Icefields Parkway

I hope everyone slept better than I did yesterday. If you remember, Jon thought Hi Winnipeg was the worst hostel. Well this one is my worse. I could barely sleep yesterday. In fact, when I don’t get enough sleep, I start getting headaches. The bed was quite uncomfortable. Jon and I woke up to go to the washroom in the middle of the night when it was still dark. It was not fun. They did have little lamps but they didn’t help much. So when we went to the port-a-potties, we talked loudly and made lots of noise. I was stomping my feet and talking to myself like a crazy person.

When we woke up, we used the water pump to fill up a container to brush our teeth. I think this place is a hiker’s paradise but it was truly my worse nightmare. I guess I’m not the camping type.

We did have an enjoyable day otherwise. We drove to Sunwapta falls on the Icefields Parkway. It was quite nice. Then we drove to Columbia Icefield where we took an Ice
Explorer tour onto the Athabasca glacier. We went into this special vehicle that was designed to travel on glaciers. The wheel was almost as tall as me. The glacier was pretty cool. When the glaciers are blue that means that there are minimal air bubbles. The Athabasca glacier used to be close to the road, but it has receded quite a bit. The tour was very cool but expensive. It was $50 per person. I’m glad we did it once.

We then continued our drive along Icefields Parkway. We made so many stops along the way because the scenery is just breath-taking. We saw lots of snow covered mountains, turquoise lakes and canyons. Our first major stop was at Peyto Lake and Bow Summit. Peyto Lake is suppose to be the bluest lake in the area. Bow Summit is the height of land between the Bow River and the Mistaya River. Then we drove by Crowfoot Glacier where it used to have 3 “toes” but the lower toe has melted.

We are now staying in Golden at the hostel we stayed in before. It is quite nice here. I can shower, use a flushing toilet and not have to boil water to wash dishes!

We’ll be heading to Kamloops tomorrow. Then we’ll be home on September 4th. Have a good evening!