My favorite photo of Canada!
Trees, hikes, glaciers, lakes, rivers, streams and snow!
Woke up to this our second morning
We are spending a few days in Lake Louise in the Banff National Park, Alberta. The elevation is about 5000 ft and Lake Louise Village is the highest village in Alberta which means it is cold here! Paul still has on his shorts our first day but wished he had worn jeans by the afternoon when we took a ride onto the Athabasca Glacier.
A million dollars per vehicle to bring tourists to the base of the glacier
This was a highlight. From the viewing area you can see the glacier but getting to walk on it was even better. The ride was very cool, almost disneyland like. The beginning of the ride you descend at a 30 degree drop and the vehicle moves effortlessly at about 6 mph. The 6 wheels are made by Goodyear or Michelin and are about 3 feet thick and almost as tall as I am.
The glacier base in in front of these two vehicles
Standing in front of a small crevas of running water from the glacier
Athabasca Glacier
The glacier is approximately 6 km (3.7 mi) long, covers an area of 6 km2 (2.3 sq mi), and is measured to be between 90–300 metres (300–980 ft) thick. I can’t even imagine this! When you walk on it, it does not feel any different than an ice covered parking lot other than you know and you are surrounded by snow and ice! We saw some ice hikers that were lowering each other into a crevas which our guide said they go down about 300 ft! Wow.
The Ice Field Parkway connecting Banff NP and Jasper NP has all kinds of lakes, rivers and streams and of course the glaciers. Most are only visible from the road and are surrounded by amazing mountains. We got our first touch of snow just before the tour area of the Athabasca Glacier.
First snow fell yesterday! So peaceful
Ewww. Yellow snow
Lake Louise is a very unusual lake in that it has a Glacier feeding it from the top
And a huge Fairmont at the other end!
Fairmont from 500ft above!
Yep, I hiked a 1 mile trail up 500′ to get this view! Walking through the fresh snow was amazing! It was only inches but you needed your earmuffs and parka because it never got 40 degrees all day!
Even the birds are slower now! I got this shot only about 8′ away
So cute
Morraine Lake
Morraine Lake is know as the valley of ten peaks – I could see them but the picture didn’t. Another beautiful lake but the cold is getting to us so we chose to just look and not explore! The snow is melting but more is to come!
Along TC1 inside the park we kept seeing these overcrossings. They are built solely for wildlife to cross in their habitat.
Wildlife crossings
We didn’t see much wildlife during our stay here other than lots of birds and one large family of Elk however the campground has a special area for tent and soft sided RV’s that is inside an electric fence! The bears pass through the area often so the tents are not safe. Lots of warnings about not leaving anything outside and the ranger is driving through often to make sure. I was a bit nervous walking in the woods, in fact on our hike up the trail on Lake Louise Paul played music to calm my nerves! Not really but it was fun to see the other hikers faces when they came upon us huffing up the hill singing Willie Nelson!