Wednesday Aug 19 – Lake Louise/Jasper

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If this is Wednesday, then we must be leaving Lake Louise and heading for Jasper. Yes, that’s today in a nutshell.





Let’s start with last night’s dinner. We had a special Fondue Dinner last night which was really terrific. However it lasted until after 10:30, so we’re glad to have sent yesterday’s BLOG before we went to dinner. The Cheese Fondue was excellent – just like David remembered from Switzerland so long ago. The Chateaubriand was already cut and cooked (not self-cooking in a fondue pot) but that probably kept us from ruining the most tender piece of meat we’ve had in years. Dessert was chocolate fondue, and any chocolate lovers need no words to understand how great it was. We shared the table with two other couples on the tour, one from New Zealand and the other from Australia. We had some interesting discussion on the differences in our country and we were able to tell them about our visits to theirs. A nice feature of this pre-cruise trip is getting to know some of the people we will cruise with. The service was kind of slow, but everything was incredible, however we were not only stuffed when we got back to the room, but also very tired.





We got up at 6:15 to have everything packed and the luggage in the hall at 7:00. Unfortunately there was something wrong with the air conditioner in our room so it was kind of warm, but we were too tired to call for maintenance help at midnight. Anyway, we went to breakfast buffet and this time we actually restrained ourselves (being still filled up from last night). David had time for a few pictures around the chateau before we met the bus at 8:30 and headed off on another day’s adventure.





The first place we drove past was called Herbert Lake which provided a nearly perfect mirror image of the mountains on the opposite shore. We did not stop, but got a few photos from the bus as it drove slowly past the lake. We then proceeded into the Jasper National Park which we were in most of the day. It is the largest national park in Canada with more than 4000 square miles.





We drove past several ice fields today. An ice field is an area with outflow of 2 or more glaciers. The glaciers in turn melt slowly and provide water for streams and rivers. There were at least 3 ice fields that were pointed out to us (more about that later) and numerous independent glaciers which are not tied to an ice field. The perfectly clear sky today made for excellent photo opportunities when we parked, but the reflection from the windows made “moving photo-ops” more difficult. But the scenery was incredible and Peter provided a nearly continuous flow in information about each thing we were passing. Whereas earlier the emphasis seemed to be on railroad building, today the focus was more on initial exploring, trapping, and many mountain climber stories during the 1900s in this remote area of Canada.





One of the stories Peter told us was about the explorers blazing trails into the wilderness. They would cut paths through the woods and make them 6 feet wide. This was the width necessary for a horse with one pack on each side. There chopping away at the trees would blaze the bark and this is where the term “blazing a trail” came from.





We drove along the Waputik ice field and mountain range, which actually provides the continental divide in this part of the country. Water that melts on the west side of the ice field flows eventually into the Pacific Ocean, and melt on the east side eventually makes it to the Atlantic. We saw Bow Peak, which forms part of the boundary between Alberta and British Columbia provinces. Today we remain in Alberta all day, but tomorrow we will cross into BC for the remainder of our land tour.





One of our stops was at Crowfoot Glacier which along with Bow Glacier and forms the headwater of Bow Lake. Bow Glacier is actually an outflow from the Wapta ice field. We have been following Bow River for a couple of days but this is the end of that. Now we start following Mistaya River and others but they will eventually turn east and head to the ocean.





Shortly after passing Bow glacier we crossed through Bow Summit and encountered the Peyta Lake. This is an extremely beautify landscape, but it is at roughly 7000 feet altitude. The walk from the bus down to a viewing location wasn’t too bad, but the climb back up to the bus required multiple “breathing stops” along the way. However the spectacular view made the walk worthwhile. It was like a mirror with a beautiful image of the mountains surrounding the lake.





We drove past Snowbird Glacier, which has no particular claim to fame except it is located on Mt Patterson. Again, there was only small historical significance to this mountain, but we figure our grandson would be pleased to know there was a mountain with his name. This is as good a time as any to say that it is difficult to pick a few pictures for the blog wince so many have terrific scenery. We passed Mt Chephron, Mt Sarbach (named for the first Swiss guide to lead a mountain climbing expedition), and Mt Amery.





