Canadian Rockies - 2

Jasper National Park

08.09.2006

After a million years...

Lol ok... after some time we finally have internet access again and some time to upload. So I will continue updating from after we left Banff.

It was a long way to Jasper... we were very tired by the time we got there. But we did travel through the Icefields Parkway which is a beautiful drive.

We managed to find accommodation immediately in a lovely B&B. Walking out of the restaurant we were eating at that evening, we see two moose?!? Eating grass from the central strip... rofl!

On going around Jasper the next day, guess what, there was a bear... not more then 100 meters away from the nearest shop!!! Of course, we stopped the car, approached the bear and took some photos and video. EXACTLY contrary to what all signs and warnings regarding bears said! I.e. you should stay in a car when you spot a bear, and never, EVER approach him.
Shortly a ranger arrived to drive the bear away. That is when we noticed there were actually TWOOO bears! At that point we realized why the warnings made sense... While you were looking at one bear and paying attention to his movements, the other bear may attack you from behind and you would not notice a thing :-D.

On to Maligne Canyon, we went for a short walk to some waterfalls and then on to Maligne Lake. We finally decided that we could go canoeing, so we did and it was surely the most peaceful experience of my life. We were lucky that we went quite late so there was barely anyone else on the lake (unless you count the ducks). The place was absolutely amazing!!!

Leaving Jasper the next day (once again very sadly), we went on to the Athabasca Falls. When watching these raging falls you can feel their power. I think these are the falls which impressed me most. Watching them slowly eat away at the ground below them I could feel how powerless humans are against some against these strong forces of nature.

We decided to stop at the Columbia icefield, within the Icefields parkway we had seen a couple of days before, in order to hike up to the Athabasca Glacier. We did so and managed to walk a short bit on the Glacier itself. Imagine that! Walking on ice which is thousands of years old. This Glacier is one of the six principal toes of the Columbia Icefield. Due to the warming climate, the glacier has receded more than 1.5 km in the past 125 years and lost over half of its volume. It seems that within the next 3 generations, this Glacier will be lost forever. This may be a problem since this Glacier feeds a number of lakes which are used for water.