Ice field parkway, best drive ever

Cloudy mountains
see all photos »

North from lake Louise, must be one of the worlds greatest drives, the icefields parkway or if you want to be all technical highway 93, not that i would dream of being all technical one ye all. First up a bit of history for you all. The road itself was built during the great depression as a work scheme and snow often closes the road in the winter, but on one of the info signs it did say that as part of a cold war agreement between Canada and the US the road had to be kept open as this is the most direct road route to Alaska. While it is only 230 KM to jasper, you would be nuts not to spend a least the whole day for this drive and take in the scenery and do some hiking. My first stop was at Peyto Lake where there was a short 20 minutes walk up to a lookout point, unless you are one a bus tour, then you get dropped right there. Don't expect too have this spot to yourself as tour buses stop here all the time. I then drove onto Saskatchewan Crossing which isn't much but a stopoff point for fuel or a bite to eat, but don't eat here unless you are starving(as i was) cause it is a rip off. Further along the road there was the 1 KM hike down to Panther falls. This i have to thank my rough guide for as it is not signposted. Just before is one of the biggest hairpin corners i think i will ever drive followed by a big hill, which it is also called. Thanks again rough guide. Back to the fall though. The hike down is OK, was a bit slippery near the end from all the spray from the falls. Back up is a killer, but it is well worth the pain. These are very impressive falls ( in a different way from Niagara) as you can walk along the river bit before going down to the base where it appears the falls just come through a hole in the cliff face. About ten minutes up the road was the parker ridge hike and while it was not all that long(2.4 KM) it was bloody steep so it takes a while and a bit of an effort to get up there. It flattens of on the ridge and you get wonderful views over the Saskatchewan Glacier. Most of the way up i was saying to myself this better be worth it and when if flattens out you don't immediately see the great views but a short way on they just hit you. Of course the way back down is a doodle. My last stop of the day was at the Columbiaicefield. There is a parks Canada info centre here and once again this is a main stopping off point for the tour buses. From here you can take a modified bus that drives up on to the athabasca glacier and even lets you walk on a section of it. Not sure how environmentally friendly that is. Plus i though it was a little pricey at over $30. what i did do being the tightarse i am was to do the short hike up to the toe of the glacier where there is a small section you can walk on. I have to admit that i think the view looks more impressive from afar than up close and personal. One of the novel and kinda worrying aspects of the hike are the markers that show where the glacier has being in the last 150 years or so. Its quite scary to see how much is has retreated even in the last 20 years. Everyone that debunksglobal warming should be brought up here. Also if i may have another rant, i think it would be a great idea if people declared war on RV's. They are doing my head in. On top of being about as economical as a jet fighter they are taking over every tourist road and probably the cause of numerous heart attacks from frustrated drivers like myself. So if you do one thing this year...... destroy a RV.

More of the Rockies
see all photos »

Now that i got that out of the way, i drove on to jasper after the icefields ending probably one of the most enjoyable days of driving. Highly recommendable that everyone should try to do this at least once in there life. Is that a dramatic enough way to sign off!