DAY-09 Lake Louise Northward to Jasper, AB

Day-09: Friday, September 11, 2015

Starting Location: Fairmont Lake Louise Hotel, Lake Louise, AB
Interim Location: Columbia Icefield, AB

Ending Location: Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge, Jasper, AB

Following the morning feed we prepped our bags for pickup and by 9:30 AM were ready for Ronni and the van for the journey's continuation. The morning reflections of Lake Louise were an awesome sight.

One of our events for the day was an "Ice Field/Glacier Walk". There seemed to be some confusion about timing, vouchers and bookings but after a series of calls to Ronni's organization and the Rocky Mountaineer En-Route service desk we were set with all the credentials and reservations we would need. By 10 AM we were on our way north from Lake Louise onto the The Icefields Parkway (Canada HWY #93).

The "Thirsty Almond" at the Top of the World

To some degree the day was a blur, a delightful blur as we would see one spectacular site after another. Ronni guided us throughout the route talking of anything and everything that might be related to mountains, ice fields, glaciers and the flora and fauna associated with the geography. We viewed Crowfoot Glacier, visual evidence of the retreating glaciers as the formerly 3-toed (as a crow supposedly has) glacier had receded to the point that there were no more toes. We passed and/or stopped by lakes and at viewpoints including Bow Lake and Peyto Lake as we moved north toward our early afternoon objective of the Columbia Icefield.

So what do you think about this reflective lake photo, is one or are both photos upside down?

 

We crossed the Bow River and the Saskatchewan River and by 1 PM were in the icefield parking lot along with probably 60 other buses, mostly the 50-60 passenger type. One wondered just how many people the icefield could handle in a day.

At the ice field we secured our tickets for a 1:15 PM departure. We boarded a large bus and proceeded for about 5 minutes along a unpaved road adjacent to the glacier where we came upon the "Ice Cat" station, home of the  "One Million Dollar" behemoth Ice Cats that would carry us on our journey to the field. The Ice Cat held about 40 people. We boarded the Cat but soon debarked as the Cat had a faulty transmission but "no worries, we'll have another one over right away". Right away was about 15 minutes but soon we had boarded. Our Cat driver gave us the mission briefing and safety advisory that would pertain to our ice field visit. Around 1:45 we were on our way to the field but en-route noticed that we were being passed by other Cats loaded with paying guests as we proceeded "up-ice". Seems that our new ride also had transmission problems thus limiting our uphill speed to something slower than a baby's crawl, thus our being passed by other Cats. Finally we arrived at the debarkation point and the place we would walk on the ice. Actually it was just another parking lot, bigger and packed solid with ice but it was where we would experience the ice. We were not permitted the leave the parking area so for 25 minutes we stood around and took pictures along with the 200+ other people doing the same thing in a relatively restricted area. By 3 PM the adventure was over and we were back with Ronni to continue our journey.

 

 

The Columbia Icefield tour was a bust. First of all the eight of us have all been atop glaciers in either Alaska or New Zealand so this excursion offered nothing new. That compounded by the equipment malfunctions, the crowed conditions and the limited "ice experience" made this our least enjoyed two hours of the trip.

Okay, back to good stuff. We passed Sunwapta Falls and stopped at Athabasca Falls in Jasper National Park.

Along the way we came to a road block, apparently Parks Canada and the highway folks were prepping for a rock blast. Adjacent to the blast area was the Canadian version of the canyon glass walkway, a glass semi-circular walk cantilevered out from the rock face. As this was within the park Ronni our guide made it clear that she wasn't happy with such commercialization.

Around 5:30 PM we arrived in the Jasper area and searched out our hotel the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge. Though Ronni knew the basics of Jasper she was a little confused about the details so it took a few minutes to locate the lodge and then work our way to the check in desk.

As this was our last day with Ronni we said our goodbyes and wished her well on her career, life and upcoming trip to Israel. We proceeded to check in at the lodge and by 6:30 were in our rooms. The rooms located in "cabin" type clusters are rustic, rather small but comfortable.

We returned to the hotel lobby for dinner at the Emerald Lounge. For the night Bison Burgers were the big winners, along with an order from the kid's menu for a bowl of Mac & Cheese.

As it was a super clear night we spent a fair amount of time looking for and trying to identify stars and planets. Rumor had it that Diane would be up late to star gaze in and around our cabins. This is notable as Diane is not typically a late-night person, so we'll see what the star count is when we see her tomorrow.

After our close-out drinks we took rides back to our rooms and the day ended. The day had been one of spectacular vistas, a day that would be hard to top.