On our second day in Jasper we were jumping into a van at 8:30am and heading down the Icefields Parkway with two other couples.
Joe, our driver and guide, gave us some information about the Jasper and Banff National Parks, which are side by side and form the Icefield Parkway.
Jasper is the largest national park in the Canadian Rockies, spanning 10,878 km². The park includes the glaciers of the Columbia Icefield, hot springs, lakes, waterfalls and, of course, mountains.
Wildlife in the park include elk, caribou, moose, mule deer, white-tailed deer, mountain goat, bighorn sheep, grizzly bear, black bear, beaver, Rocky Mountain pika, hoary marmot and caribou.
The park was established on September 14, 1907 as Jasper Forest Park, and was granted national park status in 1930.
Banff National Park is Canada's oldest national park, established in 1885, in the Canadian Rockies. The park encompasses 6,641km² of mountainous terrain, with numerous glaciers and ice fields, dense coniferous forest, and alpine landscapes.
The main commercial centre of the park is the town of Banff, in the Bow River valley.
The Icefield Parkway highway is 230 km in length and connects the towns of Jasper to Banff, running through the National Parks. No commercial vehicles are permitted on the parkway. The entire Parkway is a U.N. designated World Heritage Site.
Construction of the road began in 1931 when the Canadian government put unemployed men to work for 20 cents a day, during the Great Depression.
The single-lane gravel Banff to Jasper road opened in 1940. During the 1950s/60s the tourist boom helped to widen and pave the road, and give it it's present name.
We set out in -30 degree weather and had our first experience of "in car frosting". Joe handed us frost scrapers to scrape off the frost which formed on the inside of the windows!
It is almost impossible to describe driving through the Rocky mountains. The Icefield Parkway is listed in Lonely Planets top 10 world drives, and boy does it deserve to be!
Everywhere we looked there was massive, gigantic snow covered mountains, right next to the road. I can only hope the photographs help to describe what we experienced.
Our first stop was the Athabasca Falls. We jumped out the bus and sank up to our calves in snow, but because it was fluffy (champagne snow) it never made us wet.
The cold hit us like an unsuspected sucker punch - hard and surprising! Our noses turned red within 5 minutes and my ears got so cold that they started to burn. Jules' hair began to freeze, see the photo!
The Athabasca Falls were absolutely stunning to behold. The river was pumping and sending water rushing over the falls. However, because of the ridiculously cold temperature, a lot of the water was freezing as it went down the falls. This made for amazing stalactite and stalagmite formations all over the falls.
The river itself was something to see with steam rising above the running water, caused by the difference in temperature between the water and the surrounding air. Most of the surface water had frozen, but we could hear the loud noise of the water running below the surface ice, amazingly loud.
We spent about 15 minutes at the Athabasca Falls before jumping back into the bus. We were all frozen and enjoyed the bus' heater as we continued along the parkway.
Unfortunately for us, being winter, all the lakes were frozen over and so we did not get to see the beautiful striking blue glacier waters that can be seen in the summer. So we drove past the lakes, admiring their winter beauty.
Our next stop was an impromptu one when we noticed a coyote on the side of the road. We pulled over and watched the coyote sunning itself just along the tree-line, before it became weary of us and strolled away.
The massive Columbia Icefield was next on our itinerary. It covers 325km², is up to 350m deep and its melt-waters feed three oceans. It is the largest accumulation of ice south of the arctic. From the icefield flows 6 glaciers, the biggest being the Athabasca Glacier, where we were standing.
We stood and admired the glacier, struggling to comprehend that the front of the glacier was higher than the Eiffel Tower!!
Along the next portion of the road we came across a falls climber. He was the lead climber, so he was going up placing in hooks etc. so the climbers following him had a route to follow and would be attached safely to the mountainside. We watched him for a while and then jumped back into the warm bus.
Our last stop before Banff was Lake Louise. We had been driving for 3 hours so we welcomed the chance to use the bathroom and get something warm inside us.
Lake Louise is home to the landmark Chateau Lake Louise. This luxurious hotel still boasts bell boys who wear the traditional lederhosen worn by Swedish mountain guides. In the 1940's, Swedish guides were imported and employed to guide skiers and mountaineers up the mountains overlooking the lake.
The lake was named after one of Queen Victoria's daughters, Louise. It is one of the most visited sites in the Rockies, but when we arrived there was no lake, just a massive frozen lake. We took a self-portrait and then sprinted inside to find some warmth.
The chateau has huge murals depicting the history of the park and the chateau itself. Original photographs were projected onto walls, and artists painted the sepia toned photographs on the walls inside the chateau.
After having the coffee we had brought along in our flask, we set off for Banff. As we neared Banff we saw a big herd of elk near the road, so Joe turned off the road and we got quite close to the female herd. In winter the females (no antlers) herd together while the males herd together in different areas.
We discovered that males shed their antlers every year, growing a bigger set the following year!
Then we were in Banff. Banff is a lot bigger than Jasper and has all the tourist trappings imaginable. Joe took us up Buffalo road to show us an authentic Scottish castle. I cannot remember it's name, but it is a huge hotel, built exactly like a Scottish castle, in Canada!
After a minestrone soup, sandwich and Starbucks latte we hit the Icefield Parkway again, for the 4 hour return trip to Jasper.
Rather than boring, it was fascinating to watch the setting sun as we drove home, and we learnt a lot about Canada from Joe. He explained the latest goings on in the NHL and we were excited to hear that we have booked tickets for a great game in Boston.
We didn't know, when booking the tickets, that the Ottawa Senators were defending Stanley Cup holders and the Boston Bruins in 3rd spot. So we now are looking forward even more to our first live ice-hockey game on December 18.
We arrived home, Jules had a hot tub while I cleaned all the camera lenses and backed up the photo card. Then we went down to the "Fireside Lounge" and had supper in front of a log fire.
We finished our cremebrula contemplating the fact we were leaving in the morning, not a happy thought. If the train had not been late, we could have had our dog sled ride, but what can you do? We wondered How late our morning train may be?!
Then it was sleeping time and we stopped caring.
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