Leaving Lake Louise for Jasper Park Lodge

 Thursday, August 28

After another amazing breakfast at Lake Louise and a quick trip through the shops again we boarded the bus for our drive on the infamous Icefields Parkway heading to Jasper Park Lodge. Little did we know that we would be stopping along the way for views of glaciers and glacier fed lakes and waterfalls. It was stunning. And, once again, we had perfect weather.

This glacier is called Crowfoot Glacier (maybe you can see what might be the claw of the crow’s foot - probably easier in person). Fireweed is the plant pictured.

Bow Lake, which we first encountered in Calgary, is up this far as well. This lake eventually drains in to the Atlantic Ocean, which is pretty amazing.

Our next stop was Peyto (long ee) Lake. We had to walk a bit to view this magnificent splendor. Do you see the shape of an animal? I saw a wolf and that is what most people see as well. Peyto glacier was also visible.  There’s also a picture of Mr. Peyto. He was a character!

Next we see Snowbird Glacier. Also we were now driving through the Saskatchewan Valley along the North Saskatchewan River.

Then we come to the Columbia Icefield as we are now on the Arctic side of the watershed. On our way back we will get to visit and walk on this icefield.

Next we passed the Sunwapta Glacier and Falls.

Our next stop was Athabasca Falls that flows into the Athabasca River. This is the river on which Ed and I will take a whitewater rafting trip this Friday. More on those results in a later blog. The power of the water coming over these falls was glorious. Just to feel how cool the air got when we were close to them - amazing.

As we approached the Jasper the remnants of last year’s forest fire is very visible. Our tour guide Tanya was with a group here who had to evacuate in the middle of the night. As she shared the story it was quite exciting - no one was injured - and that particular trip was on their way back to Banff to end their tour.

I didn’t know what to expect at Jasper Park Lodge but it turns out that while there are a couple of floors of rooms inside the hotel, most of the accommodations are in lakeside cottages spread throughout the property. We were assigned Cottage 511 and they gladly shuttle you there on a golf cart, which we did. 

Once we had a good night sleep we realized that the walk from the cottage back to the hotel was quite short.

Our cottage is quite big with an entry sitting room looking out over the lakes cooled by a fan; then into a large bedroom with king size bed; good size bath and showers, and a walk in closet where we could actually hide our luggage. We never really unpack on these trips as we are only in the hotels for one or two nights. Packing in packing cubes seems like the best way to travel. But we’ve been repacking our suitcases every which way as we move about the country. 

A free drink at the lobby bar before dinner (ours was one of the rooms not quite ready when we arrived so we were rewarded with two free drinks). Dinner tonight at the Nook with Pat Robertson from Tennessee. Lovely restaurant with a/c - again tried to eat lighter and luckily there was Halibut on the menu which was delicious.

To bed early - starting to get some congestion in the sinuses (par for the course) so getting lots of rest seems like the prudent thing to do.

Full day at Jasper tomorrow…

Betsy