Athabasca Falls - near the beginning of the Icefields Parkway
Heading up the Athabasca River towards its source - the Athabasca Glacier
Up
And up
Athabasca Glacier from the Icefields Centre. From the parking area there is a well worn track up to the face of the glacier. 1 kilometre or so
The face of the rapidly melting Athabasca Glacier. This is the main source of all the water running down the Athabasca River. Frighteningly soon it will be melted. And there will be no more water flowing down the valley.
Heading down
And down
Mistaya Canyon
Saskatchewan Crossing is a roadhouse set in a spectacular setting. From here a road leads down the valley eastwards out of the Rockies
Quite a few places in the park had self-serve cafes. In the large black containers are different hot dishes. Stews, curries and the like. Ones we had were delish! And inexpensive too
Waterfowl Lake
Craggy Peaks
Another climb then up to Bow Pass. This is Peyto Lake looking back down (to the north) the Icefields Parkway
Everybody gets their photo taken here. Irene feels the cold chronically - so you can imagine how cold it isn't here now. No wonder all the glaciers are melting
From the same vantage point a look up at Peyto Glacier
Just over the pass to Bow Lake and Bow Glacier. There is a long walking trail to this glacier and the falls flowing from it. Not enough time for us though
When the Crowfoot Glacier was named, one of the toes was much larger. Now only a bit of it remains
Almost to the end of the Icefields Parkway we come to the beginning of a bearjam. These can turn into big holdups as tourists like us, strive to get a better view/photo of the bear in question
Not far from the 'Theme Park' known as Lake Louise, this bear was tagged (green tag on ear) and had a GPS collar. Shortly after we added to the jam, a horny looking female ranger rocks up (they have special bearjam rangers), pulls out a sawn off automatic shotgunny looking weapon and started pumping ??powder balls?? into said bear, causing it to disappear rapidly into the bush
