Reflections From the Fence: Banff, The Icefields, Jasper: The Estate Takes on Alaska

Friday, June 28, 2019

Banff, The Icefields, Jasper: The Estate Takes on Alaska

June 23, 2019

Woke to overcast skies, about 50 degrees. On the road at 9:09

Icefields here we come.

Black bear sighted along the road, no photos.

Bow Lake. Pretty.

Peyto Lake was a fail and a disappointment. Crowds were awful. The parking lot even worse! Looked like canyons, those potholes were 12 inches minimum. 4 feet wide. Man would not take The Estate in there for fear we would rip off the generator and the exhaust pipe. I can tell you there was significant snow on the ground. I started out to the photo op, realizing it was at least 10 minutes in and same out. I bailed. I’m sure it was stunning. A few hours and a good ole load of hot patch and that parking lot would be doable. Meanwhile, a black mark on the park for not maintaining just a little better.

And, this hole was one of the small ones.

Mistaya Canyon, hike. About 1.8 miles in and out. About 190 feet elevation change, it was a loo loo coming out. And, all before noon!!!

Raining. Hard sometimes. Mountain tops disappear into the clouds.

The sun can out as we neared the ice fields/glaciers. Perfect timing.

We had lunch in a pull off near Cirrus Mountain. Gorgeous.

With a waterfall of our own, I do believe that is snow above the waterfall, melting and providing the glory of the waterfall.

Many miles of stunning beauty and lots of ahhhhs and oooohhhhs. The shapes, the glaciers, ohhh, everything --

There is a glacier at the top right of this mountain.

We stopped at a pull off, got out to stretch and take photos and lo and behold, another waterfall. Now, this photo is just a small part of this waterfall, courtesy of zoom from Sony III. It was a long way off and very tall and long. And, look at the size of that flume of water. I have no way to estimate the size, but, it had to be 20 or 30 feet, maybe more. The roar of the water was incredible, even from that distance.

Turn my head a bit for this view - -

Just around the corner from this waterfall was a very large pull off, look at that view!

And, another water fall, viewed from the same pull off. This one is so long I cannot begin to imagine, we are talking hundreds of feet. This is just a portion of the entire fall:

Did I say that every corner was filled with beauty and awe?

Then came the Columbia icefields - -

Zooming in - -

And, all the zoom we have - -

Stopped at the Icefields Center where you could pay a fortune for them to take you out on one of the Icefields. I’ll bet it would be quite the experience. But the crowds and the price! Pass. If you look closely, you might see the "buses" that take guests onto the icefields.

Not sure who this poser is - -

Look at all that snow!! Err, glacier - -

You could camp at the Icefields over night, no hookups, they say it’s delightful. And dark.

Just after we left the Icefields Center all traffic came to a complete stop. A herd of big horned sheep were eating a snack right off the roadway surface. They are shedding, looking a bit scruffy.

Glacier snow melt, at that milky teal color state - -

And look who was grazing alongside the road - - black bear.

We see any number of beautiful long waterfalls, I actually got photos of some. One wide fall near the road we missed.

We stopped at Sumwapta Falls about 3:25 and Man headed for his bed, nap time! After napping we decided to, pass on this falls hike, the elevation gain was close to 500 meters. Not today.

Falls hike at Athabasca Falls, short walk in, more than worth the effort! Spectacular!