We packed up and left a rainy Banff and headed north towards Lake Louise once again, with the intention of picking up the Icefields Parkway and following it to its end and Jasper National Park.
But first... breakfast. We stopped at Lake Louise village and had breakfast and picked up some provisions and petrol. We also *tried* to get some cash from a couple of ATMs... but neither would give us any. Hmmmmmm.
After Lake Louise, we joined the Icefields Parkway, reputed to be the world's most beautiful drive. Expectations were very high that this was going to be an awesome journey. Within 10 minutes of leaving Lake Louise, we encountered loads of cars and RVs pulled over by the side of the road and people out of their vehicles with cameras in hand. This could only mean one thing. Wildlife! And in this case it was a totally wonderful *4* bear cubs and their mother, feeding on the berries in the bushes. Our view was not great... in fact we could only really see one of the cubs and the mother in the trees, but it was very exciting.
We continued up the Icefields Parkway.... but unfortunately the weather was *awful* and cloud very low so we really couldn't see much of the scenery. Most disapointing. We stopped at the Icefields centre, in an area called the Columbia Icefields and which has more ice than anywhere else in the northern hemisphere outside of the arctic circle. Bekky bought a nice hat to keep her warm :-) It was really cold and when we continued on our journey it was sleeting. Nice summer they have here! Our thoughts turned to re-planning our route and heading somewhere warmer or at least drier. Our options were limited though and basically included continuing to Jasper per the current plan but not stopping there and making the long journey out of the Rockies and back into British Columbia in the hope that simply leaving the Rockies behind would improve things.
As we got to within 20 miles or so of the small town of Jasper... the weather suddenly improved and we saw blue sky for the first time that day! Quickly, we decided we'd stay at Jasper after all and play it by ear. It did look like a really lovely place. So we found our way to the Whistlers campground and (impetuously?) booked in for 2 nights. The campground was really nice, easily the nicest of the ones we'd stayed in so far, with more of a wilderness feel to it.
To orientate ourselves we drove into the town of Jasper (half the size of the already small Banff) and wandered around. Martin did some emails. We spotted the cinema and half decided to go and see a film (The Simpsons) but when we found that they didn't take credit cards decided to hang on to our dwindling supply of cash until we'd solved that problem somehow. We also noted a chinese restaurant and Jack was not slow to remind us we'd promised him a chinese meal in Vancouver but cancelled when we saw how "dodgy" chinatown seemed. And coincidentally, Marina saw a newspaper report that day saying that there had been a fatal shooting in a Vancouver chinese restaurant the day before!
Back at the camp site, Martin got an excellent fire going and Bekky and he prepared the evening meal. After eating, we settled in to another Martin/Bekky vs Marina/Jack game of charades by the campfire. Marina was on *awesome* form!
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| OK, not a great photo but... this is one of the bear cubs by the side of the Icefields Parkway. Maximum zoom made the slightest movement of the camera produce somewhat blurred images :-( But at least we were there and saw the bears! :-) |
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| YACL. That's Yet Another Canadian Lake! By the Icefields Parkway.... |
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| Icefields Parkway. |
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| Deer on the road into Jasper. |
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| Our camp at Whistler's campground, Jasper. |