Icefields and beyond

Sorry, it has been a minute since our last post but we could barely take our eyes off the scenery for even one second.  The Canadian Rockies are massive.  Yeah, understatement but I really had no idea.  We left Banff and headed for the Icefields and Jasper.  

I really did not know what to expect because I did not know what an icefield is and how that differs from a glacier.  Fortunately, we picked up a super informative Columbia Icefield information sheet that spelled it out:  an icefield is a large body of snow that has compressed under its own weight into ice and a glacier is a slow moving river of ice.  Super simplified but helpful to me.  The other bit of info we found interesting is about the wind.  The Columbia Icefield acts like a large air conditioner creating heavy air that is gravitationally pulled down the Athabasca Glacier and washes down the valley; this is called a katabatic wind.  More on this phenomenon during our great experience in the Jasper Gran Fondo.  

We were struck by the devastation of last year’s forest fires on Jasper and the surrounding park land as we pulled into Whistlers Campground in the national park.  A quietness in recognition of all that was burned fell over me as I tried to imagine what once was lush forest and now is a charred rubble of roots and skeletal pines.   Life is peaking through all around though, with green grass improbably flourishing amongst the char, dandelions blooming and female elk grazing nearby.  

We drank in the wonder of Jasper, including trail running around and paddle boarding on Lakes Edith and Annette, visiting the amazing Athabasca and Sunwapta Falls, and riding in the Jasper Gran Fondo 100K Bicycle event on Saturday.  It took our breath away—all of it.  From the amazing climbs on our bikes, to the rush of the cooling spray of the falls and the force of the winds as we made our way back to Jasper Townsite.  Epic!  

We spent a few beautiful days camping at Honeymoon Lake, enjoying the sounds of loons and geese on this lovely alpine lake.  The campgrounds filled up in the late evenings and life got smokey and noisy; early mornings were the best. Sunday morning, after a nice stretch and a little yoga to get the Grand Fondo kinks out, I convinced myself to take a dip in the lake. The lake is not very deep so it is warmer than you would expect—but not that much warmer, it still took my breath away and left me very clear headed for the next 6 hours.  

We decided we needed to get clear of the masses and moved to a dispersed camping area on the Saskatchewan River near Lake Abraham. As result, Maddie is enjoying running freely on the dried riverbed shores, cavorting with flotsam and jetsam in the breeze that accompanies us.  The aspens rustle around us as we take a couple of days to plot our next segment.  

Fires are starting to be a concern so we are taking in our options as we plan to continue north.