Rocky Mountaineer Train - Banff to Lake Louise, Columbia Icefields and Jasper Part 4

Wednesday morning, up early again getting our luggage ready to be picked up. We managed to have time for breakfast downstairs in their restaurant. The Rimrock Hotel is beautiful and appears very high end. It is a 10 minute drive outside of the downtown. by the gondola. Again, we were not able to walk around the town if we wanted. Since we arrived at 10 pm we would not have anyways. 

Today is the bus trip to Jasper and only lunch is provided, so we thought it was wise to eat now. Good thing as lunch was not until 1 pm and we left at 7:15 am.

Huge portions of awesome food.

After breakfast, Ray managed to walk around and take a few pics of the resort before we had to leave on the bus for Lake Louise and Jasper.

On the bus and headed to Lake Louise, where we stopped for 30 minutes to stretch and a coffee and use the washroom before we picked up some more people for the trip to Jasper. I managed to snag a front seat behind the host so Ray could take pictures through the front window with less reflections. Absolutely stunning scenery.

From National Geographic: Picture below that Ray took.

From a distance, the grey cement bridge looks unremarkable. Two tunnels on either side of the Trans-Canada Highway arc in semi-circles that end bluntly on the pavement below. But on top, away from passing motorists’ eyes, lies a grassy oasis. Against the odds, pine trees and wildflowers have taken root here, giving the overpass a fringe of greenery. On the edges, wire fencing provides safe passage for roaming animals.

“These overpasses have been really, really effective for wildlife,” says Parks Canada human-wildlife conflict specialist Steve Michel as he drives down the portion of highway that bisects Banff National Park.

Thirty kilometres west of the Banff townsite, he pulls over alongside another fence that runs all the way to the British Columbia border. Since the 1980s, the Canadian government has allotted more than $400 million to upgrade and twin the four-lane highway, with a quarter of the budget set aside for projects that would reduce wildlife collisions, a growing concern. Parks Canada decided they would use part of that money to fence the entire highway — roughly 180 kilometres — and construct several dozen wildlife crossing structures in hopes of lowering the mortality rate.

In November, Parks Canada marked the 20th anniversary of the completion of the first wildlife overpass in Banff National Park. Though many biologists and citizens were skeptical of the wildlife bridges when they were first built, the six overpasses and 38 underpasses that criss-cross the Trans-Canada are today considered a worldwide conservation success story, reducing wildlife collisions by 80 per cent and buoying Banff biologists to rock-star status in the realm of transportation ecology. Delegations from around the world now visit Banff to learn more about their crossing structures in hopes of building similar systems in their home countries, where new roads are cutting through wilderness areas at unprecedented rates.

After this portion of the Trans Canada Highway we entered the small Village of Lake Louise and the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise.

Beautiful architecture.

Being on the bus we were able to pull right up to the hotel. I noticed that all the parking lots close to the lake were already full this early in the morning.

Wildlife lol, a little chipmunk.

Two very happy people with the trip so far!

Lots of people renting canoes to go to the end of the lake.

Back on the bus to head up the Icefields Parkway.

The Icefields Parkway

A JOURNEY THROUGH BANFF NATIONAL PARK AND JASPER NATIONAL PARK

Linking Lake Louise with Jasper, Alberta is one of the most beautiful journeys on the planet – the Icefields Parkway. Rated as one of the top drives in the world by Condé Nast Traveller, the Icefield Parkway is a 232 km stretch of double-lane highway winding along the Continental Divide through soaring rocky mountain peaks, icefields and vast sweeping valleys.

It certainly lived up to expectations. What a glorious trip with views! Driving up the Parkway the first stop is Peyto Lake.

Peyto Glacier

Peyto Lake, a 10 minute walk down a trail to the viewing platform. A little slower coming back up due to the high elevation and thin air.

The blue colour of the lakes are caused by "rock flour". 

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Rock flour, or glacial flour, consists of fine-grained, silt-sized particles of rock, generated by mechanical grinding of bedrock by glacial erosion or by artificial grinding to a similar size. Because the material is very small, it becomes suspended in meltwater making the water appear cloudy, which is sometimes known as glacial milk.[1][2]

When the sediments enter a river, they turn the river's colour grey, light brown, iridescent blue-green, or milky white. If the river flows into a glacial lake, the lake may appear turquoise in colour as a result. When flows of the flour are extensive, a distinct layer of a different colour flows into the lake and begins to dissipate and settle as the flow extends from the increase in water flow from the glacier during snow melts and heavy rain periods.

Lots of people stop here as well as lots of other tour buses. Everyone moving to give everyone a chance at the best picture.

Here is a short video I took to show the expanse.

Back on the bus to the next stop. There was a bear sighting just on the road going down but we missed it. :) Ray found out that he stood for a picture exactly at the bear sighting spot. Next stop is the Saskatchewan River Crossing Trading Post for another leg stretch, washroom break and coffee if one so desired.

Saskatchewan River Crossing Trading Post. Our bus driver Dustin and host Kodie from New Zealand. Dustin has worked for Brewster Tour company for 15 years and really knew his history of this area. Kodie must have studied up a lot as this was her first season and is just as proficient telling us stories of people in the past. In New Zealand she was a primary school teacher.

