The Icefields Parkway or highway 93 goes right through the middle of the Canadian Rocky Mountains. These photos were taken in July and many look as if they were taken during the winter. That isn't snow up in the mountains, those are icefields or big glaciers.
The Columbia Icefield is a few hundred square kilometers and sits on top of some of the largest Mountains in British Columbia and Alberta. It's the source of a few of Canada's longest rivers with waters flowing from here across Canada to Hudson Bay, through BC to the Pacific Ocean and up North to the Arctic Ocean. It always looks like winter with the ice being a couple hundred meters thick in places.
If you visit wear a jacket, even during the height of the summer, it is windy and cold up here. This time we didn't get out of the car and enjoyed the view from the comfort of our vehicle. The drive is the biggest attraction and one can take in all the views without stepping outside.
Now it looks more like the Summer. Water cascades off the mountains in this wild country. Half of the drive is in Banff National Park and the other half is in Jasper National Park. The road is isolated except during the peak of the summer and a park pass is required to drive along it.
The roads are filled with campers and tourists. One often has to take it slow as you get stuck behind campervans and motorhomes. I think they should be banned in the parks. We are worried about CO2 and the environment but allow people to drive around with large trucks carrying houses on their backs just to enjoy the outdoors in a little more comfort than a small car and a tent.
The tow behind pop-up campers are a fine exception. We prefer using a tent and I'll make a post about camping in Jasper soon. We just drove up for the night. It was our first time in Jasper (since I was a child) and we wanted to enjoy the journey. In the photos you can see the headwaters of Canada's longest river system, the Athabasca-Peace-Mackenzie (also Slave) river. It's just a wide valley that the river snakes through and frequently floods.
One of the top tourist attractions along the way is the Skywalk. It's some glass floor U shaped path that juts out over the canyon. I've never been on it since one can also get a similar experience stopping on the side of the road (when permitted.) There are many look out spots and seeing the glaciers is not a challenge from your vehicle.
This is truly untouched wilderness despite the road running through the mountain river valleys. Asides from the odd campground and one gas station, there is nothing here. You often see bears, elk, deer and other wildlife when driving the Icefields Parkway.
We'd like to visit these parts every Summer as there are hundreds of trails to explore. I've posted about the waterfalls before and some of the sites along the way. There are so many impressive natural wonders along the route one could spend a week here and just see the highlights.
This is my favourite mountain along the drive. I'm not even sure what it is called but the points are perfect and the slope is intense. It's like a giant barrier wall and is why there are only a few ways one can get across the mountains as one has to find a pass.
Much of the road near the Columbian Icefield goes through a pass. One has to go halfway up the mountains from one river and then back down the mountains to the next river. When choosing the path of a road they try to find the easiest route but that still means roads which hug the mountains, steep ascents and descents, frequent closures due to avalanches and most important, stunning views.
It's still nice to admire the mountains from the valleys below. You can see the highest ones from dozens of miles even on an overcast day. Most days I can see mountains from my home in Calgary, which is 50 kilometers from the nearest mountains. The air and environment here is clean, a stark difference to most of the world where one struggles to see a few kilometers on a good day.
On our way back just by the town of Lake Louise there was a fire, the only times the view is ruined are when there are forest fires creating a smokey haze, asides from those times anytime in the Summer is a great time to make the drive along the Icefields Highway.
Thanks for reading!
All photos were taken with an s22 and are unedited
