Journey Day 11 - Canmore to Sunwapta Falls

Days Inn yesterday had a completely inadequate breakfast room and we expected the same today as we are staying in the same brand; fortunately, they have read the area and a good sized room with group tables was perfectly suitable. Notices that food and drink must not be taken out of the room -they know their clientele, we'd all be building picnics!

Watching the weather as we have journeyed we have been dismayed at mist and rain and winds over the Rockies but this morning as we rise at Canmore in the foothills, the sun is shining and sky is blue; how lucky are we?

Banff and TCH

We set off just before 9 with plenty of fuel on board but as we passed reminder signs, doubts were sewn and we pulled off at Banff to add some petrol. We were pleased we had pulled into Banff; we drove around a few streets and it is a very picturesque town. It looked a great place to be based and return to.

Returning to the route, we are again on dual carriageway Highway 1, Trans Canadian Highway. This takes us quickly to Lake Louise where signs are already up that Lake parking is full; there is a shuttle from a large car park to the South but we passed and carried onto the junction where H/W 1 heads West and we split onto Highway 95 North toward Jasper.

What Not to Do

The problem of a holiday like this is that it is more about deciding what you will not do; Lynne likened it to being in a Supermarket that is about to close with a big shopping list. You know you can only get some of it and have to decide what to drop.

At the end of the day it felt like a few days since we left Canmore only this morning. We drove and stopped all over the place, sometimes a quick look, others a short hike. There is no way I could recall the day in detail so I will list places we took photo's and maybe add a few words.

Herbert Lake

Our first stop of the day and both of us still hold it high in the day's sights with its wonderful reflection.

Herbert Lake

Bow Lake

More well know and heavily parked up. We parked at the roadside not far off the highway and walked down the road and past the lodge. A pretty spot with great mountain views over the lake. We walked a coast path for a while until we'd had enough and returned.

Bow Lake

Pito Lake

Again,we had parked not far off the highway and walked past a lot of cars before reaching the car park. Quite a steep climb to the crowded viewpoint.after taking in the view we followed a rather pointless circular walk before returning down the the car park. 

Famous for its colour, and opaque vivid blue green resulting from the 'rock flour' which washes from the glaciers and reflects the sun.Very pretty but I personally found the opaque appearance a little unnatural. 

Pito Lake

Waterfowl Lake

We were looking for somewhere to eat our picnic lunch and after a few abortive stops pulled into a pull off next to a Lake. We reversed toward it and enjoyed a casual lunch sitting on the tailgate.

Waterfowl Lake; Lunch stop

Saskatchewan River Crossing

Seeing a sign for a Belvadere we pulled up and enjoyed a 10 min circular walk overlooking more amazing views.

Parker Ridge

A high spot as the road rose with switchbacks to reach a pass.

View South from Parker Ridge

Athabasca Glacier

This glacier is above the Icefields Centre and feeds from the Columbia Icefield which covers a range of mountains above. Tours run in tracked vehicles up onto the Glacier itself but this wasn't on our schedule. Instead we were taking the short hike up to the foot of the Glacier.
We spent sometime trying to park at the centre just to see what information they had but gave up and drove down to the foot of the glacier car park were we parked easily.

We hiked up the moraine deposits, quite steep in places passing markers of where the glacier had ended in past years.It is frightening how quickly it is receding especially since the early 1980s.

As we approached we were glad we'd taken spare shirts along as the catabatic winds coming off the cold surface were quite cool. Enjoyable walk with good views of the Glacier, the edges of the icefield and surrounding mountains.

Climbing to foot of glacier

Athabasca Glacier

edge of snowfield

striations on bedrock  

Tangle Falls

We almost drove past Tangle Falls but stopped and were rewarded by a really god falls by the roadside across from a small car park.

Tangle Falls

Sunwapta Falls

We were ready to arrive at our lodgings for the evening; it was only 5 pm but felt like a very long but good day. But, having settled in,we decided to go and view the local Sunwapta Falls while the sun was up. 10 minutes walk down a road and we were treated to and excellent noisy falls running into a tight gorge with extraordinary power.In the English Lake District, this would be called a 'Force'.

Sunwapta Falls

Evening

We had no idea what time we would arrive and so bought in to self cater, including a nice bottle of wine. Tried sitting out but the midges are out in force. It's a bit warm and no air-con so we'll see how we sleep.

across road from hotel

view along road outside hotel

Today's Statistics

Statistics: Miles today: 178; Miles so far: 2728 ; Fuel added so far: 267.5 litres, 58.8 imp gals; Provinces: Alberta; Time Zone: UTC-6 Mountain Daylight Time (MDT)