We started off the morning in a nice tour bus in Jasper, trekking southward to Lake Louise. We traveled the entire day along the Columbia Icefield Parkway. I have a t-shirt to prove it!
The Icefield Parkway is apparently one of National Geographic’s Top Ten Scenic Roadways in the world. While I could only really take in a small fraction of it, I would say I agree.
The road goes through a gorge with more of those gigantic mountains on either side. However, these mountains are a bit different in that they are sprinkled with glaciers. Glaciers that you can see without binoculars. Glaciers that you can see even through relatively dense smoke.
Yep, our Super Travel Weather Luck disappeared today. Although Jasper was rather clear, the further south we traveled, the more smoky the skies got. I had to take out my contacts because my eyes were burning, it was that bad. While it smelled kinda nice, like a wood burning fire (because, duh, it is), the whole breathing and seeing thing was sort of compromised.
Nevertheless, the mountains were still spectacular in their own way. Instead of multi-colored and multi-dimensional, the hazy white skies turned the mountains into an Ansel Adams photograph. The mountain landscape was black and white and two dimensions; no real way to sense depth through the smoke.
We stopped at a few glacial lakes, the ones that look turquoise from the “rock flour” that dribbles into them from the rocky valleys surrounding them. I was mesmerized to discover the beautiful blue still came through the heavily filtered light. Playing with all sorts of low-light, high-light, expressive, dynamic settings on my camera resulted in a few interesting shots. But for the most part, I think I will just be left with the memories of the gigantic mountainy silhouettes.
The highlight of the day – even more so because it wasn’t hugely smoky yet – was riding a snowcoach up onto a glacier and then having about 30 minutes to gingerly walk around on it. Although Rob and I have each tip toed on glaciers in other places, this is the first time we went on one together. And definitely the first time we got there riding an enormous million dollar snow tank.
The snowcoach was at times bumpy and lurchy but blessedly clung to the ice and a 32% slope with confidence. It took about 7 minutes to get onto the ice. Although there were staked ropes indicating safe areas to stick to, I was honestly amazed so many folks at least two decades my senior gave ice walking a try and did it without falling! It was indeed slick in places, and there were little puddles of melting glacier all over the place, but holding onto Rob, I never felt unsteady.
We were also told to bring empty water bottles with us so we could fill them up with fresh glacier water to sip. Rob was my hero as he straddled a small, slick gully to collect the water for us.
It was the freshest-tasting water I have ever had. It didn’t taste like anything, making it interesting to realize that all other water I drink either out of bottles or taps actually has a taste. However, as the icy cold water warmed up, it developed a rocky, minerally flavor. We didn’t quite finish our bottles because we weren’t sure we liked our beverage so…earthy. So note to self: if I ever get the opportunity to drink glacier water again, I will finish it quickly.
The second highlight of the day was seeing another bear. On the left again! This one was right along the side of the Parkway and its presence was announced by the stream of cars, campers, and motorcyclists that were stopped on the side of the road with cameras all facing the same way. This black bear was quite a bit smaller than the one we saw from the train, but it was just as happy and just as close.
What was particularly astounding, however, was how many people were standing outside just a matter of feet and yards from the bear, watching it munch a tree and taking photos of it. Our bus driver noted that the bear could jump 30 feet in a split second and be on top of any one of the unprotected selfie-takers before they had a chance to focus their phone camera and get that prized photo of their final moments. People are so interesting!
We are now tucked away in a fantastically lovely log cabin hotel on a river in Lake Louise. We haven’t seen the lake yet; partly due to the smoke and partly due to it being up some elevation from us. We aren’t sure we will see it this trip. It depends on the cab driver tomorrow morning.
We are unfortunately cutting our vacation very short as of tomorrow morning. Just before we lost cell service for the entire day, my mom was able to get through to my cell phone and share news that my dad is in the hospital ICU due to breathing difficulties. So we are heading to Calgary tomorrow – hopefully via Banff so we can at least catch a glimpse – and then onto Woodhaven for a few hours to reshuffle luggage before heading to Idaho.
It was twists and turns of life just like this that prompted us to take this trip in the first place; no guarantees that we have “someday.” We do hope to see this part of the world again, hopefully without smoke and perhaps on our own schedule with our own transportation.
I do have more I want to write and share about the train experience; we are both definitely sad we will be missing three more days of the fantastic service, food, views, and fun of the Rocky Mountaineer train that we planned to experience from Banff back to Vancouver.
Maybe “someday” will come again.
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