We were stunned by the beauty and majesty of the Canadian Rockies. They are somehow even more impressive than the Colorado Rockies, even more rugged and imposing. Because of their being so much farther north, they also still had a lot of snow up on top even in late June, not to mention actual glaciers. Harold did a lot of biking here in preparation for his Oregon week-long biking trip scheduled for September. There was a wonderful paved biking trail between Canmore and Banff (about 12 miles one way) that he rode several times - and beyond!
Rockies panorama as we approached Canmore on the highway from Calgary.
The RV park in Canmore in the Bow River Valley gave us great views of the surrounding imposing mountains.
View of the River that flowed right behind our motor home site.
This overpass on the Trans-Canada highway 1 from Banff to Jasper is not for human beings! It is for the animals - bears, deer, caribou, big-horned sheep, wolves etc. whom researchers found liked to cross the highways in this area (and others along the highway). If you look closely, you'll see the forest itself growing on top of the overpass, to make the animals feel at home. Apparently, collisions with cars and trains are among the greatest cause of death of wild animals in Banff National Park. The values behind the decision of the Canadian government to build these overpasses (there were about 6 of them) impressed us.
Panoramic view of Lake Louise.
Closer-up view of Lake Louise, a glacier-fed turquoise-colored lake. Seems trite to mention its obvious great beauty.
We made the 200-mile drive from Canmore to Jasper, visiting both the Banff and Jasper National Parks. On the way, we stopped at the Columbia Ice Field, located about halfway, where we took a tour to actually walk on the Athabasca Glacier (see Harold on the glacier above). The ice field is basically a permanent feature up above this and the other glaciers that are created by the field. Scientists believe that the ice field (about 250 square miles in size) and this and other glaciers moving off of it, have been there for about three million years in approximately their current form! The Athabasca glacier, which extends from where Harold is standing all the way to the horizon above, grows several inches every winter, but recedes a few more inches every summer, resulting in a mildly receding glacier over time. Some of the other glaciers coming off the field are not receding, but they're not growing, either.
Here is Harold in front of the special vehicles made to carry tourists onto the Athabasca Glacier. They are enormous and can move up and down near-vertical inclines they're required to maneuver to get to and from the glacier.
The above is another of the glaciers flowing of the the stationary ice field above, as seen from the Athabasca glacier. We calculate that the leading edge of this glacier, that looks like a vertical wall, may be as much as 100 feet thick, and probably more!
Above is an image of Moraine Lake, another beautiful, glacier-fed lake near Lake Louise. The lake, where we parked our car, is seen from high up on the 2-mile trail we hiked up from the lake toward the Larch Valley.
Because of the still-spring-like snow melt going on in the mountains, the streams and rivers were full and roaring, as were the waterfalls coming off the mountains, like the one above that we saw on the way to Jasper inside the Jasper National Park.
We saw plenty of wildlife along the roads, too, like this black bear on the way to Jasper. This is one of only about four or five that we saw on the trip, as well as one that Harold spotted one day, just a few yards behind a fence next to his bike trail!
This big-horned sheep was grazing alongside the highway to Jasper, close enough to our car that this photo has not been cropped! We saw lots and lots of these animals while in and around both parks.
Next stop: Kelowna, British Columbia, in the middle of Canada's equivalent of Napa Valley. We're staying there in an RV park located on a working orchard farm. Great setting.
