Bill and Eileen's Travels

Columbia Icefield

Icefields Above the Glaciers (They go for 25 kilometers)

Melt Water on the Glacier

Eileen's new Friend (RCMP)

Round Glacier

It's June 2008

The Glacier Buses

The Icefields from the Road

Bill's New Friend (RCMP)

From the Icefield Museum and ticket hall, you take a shuttle bus up to the edge of the glacier where you then board the big glacier buses. They drive you up the glacier which is 300 feet thick at the point where you get out to walk around and take pictures. Walking outside of the parking area was discouraged but many people do cross the flowing water to get a closer look. They may be receding but they are still very impressive. With the snow pack so large this year I don't think there will be much recession in these glaciers.

Views On The Parkway

Valley View Near Bridal Veil Falls

Bridal Veil Falls

Near Athabasca Falls

These are some of the pictures that we took during our rides in the valley. When we went to the Icefields we stopped at various pullouts to try and capture the beauty. The water in the rivers and lakes at this time of year is turquoise in color which is the light reflecting the minerals in the water. The water this time of year comes from the snow melt and the rain. Later in the summer the water will become milky white from the melt water of the glaciers. The turquoise is really cool and shows as different colors in different shades of light and depths of water.

Trip North, Lake Annette Loop Trail, Jasper, The Cafe

The Hike

The trip North

The ride to Jasper was rainy but beautiful. We saw three bears on this ride and were able to take Pics of one. When someone spots an animal along the road it really isn't long before there is a traffic jam as other people stop to view. The bear below was giving everyone a show. He was just lying in the grass eating an enjoying the people. The towns in the Canadian Parks are full service towns with shops, restaurants, gas stations and all the services of a normal village. They are however within the NP itself. This is different than US parks that have very limited services within the parks and usually have the services just outside of the park or in the closest town. The campgrounds we stayed in were in the parks. The sites were very large and we had full hookups at both parks.

These pics are the ride, the town and, our hike.

Jasper, Alberta (6/10/2008 - 6/15/2008)

We left Banff on Tuesday 6/10 and drove through the rain and snow to Jasper. The drive up the Icefields Parkway as I mentioned before is beautiful even in the bad weather. The day after we arrived in Jasper we shopped and found an Internet cafe. We also took a short hike around one of the local lakes on the Lake Annette Loop Trail.

The next day was our one really nice day in Jasper so we drove back down the Parkway and visited the Icefields. The tour at the Icefields is in a vehicle that is designed to be driven on the glaciers. It was a neat ride and our guide made it very interesting with his humor. From the visitor center you can see how far the glaciers have retreated since 1844. It was really interesting.

During our rides up and down the Parkway we have seen a wide variety of wildlife. They are not really afraid of us humans so it is usually pretty easy to get a few good pictures.

The beauty of this part of our trip was so mind boggling to me so I have decided to attempt loading tons of pictures. I will try to narrate each of the posts so you have some idea what they are.

In spite of the lousy weather that we experienced this was probably the most beautiful scenery of our trip. I think Eileen is overdosed on mountain viewing because it is something that I never get tired of.

Enjoy the Pic's.

Life is Great!!!

Bill and Eileen