Integrity of the Count

Today, we left Banff for the Icefields Parkway, the route that links Banff and Jasper National Parks. The Icefields Parkway is described as one of the most scenic drives in the world. We also hoped to leave some of the crowds behind, but again, fewer people does not mean few people.

The drive includes many places to stop and view mountains, lakes and glaciers. We saw the Bow Lake, the source of the Bow River that flows through Banff and onto Calgary. Another gorgeous view with the mountains reflecting in the lake. Even with seeing different versions of this view across the Canadian Rockies, it's hard to get tired of it.

One of the most picturesque stops is the overlook to Peyto Lake, a glacial lake framed by majestic mountains. We arrived around 11am, and the parking was stressful for us with our large vehicle. We found a parking spot and walked on the paved path to the overlook. It was gorgeous but also filled with people posing for their social media accounts. We continued along the paved path, got a little lost, then eventually found the hiking trails to the more secluded overlook. That was truly stunning and worth the extra hike. And there were very few people there, too. There were signs for additional hikes that we weren't really considering, but a young British couple told us the additional hikes weren't worth the effort. They showed us the photos to prove it. We were grateful to them for relieving us from potential FOMO.

As we left the parking lot, there was a line of vehicles that stretched out to the main road. As bad as the crowds were at Peyto Lake, it seemed worse when we left. Our GuideAlong audio tour mentioned other stops along the way, but we had to skip a couple where we could not find parking. At one point, there were a lot of cars stopped along the parkway. We got out and joined the crowd to look for potential wildlife. We heard that there was a black bear in the area, but the bear retreated to the bushes to rest. Greg thought he might have seen the bear. However, to protect the integrity of the count, we are not including this in our Bear Count.

Eventually, we reached the Columbia Icefield, a tourist center (or should we say "centre") across the road from a large glacier. We chose the Ice Odyssey, a small group tour that drives onto the glacier. The guides said that one person could ride "shotgun" in the Fat Truck adjacent to the driver, and Greg jumped up and down to volunteer, just like a little boy. The Fat Truck was impressive and reminded us of the Hagglund vehicles we rode many years ago when we visited the Antarctic Centre in Christchurch, New Zealand.

Along the way to the Athabasca Glacier, the Fat Truck descended a 30% grade.

When we reached the glacier, we had about 45 minutes to walk around. However, like much of this trip, we vastly preferred our hike last year on the Root Glacier in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park in Alaska, where we could explore the glacier as much as we wanted on our own personal hike.

Tonight, we're "camping" in the RV parking lot adjacent to the Columbia Icefield, so that we can be ready first thing tomorrow morning.