Icefields Parkway

We drove south, leaving Jasper National Park and entering the Icefields Parkway. After a quick tea stop we found the trail head for the Wilcox Trail. It was a 2 hour steep climb but worth it to have the views of the Athabasca Glacier and also get above the tree line to the ice and snow. We took great delight in building a snowman which we like to think amused other tourists for a few hours! After hiking back down we drove to Rampart Creek hostel, the drive took us through the dramatic scenery that the Icefields offer, we also saw another as well as several mountain sheep blocking the road!

We settled in the hostel, made another great meal of caesar salad and got a much better nights sleep.

The following day, we were booked to hike along the Athabasca Glacier. Some of you might remember that following my experience on the Franz Josef Glacier in New Zealand, I said I would never set foot on another glacier, I was wrong! Hanna really wanted to experience it and it was a much easier hike here than in NZ. So we set off at 1100 in a group of ten. Within 5 minutes of leaving the carpark the snow was falling! Within an hour we could barely see for the blizzard! So much for a nice easy walk! That said, the snow made it a memorable experience and earned us a nice cup of tea and lunch on our return.

We decided we were in need of a hostel that had the luxury of hot running water so drove south into Banff National Park and stayed at the Lake Louise Hostel. We met Mags from Ireland in our room who took us up on the offer of transport around the Lake Louise area tomorrow.