Columbia Icefields to Jasper - Just Stunning!!!!

We woke about 7.0am to 33F in the van, which is just about freezing point, however we had both been warm enough in bed!  Quick up and dressed to catch the sun coming over the mountain tops, fantastic! 

We quickly made breakfast and washed up and drove to the the carpark near the Athabasca Glacier as I wanted early morning pics there! Doh! I should have thought......the glacier was in full sun yesterday afternoon, so, of course, it was in shade early in the morning!

 We cleaned our teeth etc, then drove up to the Icefields Centre, which opened at 9.0am. We had  a coffee waiting for the exhibition to open and watching the sun come down the mountains well before the hoards of coach bound visitors arrived. There were some interesting old photos in the exhibition and a good model of the mountain and Icefields. We watched the first showing of a wonderful 20min film at 10.0am, the only ones in the theatre despite the fact that lots of visitor had arrived by then. The photography was stunning, the theme being the time taken for a dropped stone to travel through the glacier.

By this time the sun was moving nearer to the valley and we drove down to the car park to access the foot of the glacier, with wonderful views all around

Mount Athabasca

Out came the sticks, and off we went over the moraine to get a better view of the glacier. There was a good route laid out with lots of warnings about not going beyond the marked path! 

The glacier has been receding since the 1880s, we saw the marker for 1982 and wondered where it had reached in 1991 when Andrew was here.

Glaciers are often appear very 'dirty'

An ice cave at the end of the glacier 

The Athabasca Glacier is a real tourist attraction with guided walks onto the ice and Snow Coaches.  A procession of normal coaches transport the  punters up the moraine side to meet up with special vehicles which take them onto the ice.

We arrived up there at circa 8.30am and finally left at about 11.30am!! Then began the most stunningly scenic drive we have ever done!  The sun was out and the fresh snow from yesterday just added to the views.

Coffe stop! The first time we have had the chairs out!!

Looking back up the Athabasca river

Looking down the river

Sunwapta Falls

Sunwapta means turbulent water, and following a recommendation from friends we walked down the forest path for 2km to see the lower falls. A beautiful walk with the sunlight coming through the trees and the occasional view up to the snow capped mountains.

The water is certainly turbulent and the sound was amazing......but something more spectacular was yet to come!! We walked back to the car park, made some  lunch and sat outside at some picnic benches, keeping a watchful eye on three ravens, who, I suspected, were eyeing our food!

On we went, downhill, following the Athabasca  River, stunning views around every corner.....

We drove towards this peak almost all the way to Jasper, it is the Edith Cavell Mountain

...until we reached the turning for the Athabasca Falls. These are on the main tourist itinerary and we soon understood why! 

They cut a deep gorge before emerging into a deceptively calm pool

The force and sound of the water were tremendous! 

From there it was 30km to Jasper. We drove into town for a quick look around then back out to our campsite. We are staying at Whistlers, which is a huge campground , however the individual sites are very well spaced in amongst the trees. We plan to be here for four nights as there is a lot to see and so in the area. 

So far we have not found good free internet, so the next blog maybe sometime!! We plan a slower day for tomorrow !

102km travelled today. So glad we did this trip over two days and had lots of time to stop.