Ice Ice Baby

Jasper, Alberta,

 

We’ve had a truly fantastic couple of weeks since our last entry. Looking back on it I think we hung around near Golden at the edge of the  National Park for too long. We enjoyed the free day out at Kicking Horse resort which was one reason why we stayed there so long as with little internet access we were trying to arrange our free day with the marketing manager at the resort. The other reason we hung around so long there was to try and see Lake Louise when the weather was better but mother nature rules as always and these things are never guaranteed. The other thing we learned is that in our opinion Lake Louise is massively over hyped. It’s the poster boy of the Canadian Rockies and ridiculously popular. Some days when we went we were routed round several kilometers of detours due to road works near the lake only to find every time that when we got close to the site the car park was full and we were turned away. We tried to get to Lake Moraine as well which is situated close to Louise and up the same road but again we were turned away every time as there was nowhere to park up. With hindsight there are so many other spots with much more to offer that we should have moved on further into the park a lot quicker than we did. When we did move on though we have been rewarded with some amazing sights, experiences and memories. 

Once away from Lake Louise and heading North through the Banff/Jasper National Parks there are jaw dropping views around every corner. The Ice Fields Parkway stretches over 140 miles up through the Rockies between Banff and Jasper and it is crammed full with some of natures greatest gems. First up was Bow Lake and Lake Peyto. Bow lake with it’s mountainous glacial backdrop is a sight to behold but Lake Peyto really took our breath away. It is easy to access from the nearby carpark and is so much quieter than Lake Louise and so much more stunning in every way. It is a long glacial lake with the most piercing blue water you have ever seen. When you look beyond the lake you can see for miles and miles up the massively long Icefields Parkway. A huge gouge cutting through the rugged terrain of the Rockies. If your traveling the Canadian Rockies I recommend you take a quick look at Lake Louise if it isn’t too busy but if it is then move straight on further North and you will be rewarded with even more impressive sights.

From Lake Peyto we snaked our way slowly North through the Icefields Parkway stopping off at whatever sites interested us along the way. Various waterfalls and view points, probably too many to mention and looking back I struggle to remember them all as there is simply that much too see and take in. After a few hours drive we reached the famous and popular Columbia Icefield a glacier that is very popular on the tourist trail. The Columbia Icefield is the largest Icefield in the Rockies and you can find yourself several hundred dollars lighter in your wallet should you decide to take one of the caterpillar tracked snow coaches to go out onto the glacier itself. We took a short hike up to the closest point we were allowed next to the glacier and well it was all a bit underwhelming. It’s a glacier for sure but I wouldn’t say it was a stunning view or experience. As with Lake Louise there are more rewarding glaciers to view in the parks which I’ll cover later in this post and again we found this particular spot to be over hyped, expensive and extremely busy.

From the Columbia Icefield we continued North to Jasper after a great night wild camping on the Alberta side of the Rockies. Jasper and the surrounding area is a little trickier to access from free/wild camp spots as the border of the National Park is a considerable distance from the many sights around that are good to visit. We did find some free spots at the Park boundary but when we worked out what we would spend on petrol going in and out of the park every day it made more sense to stay at a paid for National Park camp site. We found the cheapest camp site within the park about 15 minutes East of Jasper and at around £9 a night we couldn’t complain. Your only supposed to stay for no more than two nights but we managed to blag our way in for five nights. One of those nights was a tad messy thanks to some drunken late night bowls and card games with a local Canadian girl and her boyfriend from New Zealand. Both are farmers and all I have to say is never drink with farmers, they will mess you right up. We saw them playing bowls around the camp site and when they asked if we wanted to join in it was a resounding ‘yes’. The rest however is bit of a blur. We woke with about half an hour to get packed up and off the site with stinking hangovers. The table we had sat at to play cards into the early hours looked like an advert for how not to keep your camp site wildlife friendly with cans and empty bottles of spirits strewn everywhere. A quick hungover clean up and we were off again to try and hike our bad heads away.

We did a lot of hiking in and around the Rockies and with so many trails of varying length and difficulty there is something for everyone. Moose lake just a small hike from Maligne lake was a great day out. On the way down to Maligne lake we were ever so lucky to see a Bald Eagle sat on it’s nest maybe just 20 yards away from us, spectacular. This was then followed by Moose Lake living up it’s name. The Moose Lake trek isn’t a long one, just a few miles will get you there. As we trekked the trees cleared and Moose lake opened up in front of us. There were a couple of girls who were hiking slightly ahead of us who were a bit closer to the lake when we got there. All of a sudden, from left of stage Larry the goofy cow moose came suddenly galloping into the scene from nowhere. Looking like some kind of strange deformed horse Larry was a moose on a mission. He was bounding towards the lake to cool off and you could tell he wasn’t expecting a human audience for his refreshing dip. He bounded towards the two girls who froze still behind a tree, careered around them and then sank himself into the cooling water. It was great to see Larry swimming across the lake all relaxed after his stressful jog through the humans and nice to see a Moose in it’s natural habitat.

As I mentioned earlier we found glaciers more visually impressive than the Columbia Icefield, our favourite one being the Edith Cavell glacier just a short trip South of Jasper. The drive up to where the glacier trek starts is a bit of a lairy narrow-winding steep road that takes a good amount of steely concentration to navigate but it’s well worth it. As we treked closer and closer to the glacier we started to appreciate just how big and deep the ice is. Given the glaciers size and the distance we were away from it, it was hard at first to gauge  just how big it was until we saw tiny specks of people stood in front of the huge ice shelf at the bottom of the mountain. The ice must have been maybe 50 metres thick and the various shades of blue from the ancient water trapped inside was stunning. Gouged blue lines cut elegant shapes through the frozen water. Occasionally you would hear a rumble and look up to see snow and ice cascading down the mountain. I guess at the end of the day it’s just ice and some rock but there was something strangely beautiful and relaxing about the Edith Cavell glacier. We spent pretty much the full day there just sat enjoying the surroundings. We were even joined by a very friendly hairy Marmot. A Marmot was a new creature to us and to me looked a lot like a  land based beaver. The wee chap was curious and friendly enough though and it was nice to see a new creature on our Rockies expedition. By this point we must have seen over a dozen black bears already.  They are great to see and it’s good that there must be a decent sized population of them round these parts but at the same time I worry that they are too used to human contact now and that is maybe why we have seen so many. Either that or we have just been very very lucky but I doubt it.

 

Another of our favourite treks in the Northern area of the park was around a place called the valley of the 5 lakes. It’s a decent sized round trip trek that takes in 5 lakes of different shapes and sizes. Due to the difference in depth and size each lake has a different colour. It wasn’t the best of days when we treked there, a bit overcast so the light wasn’t great but they are all beautiful lakes and the trek round is nice and relaxing without too may steep inclines. I can imagine on a nice bright sunny day these lakes must look stunning.

 

It doesn’t feel like we have spent two weeks trundling up through the Rockies. We have seen so many sites that it’s hard to recall all of them. It’s only when I look back through the photos that I realise just how much we have seen. It’s been a great experience going through this part of the world and it now feels as if this Canadian adventure is shaping up to be a 3 act performance. The first act was our slow meandering trip from Vancouver through all the small places up through the Okanagon and East to the start of the Rockies. The Rockies has now been the second act which sets up nicely for our 3rd and final act…..the journey North!