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Wilcox Creek Campground, Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada. Odometer – 6882
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We journeyed today northward to Jasper on the world famous Icefield Parkway. This is a 230km road built in the 1930’s to connect the towns of Banff and Jasper. Since it runs along the Rockies, grand sights await the weary driver at every corner. Today was a sunny and warm day, which made everything that much more spectacular.

We managed to wake up early and leave the campground in Lake Louise before 9:30. In less than one hour we were already at our first stop, Bow Lake. This is a beautiful glacial lake, receiving its water from Bow Glacier and Bow Falls. There’s a nice hike up to the falls, but it was too long for us. We walked the trail for a few minutes just to get away from the busloads of tourists that came for a peek, and enjoyed relative solitude. The kids threw some rocks into the water, Ron walked in with his crocs, and Paola and I shot great pictures to our hearts content.

Our next stop after 25 minutes was Lake Peyto Overlook. Peyto was a tour guide here when things just got started in the late nineteenth century. He got a good lake, must have been a good guide. To get to the viewpoint you have to walk up 700 meters on a paved trail, just enough to break a sweat.

At the viewpoint we were inundated with other tourists (the ones on buses have it easy, their parking lot is right next to the lookout) and couldn’t even take a family picture. So we snacked on some apples while a Japanese tour guide patiently took pictures with the cameras of all 50 of her tourists. After 20 minutes the deck was clear and we took in the great views.

By our next stop, Orr and Shir fell asleep. We parked at Mistaya Canyon and prepared lunch. After everyone rested a bit and a drawing session for the kids, we walked down to see the canyon. It is a very short canyon and very narrow. The water rushes through it with amazing force.

We crossed over to Jasper National Park, and a few miles later saw a black bear strutting on the grass next to the road. Too bad I was doing 90kph and couldn’t stop to take a picture.

Our next stop was this campground, which operates on a first come first serve basis. We got here at 4:30pm and luckily found a spot. Immediately we rushed off to the icefield center 3 km away. Aside from a fairly new and modern visitor center, this is where the snocoach tours of Athabasca Glacier depart. We were in a rush because the last bus was supposed to leave at 5pm for a 90 minute tour.

When we got there we found out that the last tour is at 7pm, which was great, we could now get ready nice and slow for the 5:30 tour. We packed a bag with extra sweaters, hats and mittens, because the temperature at the glacier is substantially colder than at the visitor center, even though it is only 3 km away. Ron was very excited. He saw a snocoach last week in Banff and knew that this week we would visit the glacier. The snocoach, or Ice Explorer as the driver called it, is basically a bus with huge wheels and a transmission system meant to traverse snow and ice. Its maximum speed is 20kph.

The ride was great, we reached the glacier and then spent half an hour wandering about, trying not to slip on the ice, making sure Ron Shir and Orr don’t slip either, and taking in the beautiful view. The driver was very knowledgeable and explained how the glacier is receding a few meters every year due to global warming. In 150 years it is expected to disappear.

After the ride back to the center, we had dinner at the upstairs restaurant with a great view of the glacier. The food was decent, but Orr was really tired and crabby, so it took some of the fun out. Now we are back at the campground after showers and everyone is sleeping. It is 10:20 and still light outside.

Tomorrow morning I am going to hike Wilcox Pass, a trail that starts right from the campground. Good night,

-Hemi

This entry was posted on Monday, July 16th, 2007 at 9:39 pm and is filed under Alberta, Big Trip, Canada, North America RV 2007. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.