Canada - Day 8 (Jasper to Lake Louise)

We bid farewell to Jasper and headed east along the Icefields Parkway. This drive would have to be the most spectacular I have ever taken, and was a highlight of the trip. The road wound through jagged, snow-capped peaks; and because the snow was melting, there were cascades and waterfalls down every slope, feeding into the jade-coloured river that gushed through the valley below. Ryan had issued a blanket ban on me driving for any of this trip, because I spent the whole time plastered to the window oohing and aahing over the view (and I have a habit of not paying attention to the road when the scenery is so cool). 

Can't really blame me though...

I love chipmunks :-)

(this guy was nibbling flowers at one of the roadside lookouts)

The drive was amazing in itself, but there were also heaps of stops and viewpoints along the way. Our first was Athabasca Falls, which poured through a narrow canyon, sending plumes of misty spray into the air.

Hard to keep the lens dry

Walking down to the base of the falls

Not far from these, were Sunwapta Falls (where we got to see a firsthand view of where we would have ended up if our raft guide yesterday had suffered a lapse in concentration). We narrowly beat a busload of tourists, whom we left completely behind as we departed the main viewpoint and took a walk to see more cascades further downstream.

View of the upper falls

Rocks and roots worn smooth by generations of feet

Lower falls

View further downstream

These beautiful orchids were quite plain and unassuming from above, but this is how they looked from underneath (unfortunately, they only grow about 20cm off the ground, so these shots required some interesting positioning)(nothing like lying in the dirt to truly get a sense of the place…)

There were countless roadside stops to see either views across the valley or waterfalls cascading down the mountain slopes. It seemed that everywhere we looked, the view was spectacular.

Tangle Creek

We stopped for lunch at Athabasca Glacier on the Columbia Icefields. The Icefields Centre was absolutely packed with tourists and the place felt very commercialized with options to take a bus-ride or a guided ice-walk onto the glacier. We elected to simply walk (for free) up to the toe of the glacier, which was pretty impressive in itself.  

The walk up to the glacier (would have been completely under ice 50 years ago)

Overlooking the toe

View of the glacier from the Icefields Centre

We continued slowly east (with several more roadside stops along the way). We went for a short walk to see Mistaya Canyon, where the rocks forming the canyon walls had been carved into interesting bowls and curves by the action of the water.

Can just see glimpses of jade-green water deep below

We also stopped at Peyto Lake. Here there were patches of snow directly adjacent to the walking track (why doesn't it melt when it's a sunny 25 degree day??)(still can't get my head around it). Despite there being a horde of tourists walking up and down the track, one group approaching us warned that they had just spotted a grizzly bear. We kept very alert after that (and allowed a group with a small child to go ahead to act as bear bait), but all we managed to see were a set of (very large) fresh bear prints in the snow. At the end of the trail was a viewing platform over the lake, which turned out to have the most spectacularly coloured water of the trip (and was subsequently dubbed "P-lake" by Ryan who for some reason could never recall the word "Peyto").

Amazing colour

I think he went that way...

We were disappointed to have missed the bear and we were beginning to think we might not ever spot one. Then along the next stretch of road we came across a line of cars pulled over, and sure enough there was a grizzly bear by the roadside. He was busy foraging in a clearing in the distance, and didn’t seem to even notice the dozen cars which lined both sides of the road. The wildlife officers, however, did mind, and after materializing from out of nowhere, promptly ordered everyone back in their cars.    

The distant blob in the clearing is actually a bear

More spectacular roadside views

We reached the village of Lake Louise (our destination for the night), then took a detour south to see Emerald Lake. Along the way we pulled into the interesting-sounding Spiral Tunnels which turned out to be railway tunnels constructed to lessen the grade through the mountain pass. We were lucky enough that a train was coming past just as we stopped, and got to see three different parts of it at once as it entered the tunnel, spiraled under itself and exited further down.

Doesn't photograph too well, but the train passed immediately below us in the foreground, entered the tunnel in the top left, spiraled under itself and exited in the middle of the frame

We also stopped at Natural Bridge, where what was once a waterfall had gradually eroded its way under the rock, leaving a stone bridge spanning it above.

Impossible to get a photo without there being some foolish tourist jumping the fence to walk across the bridge

(at least he provides some perspective to the shot...)

After seeing photos of the stunning green water of Emerald Lake, we were a little disappointed that it hadn’t quite turned on its best colour for our visit (and very disappointed that our plan to eat icecream there was foiled by the kiosk being shut). We took a short walk to Hamilton Falls, but could only really see some small cascades below the main falls, which were hidden just out of sight in a cleft in the rock.

Evidence that I occasionally surrender the camera

We then headed to Lake Louise proper and joined the throng of tourists photographing the iconic lake (with plans to return the following day).

And because we clearly hadn’t fitted enough sightseeing into one day, we also took a short drive to Moraine Lake, where we watched the sunset over the deep blue-green water (at about 10.00pm!).