Wednesday 19th April – to the ice fields

This morning we topped up on gas, water and groceries in town before heading south on Highway 93 - the Icefields Parkway -  classed as one of most scenic roads in the world.

Harvey next to a Jasper totem pole

We felt like we had seen a lot of lakes yesterday, so today focussed on waterfalls instead!  One of the locations we have had circled on our road atlas for months is the Athabasca falls, having seen a stunning image online somewhere, it was a must-see.  Today was a clearer day, we had to keep stopping for beautiful mountain pictures, the snow & ice conditions making the scenery even more stunning.

As with most of the outside world at the moment – Athabasca Falls was in a mostly frozen state but it was still beautiful.  There was some water still moving and the layers of rocks along with the turquoise colour of the water were stunning. 

Athabasca falls

This small fellow was not too shy...

The turquoise waters heading away from the falls

Brace yourself for some more amazing mountain and river views… they were never-ending today.  In fact, there is little I need to say about the scenery – the pictures speak for themselves. 

The next falls of the day – Sunwapta Falls and Tangle falls:

Sunwapta Falls

Tangle Falls... below with added models....

No name for this frozen waterfall - but look at the size of the trees surrounding it and you can guess at how high the frozen structure must be.

Sometimes the clouds make everything look even more spectacular.

Our first view of the Athabasca Glacier from the Icefield Centre

We reached the Icefield centre just as they were shutting up but we asked about the tours in the morning and the general consensus was, the earlier we get there the better from 10am tomorrow.   

Simon with some new pals in the Icefield centre

Gaps in the snow... spot the RV

As you can see from this image of the car park at the centre (above), they had only cleared certain areas of snow and this meant that the majority of campsites anywhere near the Icefield centre were still closed. Instead, we drove to Wilcox pass, only 2 miles up the road, where we found a cleared area of car park that we thought would do just fine for the night.  Before calling it a day, we went for a hilarious hike over deep snow in a quest for more red chairs.  Hilarious, because we really should have been on ski-shoes – you never knew when the two feet of snow underneath you would give way and give you a wet leg – that’s why we let Simon go first! Funnily enough, we were unable to find any red chairs as they were somewhere buried under the snow.  It was a great hike up to a view which gave us all a great sense of achievement.  We just can’t get enough of these incredible mountains.

The view towards the Athabasca glacier from the peak of our hike up the Wilcox pass

A bridge to show the depth of the snow... we slid down the steps as it was easier than trying to walk on them

We tried to make the RV as level as possible in the car park before creating our own fire pit and a bar in the snow for beer and burger night.  It stayed light until gone 9pm when it started to snow lightly.  There was not a single other soul around.

Our camping spot for the night

Our impromptu bar... what a selection!

A stunning evening