The start of our second month away and to mark the occasion we move on from Banff National Park into Jasper National Park. We head back onto the Icefields Parkway from our campsite and before long we're at the Columbia Icefield. This is the largest of the icefields along the road and home to the largest glacier too, the Athabasca. We'd hoped to take a guided walk onto the glacier itself but continuing the theme of the trip we were a day too late. It was pretty breezy outside so we took it as a good omen and on the recommendation of the info chap at the icefield made tracks to Mount Edith Cavell further north.
En route to see Edith we stopped at the Sunwapta Falls, a classic tale of the struggle between water and rock and the ensuing battles that have raged since time began...well the info boards went something like that, made us chuckle anyway. The falls were pretty impressive even though the river levels aren't anywhere near as high as they can be as it's the end of summer.
So to Edith Cavell and the three glaciers that surround the mountain, Angel, Ghost and Cavell. The mountain is named after a British nurse who helped out soldiers from both sides in World War I and was then executed for her troubles, nice. It was a short walk to a good viewpoint to see all three glaciers and again we were in a good amount of snow, so much so that there were opportunities for some impromptu sledging - well what else are waterproof trouser meant for?! The Cavell glacier is retreating leaving behind a lake with icebergs floating in it (the lake itself was frozen too). Once we've sledged our way back to the car we make for the end of the Parkway and into Jasper.
24/7: Elks in rutting season, stay well clear.
Tuesday October 2nd
The bonus of having a good amount of time to see this side of Canada is that we can switch plans easily. The weather in Jasper today looked pretty poor, well it was chucking it down to be precise, so we headed east to Miette Hot Springs. The weather here was much better and we decided to attempt what was described in the Rough Guide as a short, sharp walk. This walk was only around 5km in length each way but gained over 700m in height. We started off in wet forest and rapidly climbed through slushy sub-alpine areas to very snowy alpine areas. A final scramble to the summit at 2200m rewarded us with amazing 360° views of all the surrounding summits. However, it was a bit parky and so we paused for a quick photoshoot before descending to warmer climes.
These warmer climes were actually very much warmer climes as part of our cunning plan was to do the walk and then relax the bodies in the hot springs. The hottest of the pools is at 40° and when it is snowing there's nothing quite like it. We soaked ourselves for a good hour until we resembled prunes and decided it might be time to get out.
On the way back down from the springs Rach spotted a black bear on the far side of the valley. As it pottered along foraging for berries we took the opportunity to admire from a safe distance.
24/7: Cold summit, hot pool, black bear, perfect!
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