% grade which felt really steep but the vehicle is built to handle that.

Ice Explorer

    
     The Glacier walk is a glass floored arch that extends 100 yards out from a cliff and is 900 feet from the canyon below. I have to admit it was a little uneasy feeling for me being out there. The other three (Kathy, Ed, & Kay) were either not bothered or wouldn't admit it. If you look closely at the photos you may see my hand prints and scratch marks on the hand rail :-)

And it was wet and rainy out there!

     After leaving the Ice Field we continued on to our next campground in Jasper. Soon after departing we saw a big horn sheep on the road side. It was on the drivers side and I did manage a photo shot but the guardrail ruined the full photo....having to settle for a heavily cropped eye and horn.

Here's looking at you!

     Our accommodations at Jasper National Park for the next two nights were without any hook ups....no water, electricity or sewage so we were roughing it (somewhat) for a couple nights. Kathy's shower's were much shorter than she preferred in order to avoid running out of water. The generators again proved to be a much needed asset but we were limited on when we could run them in order to observe quiet hours in the campground. Also limited internet (blog/photo work) activity.

June 15th - Maligne Lake Cruise
    
     Heading out for the cruise first thing in the morning which is an hour's drive from the campground we drive through the Maligne (pronounced ma-leen) Valley which is also known for wildlife and sure enough we spot a black bear near the roadside and are able to get some photographs of him.

Maligne Valley Black Bear

    
     The Lake cruises started at 10:00 and the last one is around 6:00 P.M. so our thought process was go early so hopefully it won't be as crowded AND maybe we can enjoy the lake cruise before the wind gets up and the water gets choppy - wrong! Not only was the wind up and the water choppy, it snowed. Not flurries but SNOW and it snowed the whole time! Ed said this is the first boat ride he had ever taken in the snow (me too).....thank goodness the boats were enclosed. So, the visibility was not great and the photo conditions were less than ideal but it was still good...partially because of the great onboard narrator (Cam) who is a young man working here from New Zealand - quite entertaining. There are many young folks from Australia, New Zealand and all over Canada that come here to work these jobs and they are fun/interesting kids.

Maligne Lake Cruise (in the snow)

     The cruise made a stop about 35 minutes in at a place they called Spirit Island.....actually a peninsula most of the time but occasionally the water rises enough to make it an island, and like Cam said, Spirit Island sounds much better than Spirit Peninsula. We spent about 20 minutes there walking a short trail and taking photos.

Boat (not ours) heading around Spirit Island

     The brilliant blue/green color in these mountain lakes is because they are glacier fed and the glacier activity produces what they call "rock flour"...tiny sediment that reflects in the water producing the color. Maligne lake was really pretty but the weather prevented being able to see it as clearly in the photos.

     In the afternoon we found a spot for a picnic lunch by the river and did some exploring (riding) the area around Maligne Lake and also did a drive thru the town of Jasper and up above the town to Pyramid Lake. We did spot an Elk but they are becoming so commonplace that we rarely stop to photograph them anymore....leaving that for the "new" tourist, aye :-)

     Ed grilled up some chicken for dinner that Kay added to a stir fry and we made plans over dinner for the coming days while enjoying a perfect meal and a couple of adult beverages. Heading out of Jasper tomorrow for Dawson Creek in British Columbia.

Additional photos from the last couple days below:

Sun City folks turned ice explorers

Sporting my new cap

Athasbasca Glacier

Pyramid Island

Me trying to stay warm :-)

Maligne Boat House

Photographing Aspen trees and an Elk photo bombed

A cool dude!

Banff & Lake Louise

June 11th

     We are booked for three nights in a campground (Tunnel Mountain Campground) in the Banff National Park - that gives us two full days to explore this area and we wasted no time....an evening drive (after checking in) through downtown on the day of our arrival and a visit to the Banff Hot Springs before turning in for the night.

Our Banff Homesteads

June 12th

     We got an early start with a big day planned. We rode from Banff on the Bow Valley Parkway (scenic drive) in the direction of Lake Louise. This road is famous for wildlife viewing and as we first entered the highway we spotted a large bull elk near the road.....as it turns out - that is the only wild life we saw all day but still a great drive.

Bow Valley Parkway Elk

     About midway to Lake Louise we stopped at Johnson's Canyon and hiked the trail there to the waterfalls.....both the lower and the upper falls.....three miles round trip. A great hike with many places on the trail having walkways that were anchored into the rock and hung over the canyon. After that workout we were ready for our picnic lunch at a windy roadside picnic area.

 Johnson Canyon Hike

Ed & Kay in Johnson Canyon

     From there we went to Lake Louise along with MANY other people...very crowded but a beautiful lake/setting. Weather was pretty cool and it started raining lightly while we were there. Got a few photos and moved on to Lake Moraine which is also in that vicinity.....also crowded but not as bad and just as pretty.

Lake Louise

Lake Moraine

     A quick stop by the bakery for some fresh baked bread to go with our navy bean soup that had been simmering in the crock pot all day.....great ending to the day.

June 13th

     As we were getting loaded up in the truck to leave this morning a bull elk walked through the campground about 20 feet from our camper. After that excitement we headed out to explore a another scenic drive called Vermillion Lake Drive...it too, was pretty but no wildlife (other than some birds) were spotted.

     After that we headed to the Lake Minnewanka Loop drive that has a couple other lakes in the area. Very pretty and we took a detour to a smaller lake called Lake Johnson where we decided to do the hike around the lake.....not many people there and very nice views of the lake and mountains and a perfect hike....easy and beautiful!. At this lake we noticed many more of the wild roses (and other wild flowers) that are small and pretty but have an incredibly good fragrance.

