100922 Mt. Robson Provincial Park & Icefields Parkway

Mount Robson PP - Today was a very satisfying day. After days of glimpses of snow-topped mountains, today I finally got a good look at them. It was a clear, sunny day today. (Hurray!) I decided to drive back into BC, along the drive I took yesterday to get to Jasper, through Mt. Robson Provincial Park. And I wasn’t disappointed. It was a delight. I stopped at Yellowhead Lake [photo left] and Moose Lake [photo below right], and the marshy area I’d passed yesterday [below left]. I stopped at the Visitor Center to see Mt. Robson in the sunshine. [below right] The birches are turning gold. The mountains are snow-topped and are everywhere along the route. The water is blue. I don’t see how it could be a more beautiful drive.

Icefields Parkway - Then in the afternoon I headed down the famous Icefields Parkway that runs between Jasper and Lake Louise. This drive is rated as one of the ten most scenic in North America, and I certainly wouldn’t argue with that. It’s hard to imagine how a drive could be more scenic than this one. I read recently that there are no words to describe this drive. More spectacular beauty. Even more golden birches. (I love those birches! Such elegant looking trees.) Even more, and higher, white-topped mountains.

Columbia Icefield - My friend Beck had sent me, some years back, a description of her trip out on the Athabasca Glacier (part of the Columbia Icefield), in Jasper NP. And her description made me decide that was something I wanted to do, if I ever got the chance, despite the pricey fee ($50). And am I ever glad I did. (Thank you, Beck.) A bus takes you to the edge of the glacier, where you get on a vehicle they call a “sno cruiser”, but its tires are huge (almost as tall as me). That’s the vehicle that takes you out on the glacier. I sat in the front seat, which is what I usually do, if it’s available. You get a better view, and, as I get older, my motion sickness gets worse, so it helps with that too. I had no clue what was coming, so I had an excellent view of the 32% downhill grade in the road ahead, and just about lost my lunch when I realized he was going to drive over the edge and down that road! But, it was perfectly safe. The vehicle is locked into first gear and has huge treads. They “haven’t lost anyone yet”, as they say. The vehicles are built specifically for the “ice road”, as they call it. Each vehicle cost $750,000 when they bought them a few years ago. (Later the driver told me about a co-worker who put the vehicle in neutral by mistake instead of first gear, on her first time down alone, with a tour group. Everyone on the vehicle thought the ride was just part of the thrill of the experience and was yelling “Whee” as the drive burned the rubber off the brakes the whole way down. Yikes!)

We went through a “puddle”, then the driver told us it was there on purpose, to clean away any mud and debris off the tires, so as not to bring any debris onto the glacier.

The driver said that we were at the world's only three-way continental divide, that goes to three oceans: Arctic, Pacific, and Atlantic.

Where we walked around the glacier, it was 1000 feet thick. Since it was a beautiful, sunny day, I had a much more pleasant experience than Beck did (cold, windy). They’d had about six inches of snow recently, so it was just like walking around on the snow in North Dakota. We were close enough to the Andromeda glacier, however, that I could see the blue tint of the ice.

All-in-all, the experience of a lifetime. Something I won’t ever forget.

I stopped at the first campground inside of Banff National Park this evening. I wanted to get down out of the high country before I stopped for the night, as it was going to be below freezing again (second night in a row).

A guy in the cg last night said he’d been to Banff NP several times before, and this was the first clear day he’d seen. So I am fortunate. I’m fortunate in another way also. From a photographer’s point of view, the timing of this visit to Canada couldn’t have been better. The golden birches are peaking. The six inches of snow they got recently has dusted all the mountains with white. If I’d gotten here even two days ago, only the highest mountains would be white-topped (the ones with glaciers). It's a good thing I spent a couple extra unplanned days in Buckley, and a couple extra unplanned days in Sequim. :-) Things always work out for the best.

I saw a few “caribou crossing” signs today. First time I’ve ever seen one of those. Didn’t see any caribou, though. :-(

I cried my way through BC this morning. Then I cried some more on the Icefields Parkway. I was so moved by the beautiful vistas. So grateful to be here. So thankful to have a Creator with such magnificent skill :-) and love for us, that She creates so abundantly, extravagantly, joyfully.