Great Adventure
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Chapter 7: Banff, Icefields Parkway, Jasper National
Park; AB, Canada
August 30, 2002 – September 5, 2002
Hot springs originally made the town of Banff a popular tourist destination.
We stayed at Tunnel Mountain Campground with full hook-ups, inside
Banff National Park, for one week. The town was named for Banffshire,
Scotland - birthplace of the two major financiers of the Canadian Pacific
Railway. Banff National Park was Canada’s first, North America’s second,
and the world’s third national park – founded around the aforementioned
curative thermal springs on Sulphur Mountain. The town itself is
surrounded by the Rocky Mountains. It resembles an Alpine ski resort
town; well-kept, lots of boutiques and restaurants, and nary a fast-food
chain in sight.
Town of Banff
The aqua-colored Bow River flows through the downtown. Several small
nearby lakes are aqua-green due to the minerals in glacial melt.
Banff National Park
We enjoyed walking with Duncan along the lakeside trails, since Canadian
parks allow dogs on trails. (US national parks do not.) We saw two
varieties of ducks that we had never seen before, plus a flock of big horn
sheep with babies like those that we saw in Waterton Lakes National Park.
Banff attracts many international visitors. We talked with a woman out
walking her Sheltie dog, and while Duncan and her dog had a “meet ‘n’
greet” we talked about Shelties and learned that she and her husband
were originally from Scotland but now live in Chicago. Other campground
neighbors, John & Beverly, were from Newfoundland. John had a serious
illness and, after he recovered, realized that stress was killing him. So the
couple sold their house and business and had been traveling full-time in
their RV for just a month when we met them. They planned to continue for
at least a year to recharge their batteries. Another day, I had my hair cut by
a 25-yr.old young man from Australia, who had been born in Switzerland
and lived there until he was eight years old. He later traveled in Europe
extensively and came to Banff in October for the snow. He skis and
snowboards in the winter and enjoys hiking and camping in the
backcountry in the summer. At the laundromat, I met a couple from
Vancouver Island who lived there all their lives. The husband was a logger
but was unable to work due to the fire hazards caused by drought.
Vancouver Island is said to be beautiful, but these folks admitted that they
take it for granted. They have never even been to the famous Butchart
Gardens in Victoria. We met another camper from Germany. He and his
wife flew from Berlin to Seattle and rented an RV to tour this area. They
love North America; this is their fourth time over here.
We visited Lake Louise, about 35 miles north of Banff, on a day trip over
Labor Day weekend. Named for Queen Victoria’s daughter, Lake Louise is
one of the most photographed lakes in the Rockies. It is turquoise in
color, framed by mountains and the Victoria Glacier.
Lake Louise
The Fairmont-owned Chateau Lake Louise hotel and gardens grace the
shoreline. We strolled along a paved pathway around a section of the lake.
Canoe rentals were available but at $30.00/hr.CDN, we passed! The
Fairmont Hotel Co. was about to break ground for a convention center, so
environmentalists were raising money to save grizzly bears. The
protesters argue that increased tourism will put more bear habitat at risk
and do not want the convention center to be built.
The Icefields Parkway runs north from Lake Louise approximately 140
miles to Jasper. The Parks Canada brochure describes this road as the
most beautiful in the world. The route takes you through the
quintessential Canadian Rockies.
Icefields Parkway
It passes within viewing distance of seven icefields and about 25 smaller
glaciers. The Canadian Rocky Mountains are higher and have more snow
and glaciers than the Rocky Mountains in Wyoming and Montana. The
Parkway follows the backbone of the Rockies, winding between the
mountain peaks from down in the valley floors along the rivers, up to the
sub-Alpine spruce and fir forests, and even up near the tree line at a
couple of points. The rivers and lakes are an intense translucent aqua
color.
Peyto Lake
You are surrounded by mountains that are green-forested ¾ of the way
up, topped with sharp granite peaks and glaciers, newly sprinkled with
confectioner’s-sugar-snow. At some points, stone cliffs rise straight up
from the road. There are numerous signs warning of avalanches – and the
boulders at the side of the road are evidence of past ones! Every bend
and rise in the road brings another spectacular vista. Even the same
stretch of road looks different as the light changes during the course of
the day and from day to day depending on the weather. At midday with full
sun, the granite appears gray and washed out. But morning and evening
sunlight bathes the peaks in shades of gold and red. Light and shadows
play with the mountain landscape constantly.
Halfway up the Icefields Parkway lays the Columbia Icefield, the largest
icefield in the Rockies. We camped at nearby Wilcox Creek Campground,
just over the line into Jasper National Park from Banff National Park.
Wilcox Creek is just a couple of miles away from the Athabasca Glacier,
one of several glaciers that comprise the Columbia Icefield.
