Continuation of our adventures in Western Canada with Day 2 of our logbook. On today's agenda, a lot of kilometers. We leave Calgary for Hinton, our base for visiting Jasper and the surrounding area, via the famous Icefield Parkway, one of the most beautiful roads in the world.
Departure from hotel
We wake up around 8:30 a.m., having slept like a rock. The hotel shuttle takes us to the airport, where we pick up our rental car from Avis. It's a good thing our timing wasn't too tight, because there's quite a queue and we end up collecting the car at around 10.40am. It's officially the start of our road trip!
Our first official stop is Canmore, where we buy our "Parks Canada" pass, which gives us access to the various national parks. There's not too much traffic at first, and we discover the relatively flat landscape around Calgary. It's normally possible to see the Rockies from Calgary, but with the lingering smoke from the forest fires... we can't see much beyond the haze on the horizon. We hit our first big traffic jam at the junction leading to Canmore and Banff. Clearly, we're not the only ones out to enjoy the Canadian Rockies.
The further we go, the more the mountains, or their silhouettes due to the smoke, start to come into view. We imagine it must be really beautiful with normal visibility. Fingers crossed for better conditions by the end of the trip.
I love the little "natural" bridges along the freeway, which have been installed to allow animals to cross the road safely.
Arrival in Canmore
We arrive at the Canmore information center to buy our family pass. Given that we're going to be three in the car at any given time, and that the pass is for the whole car, it was more interesting than taking one pass per person.
First mission accomplished, we hit the road again, heading for Highway 93, the famous Icefield Parkway, which links Banff to Jasper. This road is reputed to be one of the most beautiful in the world, with impressive mountains all along the way, lakes, glaciers, waterfalls...
In short, there are plenty of places to stop, often on the side of the road or just a few minutes' walk away. As the icing on the cake, the road passes through Banff and Jasper national parks, so it's not unusual to come across the many animals that live there: elk, bears, sheep...
I recommend this map to see all the points of interest along the route: https://www.pc.gc.ca/en/pn-np/ab/jasper/visit/depliants-brochures/Parkway
Bow Lake
Our first stop is Bow Lake, a superb lake right on the highway. Unfortunately, the view is still hazy, but it's already very beautiful. The water is very cold, however, coming straight from the glaciers, so swimming is for another time.
Sunwapta Falls
Second stop at Sunwapta Falls, where the river flows into a canyon. A short 1.3 km hike takes you down to the bottom of the falls. It wasn't necessarily worth it - we should have stayed at the top of the falls - but it did allow us to stretch our legs after just over 4 hours on the road. The light is quite exceptional, with orange hues that make you think it's sunset, even though it's barely 5pm. I suppose it's a side effect of the smoke that always veils the sun.
Athabasca Falls
Third stop: Athabasca Falls. The river is wider than at Sunwapta, but also flows into a narrow canyon. It's even more crowded than at our last stop. The passages around the waterfall are more or less all concreted over, taking away some of the charm of the place. Despite everything, the power of the waterfall with the mountains in the background makes for a beautiful landscape. We're definitely in the Rockies!
Direction Hinton
Our next mission is to find a grocery store to stock up on food for the next day's hike. We pass through Jasper. The town isn't very big, but it's very pretty. We'll certainly be spending some time there over the next few days. In the end, we don't find what we're looking for and continue on to a grocery store in Hinton.
The road between Jasper and Hinton is reputed to be an area where wildlife can easily be spotted, especially bighorn sheep. No luck this time, no animals on the way.
We arrive at our trailer, which will be our home for the next few days. It's time to take out our luggage and prepare our well-deserved meal. It's a mushroom risotto from Happy Yak (very good dehydrated food), we had some to use from a long aborted trekking project.
Tomorrow we're off on our first hike: Edith Cavell in Jasper National Park.
To be continued.
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