Athabasca Falls and Columbia Icefields

The next road we took was Icefields Parkway, which parallels the Continental Divide. It goes from Jasper to the turn-off towards Banff (Highway 1, the Trans-Canada Highway).

Just about 30 kms (10 miles) south of Jasper, is Athabasca Falls.

It is such a majestic waterfall, you’d think it was higher – but it’s “only” 23 meters (75 feet)… actually, that’s pretty high! I mean, maybe not if you are comparing it to Niagara Falls (which is 51 meters/167 feet), or Kerepakupai Merú (Angel Falls) in Bolívar, Venezuela (which is 979 meters/3,212 feet, and considered the tallest in the world!)

The Athabasca River runs through a riverbed of quartzite and limestone, which has finally eroded and carved out gorges and potholes, creating this beautiful scenery!

 

It is very accessible, has a parking lot, boardwalks, and restroom facilities – not really “roughing it”, which works out well for most people. And for those who want more of a challenge ~ well, it’s still worth the stop on your way to wherever it is you are going!

 

And, Athabasca Falls’ headwater is the Columbia Glacier, which is part of the Columbia Icefields, about 70 kms further south.

Conveniently located right on the side of the Icefields Parkway, is the Columbia Icefields Discovery Center and the Athabasca Glacier.

 

You can walk TO the Athabasca Glacier from the convenient parking lot, but you are not allowed to walk ON it, since it’s steadily receding. Apparently, it recedes at a rate of about 5 meters (16 feet) per year. If you hurry, you can still visit this one, though – it’s still 6 kms long and 1 km wide…. when you walk towards it, however, there are signs and markers along the way of how far the Glacier extended at which year… it enforces how important it is to obey the “don’t walk on this” rule.

 

You CAN take a guided bus ride on to it, by way of a “Massive Brewster Ice Explorer” (a great big bus specifically for driving up the glacier), for which you can sign up at the Visitor’s Center. They operate from mid-April to mid-October.

 

The Icefield extends from Mount Columbia (3747 meters/12,294 feet tall) on the west side to Mount Athabasca (3491 meters/11,452 feet) on the east side. It covers approximately 215 square kms (although I’ve seen a couple of reports that say 325 square kms?), and can be up to 360 meters deep… Interestingly, up to 7 meters of snow falls during the winter each year, which is more than can melt during the summer, so it continues to add mass.

There are 8 major glaciers, including the Athabasca (of course), the Dome and the Stutfield (both also can be seen from the Icefields Parkway), and the Castleguard, Columbia, and Saskatchewan.

 

The Icefield caps the Continental Divide and the water splits into three at Snow Dome (3,456 meters/3,456 m (11,339 ft) tall), and pours into the Arctic, the North Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans. In fact, the headwaters of the North Saskatchewan River are here, as well as the Columbia Basin.

 

Next stop: Banff National Park.

http://www.icefieldsparkway.ca/journey.html
http://www.explorerockies.com/columbia-icefield/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbia_Icefield

Jasper National Park, Alberta

Jasper was our first stop back in Alberta, and we decided to stay for a day.

 

Normally, in the past when we visited Jasper, we’ve stayed at the Jasper Park Lodge, but that didn’t make as much sense, travelling with 4 adults, 3 dogs and 2 children. So, we drove around town until we found Tekarra Lodge, where we could have our own individual cabins.

Ours was the tiniest, coziest little cabin you have ever seen. It was so small, we could stoke the wood fireplace, without actually getting out from under the blankets. (Richard and Shannan’s cabin had a sitting area, so I guess there are a variety of sizes available.)

 

It was a cute place, and comes with a restaurant, a laundromat, and a GORGEOUS view of the Athabasca River. (We had a picnic on the cliffs…and by “picnic”, I mean “wine”.)

As I mentioned, previously, we stayed at the Jasper Park Lodge, which is an entire self-contained little village. We LOVE it there!

 

One day, we realized I’d never been to Jasper before, so we started trying to plan. We needed, of course, a place that accepted dogs in the rooms, but I was having a hard time finding any place, so I emailed a friend of mine that worked at Jasper Park Lodge – not to stay there, but for suggestions on WHERE to stay.

 

He set us up with a VERY nice suite, right on Lac Beauvert. It was the middle of a freeeeeezing cold winter, and we took advantage of room service, the restaurant nearby (we didn’t take advantage of the go-cart ride over to it, but that would’ve been fun too), and the firewood that they delivered each day, right to our front step.

 

 

It was great! If I could live there, winter wouldn’t be so bad!!!

 

My favorite memory of that particular trip was when Daisy & Coco (our miniature dachshunds) discovered there was a MASSIVE elk right outside our door, and their barking frenzy turned into them tip-toeing back into the room, completely silent, and then staring out the window for an hour… completely quiet.

 

It reminds me of a Far Side comic…

 

 

We’ve also stayed at the Jasper Park Lodge in the summer, and went golfing there, rated in the Top 5 Golf Courses in Canada (it has been #1, but I see that it can fluctuate very slightly…)

 

I’m a “beginner” golfer, and play my own game. I tee-off, do a couple of drives down the fairway (how many often depends up my own stress level, the people I’m with, and the people coming up behind us), a chip (out of either the sand or the tall grass) and then a putt. Then, I count maximum score. This helps me not get overly frustrated, and I get to practice using alot of my clubs. I like it this way. (“Beginner” is in “quotes”, by the way, because I could be better if I went more…I’m working on this… I enjoy it – its just timing.)

 

…I guess Geese while I’m Golfing is Par for the Course… AAAAAAAAHAHAAHAHHAHAHAH… hee hee… sorry.

 

ANYway…. Jasper Town/Village is a cute little town with one or two streets of restaurants and shops. It’s not an over-done, too touristy town at all – in fact, it’s tricky to even find souvenirs.

 

They DO have some of my very favorite restaurants. For example, the Fiddle River Restaurant served my Alaskan King Crab with the yummiest butter I’ve ever had. So yummy, in fact, that I had to ask the chef what was in it, and he gave me a list of the ingredients! I have been eating King Crab as long as I can remember, and never had anything quite so delicious! (And, if you’ve been reading my blog for any amount of time, you know that King Crab and Mexican Food are my two most common “food” topics.) Based on my pictures, it looks like I had a pretty good crab meal at Karouzo’s, too, at some point…

 

It’s one of those places that you can just meander along, and pick your own favorites.

I feel that it might be time for me to plan a weekend there again…

 

Wednesday, we will be visiting Athabasca Falls.