Our campsite was a rocky field outside of Jasper. It reminded me of camping at Quartzite, but without the mountains. Beautiful and quiet. Mona looks right at home. We spent the day in Jasper, and then had a long walk and a quiet evening in the campground. Sigh.Next morning, we started our trip down the Parkway. When it started, I thought I had seen it all. We've seen glaciers, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, green valleys... How could there be more? There was.
The Icefields Parkway is voted one of the most beautiful drives every year, by some organization or other. There is so much, it's hard to know where to start.
It is famous for its Columbia Icefield Centre, the jumping off point for tours of the Athabasca Glacier and the Glacier Skywalk. All glass and 918 feet above the Sunwapta Valley floor. I thought of Paula as we passed, and then remembered we did something similar in the Calgary Tower.
We passed more spectacular glaciers and mountain lakes that looked like glass. Normally, my photos don't look like the image I saw, but this one is very close. We passed several of these lakes, deep blue reflecting the sky.
Then we come to Peyto Lake. The glacial minerals in the water give it an amazing turquoise color. The lake is actually more turquoise than the photo. The brighter the sun, the more color. We missed the view from Bow Summit. That would have been something else.
Finally, we made it to Lake Louise. We found their overflow parking and it was a little different. It consisted of a parking lot, freshly striped for the holiday weekend, next to the rest area. We grabbed a spot and stayed for two days so that we could explore Lake Louise and Banff.
Beggars can't be choosers. And it was a lot better than some of the places we stayed on the trip.
It was quiet and we slept well.
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