Jasper - Bamff - Calgary - Sydney.
Almost at the end of our trip and onto the final part of our roadtrip - one of the most stunning drives we've ever done, over the Icefield Parkway from Jasper to Bamff. Only a short drive but we planned to take the whole day.
Leaving Jasper Park Lodge our first stop was only 30 minutes away at Athabasca Falls. Not tall, but a lot of water travelling down the river and apprently one of Alberta's most powerful falls.
Just up the road was our next viewpoint, known as "Goats and Glaciers" because apparently mountain goats come to visit a salt lick by the river - however, no goats spotted (and the person whose blog informed me said they'd never seen goats here either).
Around every corner was another snow capped mountain.
After another 50km of photo opportunities we stopped at the Columbia Icefield Discovery Centre where we had lunch. And photos. We were lucky to get pictures under both sun and cloud providing some interesting contrasts. It was certainly getting chillier and there were little snow flurries.
The Lonely Planet guidebook said the next stop was a 600m walk from the carpark on a paved, gently sloping track. Unfortunately the paved track at Peyto Lake was under quite a bit of slippery snow. But we persevered and no arms or legs were broken. Next edition I think they need to add paved track available in July and August only!
Our next stop, Bow Lake was barely even a detour from the highway, photos taken less than a metre from the car. Which was good as weather was still deteriorating. We clocked the frozen lake and returned to the heated car as it started to sleet.
Next we HAD planned to stop at Lake Louise and enjoy the view, take some photos of the chateau, and have an overpriced drink. However, it was cold, it was raining, and it cost C$38 to park. So we returned to the highway and continued to Bamff. After checking in to our hotel we checked out both the brewery and the distillery. Both pleasant but not spectacular. As a last night special I finally tried poutine as we repacked our bags ready for our flight home. It's JUST CHIPS AND GRAVY WITH SQUEAKY CHEESE.
Another walk around the town of of Bamff the next morning where we found the best coffee of the trip and we set off for the final leg, around 90 minutes of highway driving to Calgary. It was cold and windy and we didn't have time to really explore so we had a surprisingly good lunch at an airport bar until it was time to check in for our flight home. A classic Canadian goodbye, taking the time to truly say farewell.
3 comments:
Fabulous scenery!! Shame about Lake Louise as it really is gorgeous-probably wrong time of the year!! It looks very cold and snowy - is that usual for late May?? Anyway I’ve enjoyed your photos-as usual!! Welcome home !!
Above comment from Naomi Taylor Royds!!
@Naomi I have NO IDEA of normal weather in Canada. It was cold all the time and snowy some of the time. Lake Louise we would have been happy to pay to stay if it hadn't been chucking down but we were already cold and damp from our adventures in the snow at Peyto Lake and didn't think we were going to get a perfect photo op!
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