Western Canada - Part 4 - Icefields Parkway North

After our first hike in Canada, I was beyond excited for what the rest of the vacation had in store for us. When we got back from the hike, we showered, then ventured over to the hot tub to enjoy some hydrotherapy. After dinner, I looked out through the back of our motel room and saw about 20 people, all with climbing gear, hanging around a huge tree. I thought, what the hell is going on here? Turns out they use that tree for rock climbing training! I went out and asked if I could watch. They were practicing technical emergency situations, like if they got tangled up together, and they had to get their way out. It was pretty cool to watch.

As I was watching, a guy came over to talk to me. We started talking about where we were from and such. Turns out this guy was from the Hudson Valley!! Unreal!! Over 2,100 miles away and we meet. I told him our plans, which he thought were almost perfect. I planned for us to drive the Icefields Parkway and visit the Athabasca Glacier on Tuesday. Monday, we would do another hike. He said, "Tomorrow is going to be clear and sunny, drive the parkway when it's perfect outside. You will want to do it then, so you can see everything along the way. Trust me."

Since he's been living here for a couple years, I trusted him. And it was a great idea. We went on the best, most scenic drive of our lives and I don't think any drive will be able to top this.

The next day, we woke up bright and early. Very early. Around 4:30 am. We had to. The drive up to the glacier is over 2.5 hours long. And with stops at viewpoints and breaks along the way, I wanted to have a little free time to get up there before the crowds. But, getting up early has its benefits. We got to enjoy a beautiful sunrise glow upon the mountains.

The orange glow of the sun shining on the top of the mountains was breathtaking!

This glacier that we are going to is the most accessible and most visited glacier in North America, so it was going to be busy. Even though it wasn't really a hike to reach the glacier, I still filled our packs in case we decided to go off the beaten path. ;-)

You start off on the Trans Canada Highway 1 for about an hour, but it's almost as beautiful as the parkway. During this whole drive, the massive mountains are in every direction. You are driving through one of the biggest valleys of the Canadian Rockies. Mountains literally surround you throughout the whole drive.

The Trans Canada Highway 1 is a very busy highway. Why? Well, it's over 4,600 miles long and it travels through all 10 provinces in Canada! It connects from the Atlantic Ocean all the way to the Pacific Ocean going east to west and back. While it's mostly used for industrial travel, it is also used for recreational travel, as you can travel from Montreal all the way to Vancouver on one single road.

To the left is the Rundle Mountain Range and ahead is Cascade Mountain. The Rundle Mountain Range consists of 6 different peaks.

Heading toward the massive Cascade Mountain in Banff. This mountain is 9,836 feet tall. It's not the tallest in the Rockies, but with no other mountains around to compare it to, it definitely stands out!

The bridges in the photo above span the entire highway. These special bridges were made for animal crossings so that the animals wouldn't have to try and travel across the highway. There is high fencing all along the highway, forcing the animals to the bridges, so they cross the highway safely. This protects wildlife and cuts down on accidents and road kill. The highways here are ridiculously clean!

An amazing idea to keep the wildlife flourishing here. By now, we have entered the famous Banff National Park.

The photo above is looking west towards the famous Lake Louise. We will be visiting that area later on in the week (so stay tuned)!!

The mountains and the pines dominated every point of view throughout the ride. When people talk about the landscape of Canada, this is what I think of. Huge mountains, snow covered, rivers and pine trees.

After a good hour, we exited off of the Trans Canada Highway 1 and entered onto the stunning Icefields Parkway. It went from a two lane, to a one lane, with massive pines surrounding you. Mountains were everywhere.

At every turn, was a different mountain. All in different shapes and sizes, created by mother nature over time. And as you drive, the sun moves and hits different parts, making the same mountain look totally different and highlight a different detail.

Our first stop was a little pull off/viewing area right off of Bow Lake. Bow Lake is an off flow of the amazing Bow Glacier. The Bow glacier use to be this massive glacier that, a little over a 100 years ago, reached down to the lake. But because of climate change and weird weather patterns, the glacier has receded back so far, that it has made a huge waterfall from where it once stood. This is also the start of the 365 mile Bow River, which flows all the way through Calgary.

