Spring has finally sprung! It’s like everything burst with new life overnight, and everything is green once more. I’ve never appreciated spring so much, and I certainly won’t be taking it for granted ever again.
Trooper!
I saw Trooper last night, and they were awesome.They certainly raised a little Hell in Barrhead!
More pictures to come later, of course.
The sun sets so late now. It’s wonderful.
Goodnight mountains, goodbye mountains.
This stop on the journey was no doubt the coldest. The Columbia Icefield resembled the Arctic Tundra more than somewhere in Alberta. Though it was sunny, the wind was harsh and never let up. Later on in the day I found my face to be bright red from windburn!
But, frigid as it was, it didn’t stop this little convoy from playing in the snow and galavanting about the frozen plains. We were even lucky(?) enough to see a fellow traveler drop his pants and moon the icefield…I don’t want to think about how cold that must have been.
My fear of heights did not come in handy when we stopped to see Athabasca Falls. I was not nearly as brave as my travel companions, who were climbing about with ease and hanging over the edges to get a peek at the falls.
In addition to clambering around the fall cliffs, we also journeyed down to another little lake. The path was flooded in some areas, so inching along fallen trees over the water was necessary at times.
Down by the lake people before us had built inuksuks. So, naturally, we built our own to leave our mark!
Patricia Lake. A serene and visually pleasing stopping point on the journey from Jasper to Banff. I was lucky enough to snag a picture of the mountain reflected in the stilled lake before the wind picked up and caused the water to ripple away the mirror image.
I could have stayed here all day. It seemed to be a fine spot to sit and watch the wilderness across the water. But alas, being on a tight schedule did not permit an overly long stay.
I went up in the tramway in Jasper, and it could not have been more of an amazing view! Well, I suppose you could probably say that about literally anywhere IN Jasper National Park. Everywhere you look is picture perfect. But, finding yourself at the same level as the tip of a mountain? Pretty awesome.
The tramway went up Whistlers Mountain. Why is it called that? I’m glad you asked. You see, there’s this small creature called the Hoary Marmot (I can’t even type that without laughing). These little rodents have one main marmot who keeps watch over the others. If this marmot senses danger or feels threatened in any way, he alerts his pack of marmots with a loud whistle. Apparently at certain times of the year you can hear them whistling in the distance at the top of the mountain. I wasn’t fortunate enough to hear them.
Only about 73 more posts to go about my Jasper/Banff excursion.
