TOURING CANADA'S MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARKS

Athabasca Hotel at Whistler - Warm, sunny skies

Yesterday morning, we got up early and went to the local parish in Cranbrook before breaking down camp.  Before leaving the hospitality of King's Campground, Wendy fed us again.  Her warm soda biscuits with homemade jam made saying goodbye even more difficult.  Al provided us with an alternate route to avoid any road closures and we snaked our way to a Petro-Canada to fill our tank.  At $5.60 an imperial gallon, we set a record of $350.00 to fill the tank.

Good for the bones

Our first stop was Fairmont Hot Springs to take a soak.  Thanks to Al's information, we knew exactly where to park our coach and found the short trail leading to the free-to-the-public hot springs.  The sun was warm, the springs were hot and the mountain/lake view was spectacular.

Our plan was to drive less than 200 miles and stay at Lake Louise in Banff.  The campground wanted $27 per night and they had no services due to the flooding.  We decided to keep driving until we found phone service and that meant driving another 180 miles.  At 8PM we pulled into Wapiti Campground in Jasper.  The only available electric sites were in a parking lot and costs $32 a night but at this point we didn't care.

Black bear along side the highway - the glare is from the window

The drive was very pretty along Route 93 especially through the Columbia Icefields.  The scenic road provided views of twenty-five glaciers.  The largest glacier, the Columbia, covers an area of 124 miles.  The turquoise-blue waters of the glacier-fed lakes were beautiful especially when the sun sparkled on its waters.

Bridal Falls

Nice shot of a glacier and a glacier-lake

Really?

I love these over the highway passes for the animals to cross safely

That's all folks - thanks for stopping in.