Icefields Parkway AB, Canada (06-06-14)

I really wanted to title this post “CLOSED” because that seemed to be the theme of the day.  We knew that spring can be an iffy time in this part of the country, but we were passing so close by, it was worth the risk.

We entered the Icefields Parkway near Lake Louise, where the ice is just beginning to melt off the lake. That’s Victoria Glacier in the background.

Where the ice had melted we could see how pretty the water is- I’m sure in a month or so it will be gorgeous!

This parkway connects Banff National Park and Jasper National Park, and is home to over a hundred glaciers. We stopped at the Visitor Center and had most of our hopes and plans for the next two days dashed.

Most of the trails are closed- if they aren’t snow covered, they are closed due to high grizzly bear activity- the bears are usually at a higher elevation but the late spring has caused them to stay at the lower altitudes. We decided that we were ok with the closed trails, due to the fact that it was in the 30s and windy.  We are definitely fair weather hikers.

Most of the campgrounds are closed too- some due to bear activity, some due to snow, and some due to avalanche damage. 

The drive was still beautiful, with snow covered mountains and beautiful lakes everywhere we looked.  We stopped at the Columbia Icefield Visitor Center where you can take a stroll on the Athabasca Glacier.

If you enlarge this picture of the glacier you’ll see the tiny busses headed up the glacier. We decided to save our bucks and visit a glacier in Alaska. A snow squall arrived soon after we were at the visitor center, reducing visibility to the point that we were glad we chose to skip it.

We were in and out of snow squalls while we were on the parkway and were lucky there was no major accumulation. 

We were also lucky enough to see a lot of wildlife. Here’s my two day wildlife count- and it will probably be my last count, since I imagine we will see so much. Many I couldn't get pictures of, for one reason or another.

We’ve seen 5 black bears and one grizzly bear.

We’ve seen 4 bald eagles.

 

We’ve seen 7 mountain goats and about the same amount of elk. 

There was a cow elk and two babies very close to our campsite one night.

We’ve seen one bighorn sheep and two moose- a cow and her calf crossed the road in front of us.









We also saw one deer, and its a good thing we did.  He came very close to becoming a hood ornament on our truck, but when Paul blasted the horn, luckily the trotting deer bolted like someone had lit his butt on fire.