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Icefields Parkway joins Banff and Jasper, Alberta
The Icefields Parkway cuts through some of the most breath-taking scenery in Canada, stopping at world-famous backdrops along the way. True, many people bring their own transportation, but why drive?
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THE ICEFIELDS PARKWAY CONNECTS BANFF AND JASPER IN ALBERTA
Story by Rob DeMone
Publisher of TravelWise Online Magazine
From Banff to Jasper, a curvaeous line has been drawn through the Canadian Rockies in Jasper National Park.
One hundred and forty-three miles long, it is bracketed by glaciers and guarded by mountain ranges. And patrolled by buses.
The Icefields Parkway cuts through some of the most breath-taking scenery in Canada, stopping at world-famous backdrops along the way. True, many people bring their own transportation, cars and motorhomes, trucks tugging trailers or bearing campers. But why drive? Let someone else worry about what's on the road, while you enjoy what's above it.
Way, way above it.
Brewster Bus Tours shuttles a fleet of buses from Banff to Jasper, chauffeured by drivers who have survived basic training rivaling the military. (Our driver, Andy, started out among 400 interviewed, suffered five weeks training 10 to 14 hours a day, and was among only 10 hired. He's 20 years old.)
The tough training is put to the test. Without Andy's commentary on what's happening around us, the drive up the Icefields Parkway would be a blur of snow-capped mountains and flowing glaciers.
He explains we will see today, white tail deer, elk, bears, mountain sheep, mountain goats, perhaps even grizzly bear or moose. And, in climbing from Banff to Jasper on our day-long journey through two national parks, we will pass through three Eco-regions, into sub-alpine and alpine regions where the trees give up and the mountains show who's boss.
Just 40 minutes into the trip is Lake Louise, the first of periodic stops to drink in views which must be given pause. Time here for a hike to the flat-glass lake, to marvel at the turquoise water and the massive Victoria Glacier distant. If you bring binoculars, or can grab a chance at one of the telescopes, check out the stone cairn on that knob of mountain to the left of the red-roofed hut thousands of feet above the lake on the right. Trust me, it's there. How it got there is anybody's guess.
Back on the bus, Andy picks up his chatter, answering questions on how Signal Mountain got its name (it can be seen for 30 miles down each of three passes), or why so many buildings have red roofs (the colour doesn't occur in nature, so lost hikers will know it's man-made). We stop again at Crowfoot Glacier, a photo op so busy the pull-out on the highway is a jammed-lot where courtesy is the only traffic controller.
Obviously, the view is worth it.
From The Big Curve up The Big Hill to the Long Boat, we are fed a steady diet of nature's most awe-inspiring landscapes. We pass by mountains named for presidents and prime ministers, for their physical appearance and the explorers who first from a white folk's perspective wandered through here.
We pass in the shadow of all manner of mountains, from ridges that run for 20 miles without a break, to peaks that jut and strut, standing sentry over wide river valleys cut by the very waters of the glaciers they spawned.
And high up on Parker Ridge, in June it is still giving up its blanket of snow as a great, sliding slab of avalanche breaks free. Soon, that snow will join the glacial melt of these rivers on a journey thousands of miles to the Arctic or Atlantic Ocean.
At Athabasca Falls, the power and fury of that rushing water is proven. The Athabasca River has sliced and diced the rock here, and here is where painters, photographers and tourists do their best to capture the essence of nature's beauty.
GETTING THERE:
Get to the Rockies from either Vancouver B.C. or Calgary AB, via Rocky Mountain Railtours Signature Service, overnighting in Kamloops, Banff and Jasper.
Signature Service is available from Jasper to Kamloops and Vancouver.
Call 1-800-665-7245 for reservations and information.
Or e-mail reservations@rkymtnrail
Website www.rkymtnrail.com
For information on Brewster Bus Tours, call (403) 762-6735.
E-mail icefield@brewster.ca
For a relaxing get-away-from-it-all in Jasper, Pine Bungalows is on the Athabasca River two miles outside the village.
(403) 852-3491.
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