Wednesday, August 10

Today started off with a leisurely breakfast at the campground before getting on the road to head back south on the Icefields Parkway. There was actually a carload of four people from our group who had decided to stay in a hotel instead of another night of camping. We told them to meet us at the campground at 8:30 and, sure enough, they pulled in just as we were leaving. Good timing.

Today is actually Julie’s birthday and Clare, Walter and I got to spend it with the birthday girl. Michele and Julie had switched vans so Julie was now our “chauffeur.” Our first stop was the Valley of the Five Lakes for a short hike. It’s just a little over a mile from the road into the lakes and there is essentially no elevation gain along the way. Not exactly a challenging hike, but, in spite of this, the views were still spectacular. As the name implies, there are five small lakes in this valley. Each of them is a different shade of blue with some hints of green. There was one spot by Lake 3 (side note: yes, the lakes are very boringly names. One, Two, Three, Four and Five from north to south.) where almost all of us stopped to have our picture taken. The pictures look like a postcard that we had literally photoshopped ourselves into. It’s so easy to look like a good photographer when the scenery around you is so stunning.

Our next stop of the day was Athabasca Falls. This place was kind of crowded and had paved paths with walking bridges over the river that let you get a better view of the falls. They are pretty impressive – likely the highest volume falls I saw all week. Unfortunately, we ended up spending way more time here than we really needed. One of the vans in the group had not been filled up with gas since before the car camp had begun. When we arrived at the falls, the van had less than a quarter of a tank left. We weren’t going to see another gas station for about 75 miles as we headed home. Since it was unclear if the van could make it that far without running out of gas, a couple of people drove the 20 miles back to Jasper to fill the tank there. The round trip took about an hour so we were all anxious to get back on the road when they arrive. Oh well, live and learn.

Our next stop was the Goats and Glaciers viewpoint where those of us who hadn’t yet eaten had lunch. This was quite the vista with a wide flood plain surrounded by mountains. Although we did see some small glaciers on the mountains, there were no goats to be found. I guess you can’t always live up to a name like “Goats and Glaciers.”

Our final stop was the Icefields Visitors Center for a little bit longer visit than we did yesterday. The visitor’s center is pretty neat with lots of fact, figures and pictures of the glaciers around here. This is also the place where you buy a ~$30 ticket to board a bus that will take you up onto one of the glaciers. None of us did that, but we did learn some fun facts such as the Snowdome Mountain across the road from the visitor’s center is one of only three peaks in the world that drain into three different oceans (the Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic in this case). Equally interesting but far more disturbing were the pictures of the glaciers taken over the years. It’s kind of surprising how much the glaciers have receded since they started photographing them in the late 1800s. At this rate, it might not be long before they are gone altogether. That could become a problem.

After the visitor’s center, we more or less drove straight back to camp. We slowed down for a couple of critter jams but didn’t see anything all that clearly. There was also a brief refueling stop in Field and we made it back to camp well before dinner. The Croo had made us pizza with a brownie sundae, including ice cream – quite a treat out in the woods. It was really interesting hearing the stories of what everyone had done while we were gone. The best story was the group (Mike, Frank, Maureen and Amanda) who had gone to Lake O’Hara. The catch here: they had to walk in 7 miles along a road just to get to the lake. From there, they did an amazing hike that was well worth the trouble of the long walk in. Perhaps my next visit to this area…..

For me, the highlight of campfire tonight was getting to tell the story of the two bears we had seen on the way up the Icefields Parkway yesterday. After my exaggerated trip report on Sunday, a lot of people were hesitant to believe that we had actually seen a bear (much less two). Fortunately, I had pictures to prove it. It was definitely a lot of fun doing both of those reports.

Tomorrow is the most likely day to rain this week so the possible hikes for the day are a little odd:

• Ron: Walk Visiting the bear habitat at the Kicking Horse Reserve.
• Julie: Walk. Going for a soak in the Radium Hot Springs.
• Eva: B hike. Takakkaw Falls to Tea House at Twin Falls. 10.2 miles/950 feet.
• Mary: A hike. Kindersley Pass & Sinclair Creek (or a soak at Radium if it rains). 11.4 miles/3400 feet.

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