     After leaving the Lake Johnson/Lake Minnewanka area we headed to the Caves and Basin national historic site....it is a cave that has a pretty blue warm spring. Most of the springs in these areas (especially the warm springs) have a very strong Sulphur smell that is hard to take for long. They tell of folks bathing in these springs but that would be difficult for us to do. This site is the birthplace of the Canadian Parks System.

     Back to the camp for a late lunch/rest and get cleaned up for an evening in Banff (downtown) and dinner out. We walked around and shopped for awhile and had dinner and drinks at one of the local restaurants. Pretty good evening until a thunder storm rolled in and we high tailed it back to camp.

     Getting ready to leave here in the morning headed for Jasper National Park via the Ice Fields Parkway.

     Some additional photos from the past couple days below:

Mountain wildflowers

Bench with a view

Lake Johnson

Wild rose

Lake Johnson

Lake Minnewanka Loop Road

Vermillion Lake

Lake Moraine

Kathy and Kay at Lake Moraine

Ed and Kay at Lake Moraine

Tree benders from Florida

Johnson Falls (upper)

Johnson Canyon trail

Johnson Canyon

Chipmunk on hiking trail

Bow Valley - Canadian Pacific Railroad

Oh Canada

   
     We rolled into Alberta, Canada on Saturday morning June 11th with Ed and Kay following close behind....we are happy campers!. Kathy and I had practically used all of our groceries and supplies so we needed to find a Walmart or suitable substitute to shop. There was a Walmart Supercentre on the south side of Calgary and pretty much on our way to Banff.....first stop.

     We tried to change some (US) dollars to Canadian back in Great Falls but were told we needed to wait until we got to Canada or closer to the border so we had none, which proved interesting on the Walmart trip. I assumed that we could shop with a credit card...this turned out to be correct........but we needed alot of groceries/supplies and needed a shopping cart to collect them...turns out in Canada (at least at that Walmart) you must put a $1.00 coin deposit (you guessed it, Canadian) into a slot in order to get a shopping cart. I went to customer service to see if they had a bank or money exchange....no luck, and also no other way to provide us a shopping cart.

     Ed and Kay on the other hand, looking helpless in trying to get a cart....a local man felt sorry for them and put a coin in and told them they owed him a $1.00.  I wasn't so lucky so I had to scour the parking lot to find a cart and trust me with a $1.00 deposit on them, there were not many unattended carts in the parking lot but I was lucky enough to find one......my lucky day!

     After rounding up the groceries we proceeded to the checkout and the cashier asked if we wanted bags? I said "you mean paper or plastic?" She said no, if you want a Walmart bag (yes, the cheap plastic bags) they were a nickel each. "Say what",  I giggled and said sure we do. So in addition to our groceries that seemed higher than usual (mainly because of the exchange rate), we got to pay for the bags to carry them home in. Can't make this stuff up ;-)

     In the end - hats off to the Canadians....they have very little, if any, shopping carts all over the parking lot because when you return the cart you get your $1.00 back AND people don't likely fill the landfills with Walmart bags. Most people we observed seemed to bring their own bags.

     Wonder how these good ideas would go over in hometown USA?

     We left the Calgary Walmart and headed on to Banff National Park only to be greeted by rain and the temp dropped to 38 as we pulled in and set up camp.....checked the calendar and yep, it is 11 June. We will be here for a couple days and hopefully the weather will improve!

Leaving East Glacier - Heading for Canada

June 7-10

     Kathy and I arrived in East Glacier KOA on 7 June in anticipation of meeting up with Ed and Kay that afternoon and enjoying a little bit of the east side of Glacier National Park with them before crossing the border into Canada....... that was not to be....see Ed's post on their journey.

     Weather here has been pretty varied....we have had highs in the upper 80's the first day with mild nights but it has turned a little cooler the last two days. Last night was a cool 36 degrees and today a pleasant 65. Tonight is expected to get to the mid 30's again and a chance of snow in the morning by the time we plan to depart......you need everything from a bathing suit to a snow suit. 

     We spent all day on the 8th of June touring and hiking here in the park on this side. Note - with the going to the sun road not open yet it is a 2.5 hour drive from the West to the East side of the park. Again a beautiful setting with fantastic hiking trails/views of St. Mary Lake and the mountains. Much of the hiking we did on this side was through forests that had been destroyed by fire....some one year ago and some ten years ago. It's interesting that the forest service now talks about the fires as a good thing to regenerate the forest. You will notice from our photos that much of the timber is burned yet the bed of the forest is alive with many wild flowers that are beautiful.

     On Thursday the 9th of June we rested and did laundry except for a short ride to the Many Glacier part of the park which is an entrance about 8 miles north of where we are staying.

     Today was our long hike day....we did about 6 miles of a hike that included three named waterfalls and at least a couple other places with water cascading that deserved to be named in my opinion. It was a really nice hike along the shores of Lake Mary.....we met and talked with many nice folks along the way.

     We were very happy to get back to camp to find Ed and Kay had arrived in their brand new truck.....they were as happy to see us and we are all ready now to move on. Tomorrow morning we break camp and head into Alberta, Canada with plans to tour Banff and Jasper National Parks.

Some of the photos from the last couple of days below:

Sunrise photo on Lake St. Mary - notice how the sun lit the tiny island in the water

Kathy by the Baring Waterfall

Wild flowers on the hillside

Still snow on these peaks

Getting in the selfie game

Just below the falls

Beautiful trails

Wildflowers

Wildflower or weed?

Hiking Trail

Hiking Trail

View driving from the West side on Highway 2

Lake St. Mary