Icefields Parkway

From Jasper in the Jasper National Park to the town of Banff thru Lake Louise inside Banff National Park runs the Icefields Parkway. This road runs down the spine of the Canadian Rocky Mountain chain. There are icefields all along the west side of the range. The largest icefield is the Columbia Icefield at over 241 square kilometers in area. Although none of the icefields were totally visible, we could glimpse parts of them peaking between far off mountains and ridges.

And speaking of mountains, there were a lot of them to see as we drove past. Most were over 9,000 feet in elevation. The tops of the mountains and ridges were mostly snow covered. Some snow fields looked like someone with a knife had sliced off a large chunk leaving a straight line of snow and ice. Along the foot of the mountains glaciers melted into numerous lakes and rivers giving them their brilliant blue or aquamarine color. Waterfalls were abundant, stark rock walls hovered over our heads, lush green forests covered the foot hills, and cars lined the highway. It is a vacation destination in Canada.

The pictures show the Stutfield Glacier, Sunwapta Canyon with Mount Kitchener, Athabasca Glacier, and North Saskatchewan River with Cirrus Mountain.

As we drove in to Banff from our campground we came across two elk. I rushed the pictures so it isn't very good. We also spotted an eagle on her nest atop a bridge.