Travels, Trails and Tales: Icefields Parkway and Jasper

I had a little trouble narrowing down the photos on this particular post; there were just so many beautiful places on Icefields Parkway and in Jasper. Since this will be a long one, I will be breaking up the photos with some writings every now and then. We started off from Banff early on July 1st, 2009 to drive the Icefields Parkway to Jasper. This is normally about a 4 hour drive, however, with all the stops we made to hike to this or that and take photos, it turned into a 9 hour affair...which is exactly what we had in mind. It stays light until about 10 PM or so this far north, so we had plenty of time. We drove the old back road out of Banff because we heard that it was a great bear-sighting road. While we didn't see a bear along this road, it was a beautiful tree-lined road with a few rivers, lakes and railroad tracks scattered here and there. I should mention that as soon as we entered the Icefields Parkway we actually did spot a black bear crossing the road. Wildlife sure is unpredictable! Here are a couple of shots of the old highway leading out of Banff. It is well worth the extra time to take this road.

This is a shot somewhere in the southern area of Icefields Parkway. It is an amazing road. You feel like you are far far away from home.

Crowfoot Glacier along Icefields Parkway

This was one of our first stops at Bow Summit. Almost immediately we spotted a friend; a hoary marmot who seemed to be as curious about us as we were about him. He sure was a cute little guy.

This was a spectacular spot. This is Peyto Lake from Bow Summit. It was a bit of a hike to get here, but well worth the effort. Gorgeous!

The highest point along the parkway is Parker Ridge. When we arrived here, it was snowing, and it was July! We were amazed and thrilled!

This is a shot of the Columbia Icefields. You can take a tour of these icefields in a big-wheeled tundra vehicle if you'd like...we choose to keep on driving. Did I mention that it was COLD by these icefields? Brrrrr!

Beautiful Sunwapta Falls - We are now on the northern side of the Icefields Parkway.

Athabasca Falls - A thunderous waterfall at the very northern end of the Parkway.

Arrival at The Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge - I am ready for dinner!

This is peaceful Lac Beauvert that the lodge surrounds on one side. I should say that the Jasper Park Lodge is not one gigantic hotel building, but rather small cabins scattered over the property. It all just fits perfectly with the surrounding environment. I fell in love with this place. There is a cool hiking trail that goes all around the lake and even a little into the backcountry. Every now and then, along the trails, there are benches made out of logs and wooden signs giving you some information on the flora, fauna and wildlife along the trail. I took this walk many times during our stay here. It was heaven.

These elk were right behind our room every night! It was the coolest thing to see them this close. There were lots of baby elk too. I was disappointed that on our last night they did not show up, but we spotted them hanging out down the road. I guess they like to mix things up every once in awhile too.

This was simply a photo that I liked, so I thought I would put it up. I can't remember exactly where this was taken, but I believe it was somewhere along the road to Mount Edith Cavell.

This was the Path of the Glacier hike at Mount Edith Cavell. This was a very big cool ice cave!

Ah, this is gorgeous Maligne Lake. We stopped here for awhile before heading down to Maligne Canyon to start our hike to all the hanging bridges. We saw a beautiful small deer right here.

This is one of the hanging bridges on the Maligne Canyon hike. I think it is bridge number 5, but I wouldn't swear to it. By the way, if you would like to see any of these photos up close, you can simply click on them.

Here I am on one of the hanging bridges.

Somewhere in between the bridge photo above and the peaceful river shot below, I was ruthlessly chased down the Maligne Canyon hiking trail by a bee! It seemed to want to burrow in my hair...and I was not real happy about it. After a few rounds of trying to discourage the bee somewhat calmly, I took off running down that trail, leaving my hiking partner in the dust (literally). Although, at this point, it should be stated that my hiking partner was the one who originally swatted that bee away from himself and toward me...nice! Anyway, I don't think I have ever run that fast in my life. I must have been quite the sight....flying over hills, rocks and water with my hair flying...my arms and hiking poles flying...flying past children and adults who looked at me like I was crazy (imagine!). I must have ran a couple of miles, but, finally, the general store and restaurant was within sight. I flung open that restaurant/store door only to find an elderly couple standing there looking at me with wide-eyed amazement like I was crazy (again, imagine that!) I said hello and mumbled a short explanation that a bee had been chasing me for miles and then shamefacedly ducked into the gift shop. So, the moral of the story is that Jasper has some very determined bees...or at least one!