Back on the bus after our bathroom break. Next stop Columbia Icefields.

An ice field (also spelled icefield) is a mass of interconnected valley glaciers (also called mountain glaciers or alpine glaciers) on a mountain mass with protruding rock ridges or summits. It was described to us that the icefield is the "frozen lake" pushing out fingers which are the glaciers.

The ice cap on top of the mountain could be as thick as 80 meters. 

View of the road below as we were winding up the mountain.

We arrived at the Columbia Icefields about noon, and first up is the Columbia Icefield Skywalk. The Rocky Mountaineer booked our tour with Brewster which is fabulous. They are the only tour bus allowed at the Skywalk. Everyone else must take shuttles up from the parking lot. The same went for the Athabasca Glacier. Were were taken right up to the big Explorers that go up onto the ice rather than shuttled up. 

This 1km walkway leads visitors to a glass-floor observation platform overlooking a 280' drop.

It was hot up here. Once we got back to the Discovery Centre, Ray changed into his shorts.

It definitely was an experience looking down while walking on the glass. Made me a little dizzy at first but a great experience.

Lots of water seeping out of the rocks from the glacier above.

..

Back on the bus waiting for us, we backtracked a bit to the Discovery Centre where a delicious buffet lunch was waiting for us. Apparently we did not take a picture of this place so here is one from Google. We just had much less snow showing. lol

All the shuttle buses we didn't have to take.

By 1:45 we were back on our bus to go across the highway to the Athabasca Glacier and ride up on their Explorer.

The Athabasca Glacier is one of the six principal 'toes' of the Columbia Icefield, located in the Canadian Rockies. The glacier currently loses depth at a rate of about 5 metres per year and has receded more than 1.5 km and lost over half of its volume in the past 125 years.

Ray can remember seeing this at age 10 and at that time they were worried the glacier would cover the road it was so big. 55 years later and this is what it looks like now.

All the shuttle buses taking up the people for the glacier tour.

Yup in shorts and sandals. lol

They churn up the surface of the ice to make it easier to walk on so you don't slip as much. Still slippery though. There was a cold breeze up there, but with the sun shining and the reflection from the ice is was not too cold.

The Ice Explorers provides all-terrain mobility to transport up to 56 passengers. Their low-pressure tires are massive! These buses can be used to take people both on road and off-road. They have extra large side and top windows that provide greater all-around visibility. It's a comfortable and thrilling ride!

Steepest grade in Canada at 27%.

The dirty colour of the ice is from dirty rain not the glacier itself and is only the top coating.

Rocks being carried down from above

Ray says this reminds him of the old Pac Man game lol

Back on the bus to Athabasca Falls where we  also had a coffee/tea cookie break after visiting the falls.

Trail down to the viewing platforms.

Here's 2 short videos I took of the falls. The sound was incredible. The Athabasca River goes through Jasper.

After cookies and tea/coffee, it was back on the bus for the last leg of our journey into Jasper. We actually arrived earlier than usual at 6 pm. :)

There are no commercial vehicles allowed on this parkway unless they are servicing the town of Banff or Jasper or the Saskatchewan River Crossing Trading Post to help minimize wild life fatalities. If they have permission to drive on it, it must be during daylight hours only. 

We actually had the privilege of seeing these mountain goats right beside the parkway, licking the natural salt licks. Two mommas with their kids. We all stayed in the bus but there were some International tourists we could see beside us that were getting within 10 feet of them .... Stupid! Our bus driver Dustin, said in his 15 years he has never seen them so close to the road, only high up on the cliffs.

They sure blend into the rock. No wonder you have difficulty spotting them on the high rocky cliffs.

Our accommodation tonight after dropping off at 3 other hotels is the Jasper Park Lodge. This resort is outside of Jasper. They do have shuttles to get you into town, but of course arriving at 6 pm the last one left before we arrived. Too tired to go anywhere anyhow. 

The Jasper Park Lodge is a 442 room hotel situated on 700 acre site along Lac Beauvert in Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada. The hotel was established in 1921 by Canadian National Railway and is one of Canada's grand railway hotels.

The front of the lobby entrance had these vehicles on display.

Including this electric Ferrari that was plugged in charging! 

They have a lovely outdoor pool and hot tub and a cabana to serve drinks, but at 28C outside, it's too warm for us to contemplate getting into hot water. No A/C at this resort anywhere, just screen doors and fans. The upside is that it cools down in the mountains and we were able to get a cross breeze in our cabin so sleeping was comfortable. I guess there is no A/C as it is hard to plumb in really old buildings and they really only get hot a couple of weeks a year. 

The lobby. Apparently they have 2 dogs that are usually there greeting people.

The old warden's cabin refurbished.

Me enjoying our peek a boo lake view on our patio.

No cars allowed at cabins. They let you park and shuttle you in golf carts or drive your car to the front of your cabin briefly for you to load or unload and then valet it back to parking lot.

Our peak a boo view.

Dining Room

Time for a cold beverage and appies. Too hot to sit outside on the patio. 

Storm brewing and we heard lightening.  This storm may have caused a bad fire now burning

Goodnight Jasper. Tomorrow we start our return trip towards Vancouver and home.