Icefields Parkway, Banff to Jasper - June 23
One way to travel north from Banff National Park to Jasper National Park is along the iconic and truly stupendous Icefields Parkway. Oh my goodness, what a highway. Only 143 miles long, it took us almost 12 hours because of all the jaw-dropping places we stopped at along the way, such as...
...Peyto Lake, one of five glacial lakes within the first 20 minutes of the road. The impossible blue color comes in part from glacial rock flour, the fine silt left when glaciers grind rock to powder...
...Mistaya Canyon Falls, a massive waterfall crashing through a narrow twisted gorge...
...a steep hike up to Parker Ridge to overlook the Saskatchewan Glacier complete with a picnic lunch in a high-alpine meadow...
...another steep trip up the moraine left by the massive yet receding Athabasca Glacier. Signage along the way shows how far this particular glacier has receded since reaching its zenith in 1860. According to the markers, the glacier has receded almost 2 miles since 1860 and continues to disappear at 16 feet yearly. Glaciers create their own climate, and a cool brisk breeze, called a Katabatic Wind, blew constantly off the glacier. Is it even possible to become accustomed to and unaffected by tremendously magnificent natural sites? If so, we hadn't yet reached that point. Not yet, 'cause we still made time to stop at...
...Sunwapta Falls...
...the Kerkeslin Goat Lick Overlook, and...
...Athabasca Falls before pulling in to our campsite just outside of Jasper for a couple of days. It doesn't surprise me that Banff and Jasper are the two most visited national parks in Canada. The Rockies, the glaciers, the cobalt-blue rivers...it's all stupendous beyond description.
It’s difficult for my body to think about bedtime when the sunset is so beguiling at 11pm at night. Yesterday was the longest day of the year. Wonder if the sun will even set when we’re so much further north in Alaska.
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