Athabasca Glacier
Glaciers are formed by layers of snow that remain after each summer’s
melt. The snow becomes hard, made up of interlocking ice crystals.
Beneath the crushing weight of its surface layers, a glacier becomes
elastic and flows slowly downhill. The oval-shaped Columbia Icefield is
about 12 miles long and is surrounded by six or seven mountain peaks.
The Columbia has spawned glaciers that flow between the mountain peaks
around its perimeter
Athabasca Glacier is the most accessible glacier to the road and can be
toured by Snocoach. The original Snocoaches in the fifties and sixties
were Greyhound buses with treads on them. Today’s Snocoach is a six-
wheel drive vehicle with tires approximately 4 ft. in diameter.
Brewster Tours Snocoach
Some people prefer to hike the glacier, but it can be quite dangerous
without an experienced guide. Glaciers form crevasses that can be as
large as six feet across and 120 feet deep and they can be obscured by
new snow that bridges the opening. People have died from injuries or
hypothermia by falling into the crevasses.
The packed-snow road out onto the glacier is groomed each day.
Driving on the Athabasca glacier
The sunlight was blinding from the reflected glare, yet in the shadows, the
ice appeared blue. Our tour guide explained that the pressure squeezes
the oxygen out of the ice, so only the shorter wavelengths of light in the
blue part of the spectrum are reflected. It was truly awesome and almost
surreal to walk on ice that is 1000 feet thick and is hundreds, maybe
thousands, of years old! Standing in the Snocoach turn-around area we
were surrounded by an ocean of ice. This unique experience was one of
my favorites on our entire yearlong Great Adventure.
Standing on the glacier
The morning after our glacier tour, we got the hint that it was time to move
south. It was snowing at Wilcox Creek Campground, which lies just below
the tree line at around 6500 feet elevation. We woke up to a dusting of
snow at 6:00AM. By 7:00AM, it was coming down quite heavily with big
fluffy flakes. It was 25 degrees the morning before and we had seen fresh
dustings of snow on the mountaintops. But it was still a bit of a shock for
early September. An executive decision was made at 7:30 to pack up and
leave before the roads became slippery. The snow looked beautiful on the
pine trees but fortunately, as we came down out of the mountains to lower
elevations, it turned to just rain and fog so the driving wasn’t bad. We
drove south back to Lake Louise and picked up Rt.1 West and the Trans-
Canada Highway towards Revelstoke National Park.
Park; AB, Canada
August 30, 2002 – September 5, 2002
Hot springs originally made the town of Banff a popular tourist destination.
We stayed at Tunnel Mountain Campground with full hook-ups, inside
Banff National Park, for one week. The town was named for Banffshire,
Scotland - birthplace of the two major financiers of the Canadian Pacific
Railway. Banff National Park was Canada’s first, North America’s second,
and the world’s third national park – founded around the aforementioned
curative thermal springs on Sulphur Mountain. The town itself is
surrounded by the Rocky Mountains. It resembles an Alpine ski resort
town; well-kept, lots of boutiques and restaurants, and nary a fast-food
chain in sight.
Town of Banff
The aqua-colored Bow River flows through the downtown. Several small
nearby lakes are aqua-green due to the minerals in glacial melt.
Banff National Park
We enjoyed walking with Duncan along the lakeside trails, since Canadian
parks allow dogs on trails. (US national parks do not.) We saw two
varieties of ducks that we had never seen before, plus a flock of big horn
sheep with babies like those that we saw in Waterton Lakes National Park.
Banff attracts many international visitors. We talked with a woman out
walking her Sheltie dog, and while Duncan and her dog had a “meet ‘n’
greet” we talked about Shelties and learned that she and her husband
were originally from Scotland but now live in Chicago. Other campground
neighbors, John & Beverly, were from Newfoundland. John had a serious
illness and, after he recovered, realized that stress was killing him. So the
couple sold their house and business and had been traveling full-time in
their RV for just a month when we met them. They planned to continue for
at least a year to recharge their batteries. Another day, I had my hair cut by
a 25-yr.old young man from Australia, who had been born in Switzerland
and lived there until he was eight years old. He later traveled in Europe
extensively and came to Banff in October for the snow. He skis and
snowboards in the winter and enjoys hiking and camping in the
backcountry in the summer. At the laundromat, I met a couple from
Vancouver Island who lived there all their lives. The husband was a logger
but was unable to work due to the fire hazards caused by drought.
Vancouver Island is said to be beautiful, but these folks admitted that they
take it for granted. They have never even been to the famous Butchart
Gardens in Victoria. We met another camper from Germany. He and his
wife flew from Berlin to Seattle and rented an RV to tour this area. They
love North America; this is their fourth time over here.
