Day 8 Jasper Park – Icefields Parkway – Calgary

Leaving Jasper was hard but not as hard as leaving Banff. Jasper House is a family business and they and their employees all came out to way good-bye to us as we headed south on our way back to Calgary. We made some stops along the way that made this a glorious day. First we were treated to the sight some beautiful elk feeding along the roadside. Then we made a short stop at Sunwapta Falls Resort for some pastries and a washroom break. After that we were off to the Columbia Icefields to walk on a glacier. To get up on the surface of the Athabasca Glacier, we climbed aboard an “Ice Explorer.” These unique vehicles were designed to travel over ice fields and glaciers.


To see what we saw and what we did, copy and past this address in to your browser and play the video:

http://www.columbiaicefield.com/default.asp

The meltwater from the Columbia Icefield feeds streams that flow into the Arctic, the Atlantic, and the Pacific Oceans. There’s not much you can do to top a glacier walk so the rest of the trip was kind of anticlimactic but we did stop at Bow Summit on our way on to Calgary. Bow Summit is the highest point along the Icefields Parkway. It has a stunning view of Peyto Lake and is a great place for a photo shoot of turquoise-colored Peyto Lake. After that, we left the national parks and descended into the Great Plains of Canada and had a wonderful farewell dinner at our Hilton Garden Inn. If you haven’t vacationed in the Canadian Rockies, you haven’t vacationed. Debbie and I were talking and we both agreed that of all the vacations we have taken, this was definitely the ………………… most recent.


The elk is one of the largest species of deer in the world and one of the largest mammals in North America.


Male elk have large antlers which are shed each year.


Melinda and Debbie in front of Athabasca Glacier.


The glacier is approximately 3.75 miles long and is measured to be about 1000 feet thick.


On top of the glacier


Debbie and Melinda in front of an Ice Explorer


The size of the Explorers can be seen when compared to people. The door starts at a height taller than 5'10" Niles


See that blue pylon to Debbie's right? Venture beyond that point only at risk to your life. See that hat in my left hand. I threw it past the pylon and tried to get Debbie to retrieve it for me. She wasn't going for it. Now she owes me a new hat.



They say you can see a dog's head at the top of Peyto Lake if you look if you look carefully.


Peyto Lake is the bluest lake in the Rockies. I feel sorry for any color blind person who visits Peyto Lake.



Rock flour flowing into the lake give the lake a bright, turquoise color


Rick always had his Frisbee ready for some fun at each stop.