Day 31 Saturday 24 June 2017

Near Jasper is Mount Snow which feeds three major watersheds.  From here the water flows either to the Artic, the Pacific or Atlantic Oceans (via Hudson Bay). There are only half a dozen places in the world where there are three watersheds, but this is the only one that drains into three different oceans. This is located in the Columbian Icefield (sounds like an illegal drug wholesaler) that we are going to visit today.

Our tour guide also tells us, that in all the time he has been doing the job, our group has sighted more bears than any other group.  Excellent! This morning we saw another Black Bear from the bus. As many people have missed out on bears they were now able to take some good photos.  Today was a huge day.  Firstly we visit the Athabasca Falls.

The main events today are the Columbia Icefields and the Glacier Skywalk. The centre is lke an airport terminal and just as busy. Today we walk on the glacier.

We took an icebus driven by an Australian lass from Musselbrook, NSW.  We meet so many young Australians over here we are wondering if there is anyone left behind in Australia.  (If you are the last to leave please turn the lights off.) The icebus deliberately drives through water so it does not take dirt up on the glacier. These are worth well over a million dollars.  Our tour guide opened the throttle and we went its maximum speed of 18 km/hr. We spent about 15 minutes on the ice and our polarising glasses were so dark.  Apparently if you see danger they go completely black.

Here our tour guide is dispensing alcohol to Charles and Lesley, you can Stephen's hands in the shot.

Walking on the glacier was relatively easy but I would hate to do it if it was raining (slippery!!) and take photos on the ice.  The weather was close to perfect for photos. We were then bused to the Glacier Skywalk which is perched 280 metres above the Sunwapta Valley. The glass walkway wasn’t scary as with the sun and reflections you could hardly see through it anyway.  London Bridge was far more unnerving.

Back on our way to Lake Louise, we stopped at the Saskatchewan River Crossing. It is an area steeped in history for the First Nations people. It was here that Elizabeth was the last in the group on the return trail and a little behind.  As she rounded the corner she saw this black shape “OMG”, she thought, “It’s a bear!” No just a pooch but with all the bear sightings the day before I am not surprised.

Next we visited Lake Peyto, named after an early legend of the Rockies, an outspoken and vocal Englishman, I think that just means he swore a lot.  The colour of the lake is extraordinary.

We finally arrived in Lake Louise – wow!  The mountains towering over the hotel. Above Lake Louise is Victoria Glacier which feeds it. We had our group photo before we found our rooms. We have a Lakeside room with a view.