Eventually we made our way north until we reached the Columbia Ice Field. It was just about lunch time and we had a buffet lunch provided before we started a terrific exploration. The food was alright but it might have gotten more praise if the completion from other meals hadn’t been so great. After lunch, and mandatory visits for everyone to the Washroom, we boarded another bus to visit the ice field. We had a short drive to another location where we boarded special ice carriages. These are large buses (called Ice Explorers) with 6 enormous tires which drove us out onto the Athabasca Glacier.





This ice buggy cost $1.3M each and there have only been 23 built. 22 of them are in service on this ice field and the other belongs to the US government and is deployed to Antarctica. We were drive along a “road” over the glacier to a point where we were able to disembark onto the glacier. Along the way, we had to descend a 32 degree down slops (steepest non-paved commercial road anywhere in the world). This was kind of like a slow motion roller coaster, going about 3 miles per hour. Anyway we reached the turnaround point and we all got of the “bus”. It actually wasn’t too slippery, except in a few places. We really only had 20 minutes to run around on the ice, but it gave us photo time and we were able to get some ice to eat (could have gotten a water bottle filled from the runoff if we had brought one). We were told the glacier is 870 feet deep and that is apparently deeper than the Eiffel Tower is high (not sure how they actually measured the depth). Anyway, this was a remarkable experience which we were very glad was included in the trip.





This was the point where Peter needed to leave us so he could get back to Calgary tonight to catch a flight to Vancouver to deal with his emergency. But he continued to provided first class service all the way to the last minute and we will miss his presences and information. He has been replaced by Debbie, who is supposed to be his alternate tour manager for alternate weeks though the summer. However she really didn’t say much the rest of the afternoon and our driver (Jessie) took over the commentary.





Columbia Ice Field is actually a Triple Summit. Water draining to the West goes to the Pacific, water on the East goes to the Atlantic, and Water on the North flows into the Arctic Ocean. So from this point north, the rivers flow toward the pole so Santa will have fresh water to drink (along with the oil workers along the Arctic coast).





Jessie gave us his information, including something we passed which had a large glass (totally transparent) floor extended out over a 1600 foot gorge. There is always a long line so they did not include it in our itinerary, but we did NOT mind skipping this one. There were some folks on the bus who were disappointed, but we were happy.











We stopped at Athabasca Falls, where the Athabasca River squeezes together and is very impressive. Earlier in the summer the volume of water is much greater (from ice melt) and apparently the viewing points are like the Maid of the Mist at Niagara Falls – everyone is likely to get soaked. In the winter, the river flows so slowly that it freezes entirely. It was also picturesque like so many other places.









Then we were off to the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge. This is a bit more rustic with numerous cabins across their property. We had a golf cart take us to our cabin and pretty soon they delivered our luggage. Fortunately the weather is great (even warmer than we expected) so a short walk to the main lodge for dinner was actually enjoyable.













For dinner we had some strange things – not bad but certainly unusual. They served soup instead of salad and it was hot beet-apple soup. The main course as roast chicken (that’s normal) but with a collection of vegetables that really challenged us to identify. Dessert was a Bailey’s Mouse Pyramid with some berries. But it all tasted better than it sounds and once again we are not hungry. We sat with 6 other people – 4 we’ve met before and 2 were a couple we just hadn’t mingled with before. Everyone was happy to talk about today’s trip and what we are expecting from tomorrow. Debbie did had out some new luggage tags for the train and gave info about what we will need to do, but her part has been pretty small so far.













We are back in the cabin and trying to figure out how to get things ready for a 6:00 AM luggage pickup. We leave the lodge at 7:30 but will have breakfast after our first stop, so it’s going to be a different kind of day since we begin the “train portion” of the trip. So we will stop at this point and get this posted with some pictures. Bye for now.













After rereading this it seems like we are not doing justice to the spectacular views we saw today, but this is going to have to do for now. We have cut down the pictures to 11, but there were so many more which could have been inserted.

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Photos

Janet
being hauled away by the Mounties

On the Glacier
beside the Ice Explorer