The Icefields Parkway is on the agenda today. But, before we set off, you know that feeling when you are on holiday and you force your eyes open when you wake. You feel the need to reach for something to tell you what the time is, even though you don’t give two shakes of a Canadian Moose’s tail what it says. 8am? 1pm? Who cares, you’re on holiday!
Well, today wasn’t one of those days. Today we hit the Icefields Parkway. We dragged ourselves out of our bed to try to make sure we get to Moraine Lake before the crowds.
We had done a lot of planning for this trip, and today started with a trip to said Moraine Lake.
However, this wasn’t on our original list. Jotted down to accomplish today we had 14 things to see, in 12 hours, with a 3 hour excursion being one of them. Clearly this wasn’t enough, so we added another. Moraine Lake.
Yesterday, being a Sunday, all the car parks were full to bursting, and if you read yesterdays post you would know about our substantial drive to get the shuttle. Now we were visiting on a Monday. We were going before 9am. The car parks would be deserted right?
We snuck in!
Wrong. 2 marshalls attractively donning their yellow and orange vests had the road shut with the only thing more garish. Road cones!
“How do we get to see the lake?” we ask.
“Head back that way, and get the shuttle” came the reply
“But we only want 15 minutes for a few photos” we pleaded
He looked one way, looked the other, and as secretively as possible moved one of the cones.
“Let’s hope no-one else sees this” he said with a wink
15 Stops on the Icefields Parkway
We were in. 20km later we were parked up and heading towards our first of now 15 stops for the day. And we are glad we added another for it was certainly worth it.
Herbert Lake was next on the list, a short 6km drive from Lake Louise, heading up the Icefields Parkway. This was one of the quieter lakes for us, the tourist, so it wasn’t too tricky or time-consuming to get a decent photo without fighting the crowds in the brightly coloured jackets.
After Herbert, there were more lakes, a few waterfalls, and a 3-hour excursion that saw us and about 40 others squeeze into a coach. Then squeeze into a monster truck.
I swear we all must of looked like a herd of newborn deer on an ice rink wearing buttered roller skates
Monster Truck time on the Icefields Parkway
After all this squeezing there was only one thing for it. To pile off the monster truck, and spend 30 minutes on the glacier. I swear we all must have looked like a herd of newborn deer on an ice rink wearing buttered roller skates.
I am amazed they don’t make everyone sign a disclaimer, although to be fair, I only saw a couple people hit the ice. Luckily one of them wasn’t me, or Suzanne.
After we trundled off the ice in our monster truck with our, to be fair, very good guide Sandra, we filed back onto the coach and headed to the Glacier Skywalk.
A word about Sandra. Really good guide, took a shining to Max letting him sit in the monster truck seat, and even brought him out onto the ice to see me when Suzanne had had enough of doing her newborn deer impression.
More about the Glacier Skywalk.
This is a glass platform extending out over the cliff looking out on the Sunwapta Valley.
The whole trip took about 3 hours, cost over £100 and in my opinion wasn’t worth it. Yes it is good to say we’ve been out on a glacier, and been to the Skywalk, but for me, just didn’t get me that excited. Maybe it is just me.
A word of warning about the Skywalk. There are no toilets there. Considering we have been in line for perhaps 30 minutes before, spent a good hour or so on the Glacier, and another short bus ride, it is best to empty your bladder before the excursion starts.
We had already met them in line before the tour started, and bumped into them again at the Skywalk. A nice family from Calgary with a little girl Max hit it off with. Cuddles, hand holding and even a quick kiss!
When we were eventually reunited with our car we started the 90 minute drive to our next hotel, north up the 93, Icefields Parkway.
We had a couple of waterfalls to stop at. Sunwapta and Athabasca. It was after the later we chose to drive the 93A for about 20km, as recommended by a ranger at the Skywalk.
“More chance of seeing bears and wildlife” he said. We didn’t, and we arrived in Jasper, again mildly disappointed.
The end of the Icefields Parkway
There is an amazing beauty about The Rockies. Lakes, mountains, waterfalls, natural wonders and of course the wildlife.
If we have learnt one thing from this trip so far it is this. You need a certain element of luck to see anything in its natural environment.
The saying ‘right place, right time’ has never been truer than it is when hunting wildlife in the Canadian Rockies.
Until I write again, Richard, Suzanne and Max
Distance Covered today – 318km
Total driven so far – 571km
