Saturday 27th August: Back on the Stunning Icefield Parkway to Banff

Back on the road again and just outside of Jasper an Elk-jam. A very regal chap, we do wonder what the female on the left is thinking !!

Driving again along the fabulous Icefield Parkway we spot a wolf on the far side of the river, he looked a pretty big fellow

We haven't yet found out what this plant is but it grows everywhere in these parts and has a fluffy seed head. In some areas and if right time of day it looks just like snow. We have hit it just right on this trip, everywhere the wild flowers are in full bloom

A few kms after the Columbia Icefield Visitors Centre we stop off at Panther and Bridal Veil Falls

A half km trail down (felt like 2km to get back up again !) to the dramatic Panther Falls

Bridal Veil Falls gently cascading down the mountainside

This is the top of The Panther Falls, accessed fro the car park

View across the valley and our route from the car-park

The Weeping Wall viewed from pull-out on main Parkway

Mistaya Canyon, another steepish half km walk down to canyon...... again well worth it

Mistaya Canyon. Very dramatic river carving through the rocks making swirling "potholes" Pics don't really do it justice

Mistaya Lake that feeds into the Mistaya River/Canyon. A very pretty turquoise lake

Snowbird Glacier viewed from pull-out off of Parkway. This drive is really so fabulous

Peyto Lake
One of the prettiest lakes we have seen and a beautiful deep turquoise.......very photogenic

Peyto Lake.
We stopped here for  our sandwich and walked up the short but steepish paved trail to the viewpoint

Wapta Icefield and the Bow Glacier. This and next two pics  again taken from a pull-out on Parkway

Crowfoot Mountain

Crowfoot Glacier
From here we are soon onto Highway 1 and arrive at Banff Rocky Mountain Resort our home for the next 5 nights.
It has been a wonderful drive down from Jasper and we now look forward to seeing the sights in this area

Zipling in Whistler: The Evidence

This was quite a fast zipline so arms and legs out to slow it down and it was the very scenic one so we wanted to have a good look

Hey we had a blast, would love to do it again sometime but for now it's another item crossed off of the bucket list

Friday 26th August: A Well Kept Secret: and the best few hours

Today we visit Mount Edith Cavell, this must be Jasper's best kept secret, it is incredible. I was holding off of awesome as it so over used but sorry it was awesome. I'm not sure the photos will do it justice as you had to feel the atmosphere of it as well. Basically it is a mountain with 3 glaciers of various shapes and sizes. The mountain has had several names over the years but in 1916 it was named after Edith Cavell.  It is about 20km from Jasper town following a recently paved road winding road up into the mountains

The mountain and part of the Angel Glacier from the beginning of the trail

This is the Ghost Glacier and my goodness I don't know how it clings to the rock face !!

Long distance view of Edith Cavell Glacier and lake

Angel Glacier: being modern folk and Star Trek fans we thought it looks like a Klingon bird of prey !
In this pic note the small cave on the glacier shale, more later

Some of the icebergs in the lake

This is the cave you can see in earlier pic, it's amazing and in fact a very large hole that the melt water has created in the shale/glacier. We got close but not that close as could be dangerous but we guess it is at least 20 feet high

The reflection is fantastic

Closer view of Edith Cavell Glacier

A Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel and not a Chipmunk as wrongly stated in earlier blog entry

View of top of Angel Glacier and waterfall

Around the lake area is a very large "beach" of rocks/stones.  It is all very hard to describe but we spent 3 wonderful hours here and although quite a lot of people it is such a large area that it is easy to find a quiet corner to sit  gazing at the glaciers and from where we were we could hardly see or hear anyone else. There was just the mumour of the waterfall and the occasional crack of the glacier calving

Opps there's me......

We tried to capture the height of Edith Cavell Glacier. At first glance from the trail it looks about 6/7 feet but it must be about 70/80

View from road on the way back down the mountain side.
We had such a fantastic day it is such a beautiful area to visit
All packed now and ready to hit the road again, this time to Banff so back down the fabulous Icefield Parkway