8:30 Am - 5:30 PM
Thank you, Lord, list:
Patient husband who stops for all my photos
Mom's desire not to miss anything!
Elk on the road where we can't miss them
Colorful wildflowers, even the ones I normally think of as weeds
Thick fields of ice,hundreds of years old
Stunted trees hundreds of years old--who knew God invented bonsai?
Yet another scenic picnic site
Turquoise glacial water
Awesomely high water falls
It wasn't hard to turn a three-hour drive into a nine-hour tour. We did NOT stop at every pullout. We skipped at least two. Maybe even three. We figured if the park folk thought people would want to stop, there must be a reason, and there always was.
There wasn't even a pull out for these elk crossing the road. Or for the grazing black bear we saw later.
Having visited Athabasca Falls yesterday we skipped it today. It would have been well worth another visit, but there was so much on our to-do list! This is Sunwaptu Falls. Not as spectacular, but still beautiful.
Mom climbed on the shuttle bus and onto the ice rover vehicle to walk on Athabasca Glacier, part of the Columbia ice field.
A hundred and thirty years ago the ice was so thick that the smaller glacier to the left flowed into Athabasca. It is still melting at an average of 65 feet per year. But this past winter they had significantly less snow than normal so this year's melt will likely be greater. See it now!
BTW, the Athabasca River is one of the few in the world that flows north into the Arctic Ocean.
Mom didn't walk out to the Peyto Lake overlook with its turquoise glacial flour waters. The distance was just a bit too far and too steep. (No buses or ice rovers available.)
It was a fabulous day of breath-taking views. As Steve said, "The Ice Field Highway lived up to its reputation in every way." Even dandelions are beautiful here.
Tonight we are in Banff. We have tomorrow to explore the area before starting east the day after. We stopped at fabled Lake Louise this afternoon, but it was clouding up and the pictures aren't worth sharing. We plan to go back tomorrow for morning light.
Afghan update: Not a stitch.
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