Day 9 Lake Louise Ice Fields Parkway Jasper

Golden, BC Hinton, AB

Day 9, Thursday, June 7, 2007

Got up early, had breakfast bars again and coffee, and got a fast start to the day. Looked even more flooded today than yesterday. We headed toward Jasper to see the ice fields, with a first stop at Lake Louise. We arrived at Lake Louise Village and found out that there was a power outage, so all the gas stations were closed, as well as the restrooms (no lights, no windows... tough combination) and so we had to wait to buy our pass for the day. We headed to Lake Louise, and it didn't disappoint. I could have watched the beautiful turquoise water all day. There was a busload of folks there. It was chilly but not rainy as the past few days had been.

At another lake there was a fellow playing a giant wooden Swiss Horn - Amazing Grace was not what I was expecting to hear, but it was pretty anyway. Our first animal sighting was the Big Horn Sheep. Then, we saw 4 Grizzly Bears - a Momma and three babies. The glaciers were bigger and more impressive and glorious than I could have ever imagined.

 

Then, we saw more Big Horn Sheep and got photos!

We also saw the Ice Fields, and had a buffet lunch - vege's for me on my tender tummy, and a pot of tea. Craig got lots of batteries for his GPS, and we filled the gas tank to continue on. We also got photos of a Black Bear munching on greens on the side of the road. So thrilling! Lots of bald eagle nests, too.

The trees are a mix of evergreens and Aspens, and there are some cottonwood fuzzies at the lower elevations. We went through the main street of Jasper - lots of cute shops and very trendy looking. Probably pricey, but very pretty! The rivers are very high, no matter where we go. We stayed at a Super 8 Motel, and had Chinese food for dinner, then had an early evening of it after all that excitement today.

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