Icefields Parkway: Glaciers, Waterfalls, Lakes & Canyons

On July 17th -18th, we drove all the way from Lake Louise to Jasper along the Icefields Parkway. It was a striking journey through such a magnificent landscape! At first, there was a mix of thunderstorms, wind and hot sun all day long. When we reached the end of our hike to the Bow Glacier Falls, it started raining, but we dried off soon in the warming sun. It was a nice, calm path along the Bow Lake and as we started early, there weren’t so many people yet. During the drive on the Icefields Parkway, you can stop at plenty of places and simply admire the scenery. Though it mainly includes waterfalls, glaciers, lakes and canyons, they are all somehow unique and beautiful in different ways. We stopped at Crowfoot Glacier, Peyto Lake (it started raining cats and dogs there), Waterfowl Lake, Mistaya Canyon, Weeping Wall, Columbia Icefield & Discovery Centre (good museum in there), Tangle Creek Falls, Sunwapta Falls (very impressive canyon with a 90° curve of the river), Goat Lick viewpoint (no goats seen) and Athabasca Falls. Regarding the last one, it is a great experience to walk in the old, abandoned canyon and to get really wet from the mist at the waterfall viewpoint.

In between all of this, we camped at the Icefield campground with a direct view of the Columbia Icefield. This icefield and its glaciers were the most striking, as you see the mass of ice flowing down the steep walls from Snow Dome (highest peak there). It is a very important water source and feeds rivers ending in the Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic Ocean. In the morning, we were the first ones walking to the Athabasca Glacier toe, before the loads of other tourists. The quiet made the glacier look even more impressive. We realized the massive, somehow intimidating side moraines and imagined how huge this glacier was just a couple of decades ago. In fact, in the middle of the 19th century, it even covered the area of the Icefields Parkway! Crazy. After hiking up to the Wilcox Pass Viewpoint, we had a great view of the mountains surrounding Athabasca and Dome Glacier. In contrast to all the snow and ice, it was a totally different, highland-like, grassy landscape around Wilcox Pass.

Shortly before Jasper, we stopped another time to hike to the Valley of the Five Lakes and took a dip in the Fifth Lake. A good refreshment in the afternoon heat.