Jasper and Icefields Parkway

7/28/2019 Sunday

Leaving Kinky Lake at 0815, we covered the 39 miles to Jasper in just under an hour.

Rams were advertised, but not sighted along the route. We still hope to see some in the wild some day.

Approaching the Rockies always inspires awe. They don't gradually rise like eastern mountains, but seem to pierce the landscape like a wall.

Roads follow the route of transcontinental rail service as we cut through a gap below a slow moving CN container train.

Arriving in Jasper, we found parking on the main street by the CN station. Wandering the town we found a laundry with showers. Laundry was $8 per load and showers were $5 each. We lowered the shades and christened the shower in our wet bath.

A good friend from home, Joe Simpson, was taking a cross country rail adventure with his father. Parking near his train, we caught up with him and made plans to get together over the next few days.

While we were getting cleaned up we watched a crew wash the big windows on the Via Rail train. This dome observation car should offer some great views.

Jasper has a very active Canadian National rail yard.

And a historic steam engine preserved for railfans.

Downtown Jasper had lots of on street parking. Shops with peaks echoing the mountains catered to tourists.

Remnants of Kodak's trademarked photofinishing methods remind me of a career before digital photography.

The Jasper Park Tourism Centre's log and stone building offered maps, advice, and gifts.

Only a few minutes from downtown we found Malign Canyon.

The canyon offers a pretty walk alongside glacial meltwater that quickly descends into a deep canyon.

Green life was clinging to the top of this rock suspended in the mist far above wild waterfalls.

Seriously sized trees gave up their lives to make this picnic table a peaceful spot for lunch.

We met a couple from France who were renting this new Pleasure-Way from Canadream. Labeled as a Plateau TS, it is a prototype of the new Ontour the first P-W based on the Ford Transit chassis.

Off in the distance, a thin stream of water cascades off a mountainside. We wondered how high the fall might be.

After lunch we headed towards Jasper Park Lodge where local residents paused to watch us enter.

Jasper Park Lodge was build in  1953, replacing a log structure that burned down the year before.

Innovative cake artists were displaying their creations inside the lodge. My favorite, of course, was this Canadian National themed cake.

Back outside, the hotel grounds join the shores of Lac Beauvert. Fed by an underground river, the lake is a beautiful shade of blue. The underground river originates as glaciers melt into Maligne and Medicine lakes. The outflow from Medicine Lake disappears into the limestone bedrock before resurfacing here.

Timeless canoes waited to take explorers out on an adventure.

Leaving the lodge and not knowing where we might be staying for the next several days, we were happy to find a free dump station and fresh water fill on Hwy 93A. Ready for the next part of our adventure, we headed south onto the Icefields Parkway.

Connecting the village of Jasper with the Hamlet of Lake Louise, the Icefields Parkway winds 144 miles through Banff National Park. After checking for a favorable weather report, we set out with a hard copy map, knowing that there is no cell phone service.

Innovative signs at our first pull-out oriented us to the nearest of the towering peaks.

Other than a little strip of asphalt, wilderness expanded as far as we could see.

The Parkway had a generous paved shoulder, so Beth wasn’t worried about falling off the edge. We passed several road sweepers cleaning gravel off the shoulders in preparation for a bicycle race.

Parking at this pretty lake, we walked a short trail.

The trail led to a precipitous exit to the lake called Watbasco Falls

This unusually decorated camper van turned out to be a rental from Wicked Campers. We saw several in our travels and, believe it or not, this was one of the least controversial graphic wraps.

Glacial meltwater flows through verdant valleys.

Snowfield Glacier is the closest to our route so far.

Tangle Creek was pushing gravel downhill fast.

Waterfalls, mountains, and glaciers were all readily viewed along the Icefield Parkway. It was a beautiful drive on a good road.  We walked 5.6 miles just getting out and seeing the sights along the way.

At 1815 we pulled in to the Columbia Glacier Center.

Exploring the Glacier View Lodge here we ran into Joe and his dad looking for dinner. Gave them an RV tour and some cashews to tide them over to the next restaurant as this one was fully reserved!

Beth planned the next segment of our trip with a view of the glacier. Tomorrow we plan to visit the foot of the Columbia Glacier.

Spent the night in the parking lot at the Icefield Center looking out over the Columbia Glacier field. There is parking for 100 self-contained campers at $15.70 per night with no services. That is a considerable savings compared to the Inn's rooms that start at $489.

We turned in early and watched the mountains and glaciers change color as the sun settled behind the opposite mountain range. It wasn’t fully dark before my eyes were shut for the night.

I counted 22 campers parked here before dozing off.