Bow Lake was still a little frozen from the the winter. You can even see a little color in the lake (bluish/greenish color) from the glacial flour. Glacial flour is created when the glacier rubs against the rock and dirt while it expands/retreats.

Jessica catching me taking a picture of the glacier with the big camera. Here's an up close and personal picture of the glacier!

This is part of the Crowfoot Glacier.

You're looking at thousands and thousands of years of snow, rain and ice on top of each other. What is even more amazing, is the millions and millions of years of the rock below it. At one time, this whole area was covered by ice.

Snow was still present in some shady spots, yet it was still warm enough to wear sandals!

Another view of Bow Lake. Tucked in the valley ahead (but hidden by the mountains) is Bow Glacier.

Luckily, I brought my big lens with us to get close up shots of the mountains. When you did, features like pillars and massive ledges appear under the zoom.

Other spots had wide open views of the valley. It was tough being the driver, as I would catch myself drifting all over the road, staring at the endless mountains before us. It looked something like this and I thought it wasn't real.

Just magnificent beauty. Speechless.

As we drove further up the parkway, the colder it got and more snow was appearing on the mountains. We were also gaining higher in elevation.

Views like this, took our breath away. It was just too stunning to describe. No wonder why they call this the most beautiful drive in the world. As you can see from the photos, the mountains were dominate in every direction. You can also see how beautiful the weather was! Clear skies and around 48 degrees in the morning is pretty good for mountain weather!

As more glaciers appeared, more of the blue/greenish tinted lakes showed between the thick pines.

Another amazing feature when you go further north on the parkway was the increasing number of glaciers that you could see. They still cling to the top of the mountains. But they aren't going to be there forever. Most of, if not all of the glaciers in the lower part of western Canada are shrinking. Climate change is melting them. But... this has been going on for thousands of years at varying speeds.

Above is another glacier hanging on. Thousands and thousands of years. That's how long these glaciers have been here. From the 17th century to the late 19th century, the world experienced a “Little Ice Age,” when temperatures were consistently cool enough for glaciers to advance in many areas of the world. (From the National Snow and Ice Data Center)

Another shot of a glacier clinging to the mountains.

A plateau, filled with pines, just below another peak. Just imagine the view from that plateau!

Thousand foot walls literally sit right beside you. In most of the winter, the Icefields Parkway is shut down due to avalanches. The steep walls, like in the picture above, pose avalanche threats to the parkway. Steep parts of the mountains also give opportunities for avalanches to occur.

While on the parkway, I saw this massive cloud of dust coming down the side of the mountain. I thought "Oh shit, it's a rock fall!" but as we looked closer, there was three big horn sheep coming down the side! I yelled to Jessica (while she was taking a nap) "Get the camera out! Bighorn sheep are coming down the mountain!" She got the camera, which was sitting on her lap for easy access and started snapping pictures.

The sheep flying down the mountain. It happened so fast that we could only get a few pictures of them when they came down.

As they got near the parkway road, they started squaring up and ramming each other! I don't know if they were fighting over the female, but it was intense. I actually thought, as we drove by, that they were going to hit one of the cars!!

What an incredible experience!!

As we got closer to the Columbia Icefield, the less trees there were. It got colder and during the winter, the extreme weather comes out. We were at around 6,200 feet so it's a bit colder and and pretty windy. Some of the mountains that surrounded us are up to 11,000 feet tall!!

Massive granite slabs that have chipped away by the glaciers and eroded by the weather.

Mount Athabasca to the right and Mount Andromeda to the left. Both of the mountains are over 11,000 feet tall. As you can see, Mount Andromeda has a massive amount glacial ice on it. This glacier is part of the Columbia Icefield. We're getting so close!!

The Icefield lies right on the edge of both Banff and Jasper National Park.

As we rounded the corner of one of the turns, glaciers and massive mountains started to reveal themselves! The picture above shows the Snowdome glacier and the rise of Mt Kitchener to the right. The Snowdome Glacier is part of the massive Columbia Icefield, which is over 125 square miles in total area!

As we moved further along the parkway, the amazing Athabasca Glacier appeared! But you will have to wait for our adventure going up to it in part 5! sorry to keep you waiting...