We visited Lake Louise, about 35 miles north of Banff, on a day trip over
Labor Day weekend. Named for Queen Victoria’s daughter, Lake Louise is
one of the most photographed lakes in the Rockies. It is turquoise in
color, framed by mountains and the Victoria Glacier.
Lake Louise
The Fairmont-owned Chateau Lake Louise hotel and gardens grace the
shoreline. We strolled along a paved pathway around a section of the lake.
Canoe rentals were available but at $30.00/hr.CDN, we passed! The
Fairmont Hotel Co. was about to break ground for a convention center, so
environmentalists were raising money to save grizzly bears. The
protesters argue that increased tourism will put more bear habitat at risk
and do not want the convention center to be built.
The Icefields Parkway runs north from Lake Louise approximately 140
miles to Jasper. The Parks Canada brochure describes this road as the
most beautiful in the world. The route takes you through the
quintessential Canadian Rockies.
Icefields Parkway
It passes within viewing distance of seven icefields and about 25 smaller
glaciers. The Canadian Rocky Mountains are higher and have more snow
and glaciers than the Rocky Mountains in Wyoming and Montana. The
Parkway follows the backbone of the Rockies, winding between the
mountain peaks from down in the valley floors along the rivers, up to the
sub-Alpine spruce and fir forests, and even up near the tree line at a
couple of points. The rivers and lakes are an intense translucent aqua
color.
Peyto Lake
You are surrounded by mountains that are green-forested ¾ of the way
up, topped with sharp granite peaks and glaciers, newly sprinkled with
confectioner’s-sugar-snow. At some points, stone cliffs rise straight up
from the road. There are numerous signs warning of avalanches – and the
boulders at the side of the road are evidence of past ones! Every bend
and rise in the road brings another spectacular vista. Even the same
stretch of road looks different as the light changes during the course of
the day and from day to day depending on the weather. At midday with full
sun, the granite appears gray and washed out. But morning and evening
sunlight bathes the peaks in shades of gold and red. Light and shadows
play with the mountain landscape constantly.
Halfway up the Icefields Parkway lays the Columbia Icefield, the largest
icefield in the Rockies. We camped at nearby Wilcox Creek Campground,
just over the line into Jasper National Park from Banff National Park.
Wilcox Creek is just a couple of miles away from the Athabasca Glacier,
one of several glaciers that comprise the Columbia Icefield.
Athabasca Glacier
Glaciers are formed by layers of snow that remain after each summer’s
melt. The snow becomes hard, made up of interlocking ice crystals.
Beneath the crushing weight of its surface layers, a glacier becomes
elastic and flows slowly downhill. The oval-shaped Columbia Icefield is
about 12 miles long and is surrounded by six or seven mountain peaks.
The Columbia has spawned glaciers that flow between the mountain peaks
around its perimeter
Athabasca Glacier is the most accessible glacier to the road and can be
toured by Snocoach. The original Snocoaches in the fifties and sixties
were Greyhound buses with treads on them. Today’s Snocoach is a six-
wheel drive vehicle with tires approximately 4 ft. in diameter.
Brewster Tours Snocoach
Some people prefer to hike the glacier, but it can be quite dangerous
without an experienced guide. Glaciers form crevasses that can be as
large as six feet across and 120 feet deep and they can be obscured by
new snow that bridges the opening. People have died from injuries or
hypothermia by falling into the crevasses.
The packed-snow road out onto the glacier is groomed each day.
Driving on the Athabasca glacier
The sunlight was blinding from the reflected glare, yet in the shadows, the
ice appeared blue. Our tour guide explained that the pressure squeezes
the oxygen out of the ice, so only the shorter wavelengths of light in the
blue part of the spectrum are reflected. It was truly awesome and almost
surreal to walk on ice that is 1000 feet thick and is hundreds, maybe
thousands, of years old! Standing in the Snocoach turn-around area we
were surrounded by an ocean of ice. This unique experience was one of
my favorites on our entire yearlong Great Adventure.
Standing on the glacier
The morning after our glacier tour, we got the hint that it was time to move
south. It was snowing at Wilcox Creek Campground, which lies just below
the tree line at around 6500 feet elevation. We woke up to a dusting of
snow at 6:00AM. By 7:00AM, it was coming down quite heavily with big
fluffy flakes. It was 25 degrees the morning before and we had seen fresh
dustings of snow on the mountaintops. But it was still a bit of a shock for
early September. An executive decision was made at 7:30 to pack up and
leave before the roads became slippery. The snow looked beautiful on the
pine trees but fortunately, as we came down out of the mountains to lower
elevations, it turned to just rain and fog so the driving wasn’t bad. We
drove south back to Lake Louise and picked up Rt.1 West and the Trans-
Canada Highway towards Revelstoke National Park.
