The Icefields...Wow a Real Glacier. And on to Jasper National Park

Well Mom has been freaking out over no wifi...well it's not no wifi, it's the promise of wifi and then it not working. Yesterday we made it up the Icefields Parkway to the Columbia Icefield Centre. The highway was no trouble, a few steep places but an easy drive for Dad.  The road was dry but spectacular. We didn't get pictures but as we left Banff we saw a Mama Grizzly and her baby along Hwy 1, then we saw a black bear, a herd of elk, a caribou, and mountain goats on Hwy 93, the Icefields Parkway!

We spent the night dry camping.  I don't think dry camping is for Mom and Dad but Cinder and I thought it was just great! Dad spent the night checking batteries, Mom read in the dark! however it was all worth it to look out the window at a real glacier!

As soon as we got there Mom and Dad bought tickets for the Ice Explorer that takes you up on the last major glacier that once covered all of Canada 20000 years ago. it is 6230-9190 ft above sea level but loses about 6 ft of glacier each year.  Athabasca Glacier is the most accessible and with the 6 wheeled Ice Explorers they can drive right up on it, so cool! Mt Athabasca at 11450 ft towers above it.

here is Mom and Dad's Ice Explorer trip.  mom said she was afraid it would be hokie (not the good VA Hokie), but it wasn't. They had a blast! The road is a 32% grade! pretty steep!

Mom said the glacier water was bluer than blue but she didn't drink it, some people did!

looks like Mom and Dad were two kids in the snow! Dad even wore his Elmer Fudd hat!

after that fun they decided to do the Glacier Skywalk...unfortunately they thought it was a big ripoff. It looked so cool in the pics, but Mom said it really wasn't...Dad said they felt like cattle going to slaughter, eww, and it started raining to boot.  oh well, you never know unless you try!

Some views were cool...

Mom said it didn't even bother her fear of heights!  I just think it was all that padding she knew it wouldn't hurt if she fell, she was dressed for the North Pole with a bunch of layers!

This is more like the brochure...see it looked cool!

The next morning we headed into Jasper Park where we will spend 4 nights. Jasper was much warmer, up to 70 deg so very little snow on the peaks.  It also has a ton of rivers and lakes making a wild life bonanza! 

We saw Some huge elk on the side of the road

Then we saw a nice little group of elk enjoying a beautiful setting

We were on our way up to a particular lake and ran into a huge crowd, it had to be...Mom's favorite...

A mama black bear and her cub enjoying a meadow! The wildlife rangers were nice, letting Mom and Dad stay as long as they wanted but keeping traffic under control to protect mama and her baby!

From there we made our way to Maligne Lake (we will hike the canyon of same name tomorrow). This is Jasper's most famous body of water created by glaciers.  This is the largest glacier fed lake in the Canadian Rockies, 2nd largest in the world.

It didn't seem to be as aqua blue as others, but still beautiful!  The walk around the lake was peaceful and the air crisp, a cool 55 degrees!

On the way back we saw another huge group, evidently a mama black bear and two cubs but we missed them...tomorow's another day!