Day 10: Columbia Icefield Parkway

We start the day at 7 o'clock and leave the campsite quickly.
After 30 minutes we reach the first stop, the Altabasca Falls. We walk the circular path and experience the spray of the falls. The task of the Junior Park Rancher program is to feel, smell and hear the waterfalls. A great experience for the children. Afterwards, the second stop is the Sunwapta Falls. Sunwapta means 'raging water' in the language of the indigenous people. Here, the Athabasca River cascades over a hard rock barrier into a narrow gorge. We also walk the short circular path here. After another 30 minutes, we arrive at the Icefield Discovery Centre. Our glacier tour starts here at 12:15 PM.
The Athabasca-Glacier is one of the six main tongues of the Columbia Icefield in the Canadian Rocky Mountains. The glacier flows from the icefield northeast towards the Icefields Parkway. It is one of the most visited glaciers in North America and is flanked on one side by the 3550m high Snow Dome and the 3450m high Mount Andromeda. The meltwater flows into the Sunwapta Lake and then into the Sunwapta River.
We are taken by bus to the vicinity of the glacier and change into an icetruck. Now we drive with the truck on an unpaved road with a gradient of 25%. The driver says this is the slowest roller coaster in the world. Then we reach the glacier. It looks small from a distance, but it is huge when you stand on it. We are allowed to stay on the ice for 30 minutes and see loose ice and ice streams. It is fascinating and despite the sunshine and 29°C at the Discovery Center, cold. The hands freeze quickly, luckily we have the right clothing on. Then we go back and we get admission to the Skywalk, a glass platform built along the cliff edge, from which you can look 280 meters deep into the Sunwapta Valley. The glass surface takes some getting used to and is not suitable for someone with a fear of heights. Our tour ends after 2 hours. We still visit the exhibition in the center and the children get the Junior Park Rancher badge. Then we say goodbye to the glacier, unfortunately due to the climate warming, the glacier has retreated 1.5 km in the last 125 years and lost more than half of its volume. It is expected to disappear in 80 years. We see a black bear at the roadside again.

Actually, we have a 2.5 hour drive to Banff now. When making the reservation, we could not find any available campsites in the middle of the park. We try our luck at another campsite and are happy to have secured a spot. We can even switch sites without paying extra. This saves us 1.5 hours and 90 km today, and another 30 minutes tomorrow. The place is beautiful. A small lake in the middle and surrounded by mountains. Before dinner, we take the opportunity to swim in the little lake. It's a mountain lake and super cold at around 10°C. We only dive briefly, because after a few seconds our legs tingle so much that we leave the water. Erik keeps jumping into the water. I only do it a few times and only up to my waist. David can only make it up to his knees.
Nevertheless, it's a lot of fun. The children are allowed to stay up in the evening. We admire the stars and the full moon. Until it gets dark at 11 o'clock and the children are so tired that they hardly care about the stars. So we can only recognize one constellation.