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Icefields Parkway
Billed as the (Jeremy Clarkson voice) "Best driving road - in the world!" the Icefields Parkway runs about 232Km from Lake Louise to Jasper. We had been looking forward to this for some time but the omens were not good. As we left Lake Louise the sky was overcast and dark and rain was threatening.
We wrapped up when we stopped for coffee at Pine Martin Lodge. By the time we reached Peyto Lake it was brighter and there were a few patches of blue sky. It was a short but steeply uphill walk to the viewing point and we were both surprised to find ourselves out of breath on the steep bits. All was explained when we noticed that the altitude was nearly 7000ft and we were suffering from a lack of oxygen. Nothing like a bit of high altitude training for the next Dinosaur walk.
Wild Bill Peyto was a colourful character in these parts around the turn of the century. Trapper, hunter, mountain guide and loner, the Parks Department hired him as a Ranger so that they could keep an eye on him. It is said that he found the service slow in a saloon in Banff and release a Lynx that he had caught that day into the bar. Apparently that cleared out the clientele.
Mount Snow Dome is unique in being a triple divide - water falling on it may flow west to the Pacific, east to Hudson's Bay or north to the Arctic ocean. At 11,000ft and having 4 glaciers it is an impressive sight. By the time we stopped for lunch the sky was blue and even at altitude it was pleasantly warm.
We pressed on to the Columbia Icefield were it was possible to take a bus out onto the glacier. This was no ordinary bus - this bus had the (JC voice again) "biggest bus tyres in the world!". It crawled up the steep slope onto the glacier and we were allowed out to slip and slide over the ice to our hearts content. We were allocated 30 minutes for this fun but no-one lasted more than 15minutes.
Part of the tour included the Skywalk. An explanatory tour of the natural history and geology of the area culminating in a walk on a glass floored walkway protruding out of a shear cliff face high above the valley floor. After my zip lining experience this was a bit of a dawdle.
Then on to Jasper. We had left Golden at 9am but didn't roll into Jasper until 8 in the evening. A long day in the saddle.
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