Saturday September 9th
I watched the sunrise colours reflecting on the snow topped mountain visible from my campsite, and the mist rising from the nearby river, before setting off along the extremely scenic Icefields Parkway to Banff, full of snow capped mountains, rivers, lakes, glaciers and waterfalls. It was 90km/h all along the highway through here to Banff and a bit beyond. The temperature was around freezing again.
About half an hour into the trip was the Athabasca Falls, upstream on the Athabasca River that also ran through Jasper. I was heading into the mountains where the river started. These were impressive falls, as the river channelled through a narrow gorge, and the mist from the early, chilly morning added some atmosphere.
Another half hour took me to the Sunwapta Falls, a tributary of the Athabasca River, which were also impressive, especially the gorge that the river went through. The sun was just starting to show over the hills.
There were more rivers and snow-capped mountains at a stop a little further on, with views of the Stuffield Glacier, one of several along the route.
After looking at Tangle Creek Falls, a beautiful multi-tiered waterfall, I came to the glacier nearest the road, the Columbia Icefield, where I’d planned a bit of a walk. There was a big visitor centre, and across the road, the glacier itself, with a car park for people hiking.
It’s possible to walk onto the glacier, but it’s a guided tour that takes quite a while, and I didn’t have time to do it. So I just hiked up to where you could get a good view of the glacier. All along the road to the parking lot were signs showing where the glacier had been in earlier years, starting I think in the late 1800s, and going up to 1990 or something like that. It was amazing how far it had receded in that time, maybe 1km or more. Even in the last 10 or 20 years it had gone back a fair way.
It had turned into another sunny day. As I walked up as close as I could to the glacier, I was thinking it was quite small now. Then I saw some dots on the lower part of the glacier and realised that they were actually people. It wasn’t quite so small after all! Other than the people there really wasn’t anything that could give a sense of scale.
I kept driving, and as the road was steadily gaining altitude, the Big Bend overlook revealed a view through the valley, on the way to the Weeping Wall, a tall rock face with water running down a wide area. I saw it from the road, a bit of a distance away, and then noticed a little track heading into the forest in its direction. I followed this uphill for a while, and ended up right at the very bottom of the wall. I could get right up to the water coming down. It was an impressive sight close up, with rainbows showing in the small droplets coming down.
Around midday I came to Mistaya Canyon, small but quite deep, with a river running through it, a few minutes walk from the highway. The river came out into the open a little further down, revealing a fantastic scene, with the strikingly blue water, pine forests, and snow capped mountains in the background, one of the most beautiful spots, a classic Canadian Rockies scene.
Not far along from there was Waterfowl Lake, beautiful with reflections of the mountains behind it, and some autumn foliage along the edge. There was a small parking lot off the road and I was able to snag a spot and make my lunch. There were quite a few people around, but it was hard to beat the view for a lunch spot!
Another half hour took me to the highest point on the Icefield Parkway, Peyto Lake. This is one of those iconic postcard-type spots. I parked at the trail parking lot, then after a short walk through the forest I suddenly found I was facing a view of a beautiful blue-green lake a long way down, surrounded by forest and mountains, with a mountain range going off into the distance. This is a very photographed view, and there were plenty of people looking!
I had read about another lesser-known lookout, along an unmarked track. I followed the directions that had been posted, and found what I thought might be that track. It went down fairly steeply, and I was hoping it wasn’t just going to dump me way down at the bottom, but before too long there was a little track going off – I think I had asked someone coming up, who told me there was a view not far away, so I was looking for it. It was just as good a view as the main spot, but there was hardly anyone there, so it was much more peaceful. The lake was an amazing colour, in the full sunshine.
Only a few kilometres further along was Bow Lake, from which the Bow River comes I think, which then goes through Banff, and Calgary and beyond. This was a very popular spot indeed, and there was a large car park, but very full looking. Thank the Lord I found a spot to squeeze the van into, and went and had a look. There was a wooden lodge, quite impressive looking, and a gift shop. It looked as though perhaps you could stay at the lodge.
The lake was a lovely turquoise colour, more blue than the blue-green of Peyto lake – all the lakes seemed to have their own unique shades of blue or blue-green. It was very beautiful, again with mountains behind, and some grasses and small bushes in front that were changing into their autumn colours. I went for a bit of a walk around the area. There was a strip of beach, and people kayaking on the water.
Further along the highway, just before Lake Louise, I came to Highway 1 again, this time a four-lane highway, that had come from Kamloops. If I wasn’t going through Jasper, I would have come to Lake Louise that way. I detoured away from Lake Louise to Yoho National Park, heading for Emerald Lake. There was a turn-off for some falls before the lake, but I missed it, so I saw that on the way back out.
Emerald Lake was extremely popular. I found some parking, and joined the crowds. There was a wedding being celebrated at the visitor centre or somewhere near there, and a sign saying please not to take photos, and to move along. The lake was much greener than Bow Lake, and there were many people kayaking. There was a track going along the lake, which I walked for a while. It was in a little bit from the lake’s edge, but there were spots you could go out and get right next to the lake. There wasn’t much wind in that area, so the reflections were stunning, with mountains in the background.
I saw the Natural Bridge and Lower Falls on the way back out, then headed by Lake Louise as I drove towards Banff. I would see Lake Louise in a couple of days time.
The highway was four lanes all the way through here, and a lot of it was fenced off so animals wouldn’t try to cross. There were animal bridges here and there, where they’d built a wide bridge over the road with vegetation on it, so that animals could get over there, with fences along the bridge. Just out of Banff there was a beautiful overlook, across more lakes, with the mountains in the background as always. I found out later it was looking across the Vermilion Lakes, which I would explore from ground level the next day.
I got to the RV park, the Tunnel Mountain Trailer Court, just out of Banff on the far side, and checked in. This had something like 800 campsites, it was like a small town, and a long road for each 100 campsites. Each site was a pull-through site, off the road, so there wasn’t a lot of privacy. As usual in RV parks, I was one of the smallest vehicles, if not the smallest, and the van looked small in the large pull-through spot. No fires were allowed in the campground, but some people had what I gathered were heaters, which had lights that looked a bit like fires.
I was quite close to the restrooms, which was handy. There was forest around the RV park, and some walking tracks, and I had a bit of a walk around. Though the train line was not close to the park, I could still hear the trains tooting their horns in the dead of night. I was very glad I hadn’t camped at the Lake Louise campground, which I’d read was just meters from the train line!
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