Deve’s Blog

Here’s the photo set…

So far, western Canada had almost only given us rain… and rain… and more rain… Well, we were repayed on July 25th with the clearest and sunniest day since we had landed in Vancouver… just when we had to travel along the scenic route called “Icefields Parkway“! Priceless!

We left at 8 o’ clock sharp, and Ron had told us he woudln’t have any qualm leaving behind anyone who was late, as the day was packed with things to see… I tried to get there way before 8, so I could get the front row seats, but I was beaten by Kylie by a few minutes, so I had to make do with the second row…

The Icefields Parkway runs between Jasper and Banff, parallel to the Continental Divide of north-western America (the so-called “Great Divide”), that is the mountain range separating the rivers flowing into the Pacific Ocean from the rivers flowing into the Arctic or Atlantic Ocean. What is peculiar of this highway is the beautiful sight on the many glaciers of the Greati Divide, with waterfalls, lakes and rivers nearby.

And indeed, just travelling along the road is a show in itself, and on that day we really saw lots of “rocks and trees”!

The first stop is by the Athabasca Falls, a powerful and really scenic waterfall, especially with the rainbow in the middle. There was an unsettling plaque nearby, commemorating a boy (Roger Raymond Wilgenbusch) who in 2002 jumped over the fences, slipped and fell into the falls… Soon after that we visited other waterfalls, the Sunwapta Falls, less impressive but still worth the trip, and good for some pictures. By the way, I had a chance to try Andrea’s Canon, getting my hands on a digital reflex for the first time… after a couple of years, I ended up buying my own Nikon…
Again back on the bus, which was never appreciated as much as it was today for its wide panoramic windows, we headed back to the Icefields Parkway.

The following stop is the visit to the Athabasca Glacier. We left from the visitor centre (which is peculiar in that it has the largest number of toilet stalls for women in North America [64!], to fight the well-known queues at the ladies’ restrooms…), then we boarded a standard bus first, to get closer to the glacier, and a big “snow coach” later, some beasts with wheels of over a metre in diameter, who can go up 45° slopes or close… I took a few pictures from inside the coach, trying to keep the horizon levelled, to show how steep the slope was…

While on the glacier we only walked on a small area, which had been “packed” to make it safe, so we didn’t spend much time there, but the feeling of being on top of all that ice was very nice. The Athabasca Glacier is one of the 6 “tips” of the Columbia Icefield, a vast ice reserve amidst the Rocky Mountains, which creates 6 main glaciers, as I said. Unfortunately, like glaciers all over the world, the Athabasca and the others are retreating, too, and having visited the glacier in summer we were able to see the area where ice gives way to earth and rocks.

After a few snowballs and a taste of glacier water (I had never drunk such a pure water before!), we boarded the snow coach, then the bus and we got back to our bus, where good ol’ Dave was waiting for us. Onwards to lunch!
Djuring the drive, at one point we see a stopped car in the middle of the road… for bear crossing! Two black bears, probably quite young, were croassing the road! I couldn’t get a picture at that time, I only managed to take some shots where you can somehow figure out the bears among the trees, on the right side of the road…
“Roadkills” are a problem that is held in high account in Canada, and it must be said that Canadians do their best to reduce them to a minimum and to try to avoid them. For example, along most of the roads that go through a forest, the trees on both sides of the road are cut down for a few metres, both to allow the drivers to see the animals beforehand and to encourage the animals to keep to the forest. On the largest roads, like the Highway 1 (the Trans-Canada Highway), the whole road is actually fenced off for kilometres and kilometres! But, you’ll say, that way you’re cutting off the forest into separate parts! And what about the animals who tend to move periodically? The Canadians thought about everything… by building wildlife overpasses! The ones we saw near Banff are actual bridges over the road, covered in grass and vegetation, which allow the animals to move safely through the forest… well, that’s genius!

Anyway, after we passed the bears, soon after that we stopped in a nice picnic area by a river, to have lunch and rest a bit, between some squirrels and some frisbee playing.
The next stop, IMHO, was the highlight of the day… Peyto Lake, seen from the Bow Summit. Do you remember the explanation about “rock flour”, in the post about Jasper? Ok, full-throttle rock flour! I had never seen a colour like that… and I ca swear, the photos aren’t heavily photoshopped… it was a really breathtaking view, in front of which we can’t help taking tons of pictures…

Ron took the chance to explain how Canadians classify the natural beauties of their country… At the first level is “awesome!”, followed by… “awesomer!”. The top level is… awesomest? No way, it’s: “awesome, eh?” (that’s taking fun of the Canadian “eh” usage… ). But in front of Peyto Lake Ron reveals to us that there’s an even greater level of “awesomeness”, to be used in these cases… “fucking awesome, eh?!”

Still driving along the road, we stop by the observation point to the Crowfoot Glacier; this glacier, too, has retreated a lot, and lost one of the “talons” to which it owed its name.
So we got to the end of our journey, on the shores of Lake Louise, another glacial lake which, despite being less impressive than Peyto Lake, was still incredibly fascinating. We strolled along the shores, in front of the Chateaux Lake Louise, and then we headed back to the bus, to close off an amazing day, certainly one of the best of the whole tour, with all that nature and beautiful scenery…
After a short trip we finally get to Banff… the topic of the next post!