Papa and I made a round trip, from Lake Louise to Jasper, and back today via the Icefield Parkway, about 460 km. It was a beautiful day with a clear blue sky. We hiked up a hill to an overlook, with Peyto Lake below, the clearest turquoise blue I've ever seen!
We stopped at every waterfall we saw, Bridal Veil Falls, several No Name Falls, then Sunwapta Falls crashing through a narrow gorge, and Althabasca Falls, also crashing though a narrow gorge
with two footbridges above it and several lookouts. All were beautiful!
We stopped at the Columbia Icefield Center for a short break and to visit their exhibits.
The Columbia Icefield is about 325 km² in area, 328 to 1,197 feet in
depth and receives
up to 275 inches of snowfall per year. The Icefield feeds eight major glaciers.
We had lunch in Jasper, then turned back toward Lake Louise. The Icefield Parkway follows along rivers the whole distance, so we could mostly look out the window of the car to see milky blue rivers flowing by. We arrived back at our hotel by 6 p.m. and walked a bit by the Lake. So beautiful!
