Canadian Holiday
- Day 6 : Saturday 13th September
We awoke to a bright sunny morning, and to breakfast brought into our room. Our plan for the day was to drive down the Icefields Parkway to Lake Louise, stopping off for any tourist sights we found en route. So having re-packed the car, off we went. Our first impression was of an amazing road. On each side were mountain peaks, and the road went down a wide gully between the two ranges of peaks. In the gully was lots of vegetation, a number of unusual birds flying overhead; we saw few mammals, but understand that there are plenty around, including bears. By the side of the road are signposts pointing upwards at 45 degrees, with the name and height of the main peaks, so you can be clear which is which.
Our first two detours were to visit two waterfalls; first the Athabasca Falls, then the Sunwapta Falls; in both cases the river was that standard milky turquoise blue, and the falls were impressive. Many photos were taken.
As we travelled south we started to climb, losing the lusher vegetation behind and hitting the rockline; by the side of the road was sparce scrub, scree and moraine; the only trees were conifers, and the air was getting colder. And then we came to the Columbia Icefields. Parking at the visitor centre, we booked a tour onto the glacier; a bus took us to the side of the glacier, where we changed into the special vehicles that were to take us onto the ice. As we set off, we went down a very steep slope of lateral moraine (by the time we finished, we could have probably held forth on the nature and formation of moraines for some time), causing us to gulp a bit. But driving on the ice seemed no problem, and after 10 minutes it stopped and we all got out and took photos. We were so glad we had our coats on and buttoned up – the air was cold, and a biting wind blew down from the snow-dome. The snow-dome is an area almost the size of Wales, from which come several glaciers leading to rivers – and the rivers run West to the Pacific, North to the Arctic, and East to the Atlantic Oceans! The snow is thick in Summer, and even thicker in Winter. All around us were mountain peaks, some with little glaciers on them, and many showing blue-coloured ice. Fascinating to see it all, and something we would not have wanted to miss.
Continuing our drive, we were now doing downhill in the main, and we saw the scenery get more lush as we came through the tree-line and down the valleys. We had to stop for a while to admire a herd of mountain goats blocking the road – loads of cars had stopped to take photos, and the goats had to walk past the cars. After a bit more driving we came to civilisation and found our lodge for the night.