Visiting Edith along the Icefield Parkway

... and the groundhog greets forever ... 

As it should be: of course, it rained again this morning and the low-hanging clouds blocked the view upwards ...

After a breakfast in the fine American style of the cheap chain motels in the Indian enclave Hinton - here too, as we have often wondered on our journey through Canada, who else is in India and what moves the Indians to visit Canada in droves - we hope during the approximately 1-hour drive that the weather has cleared enough to allow for a relative long-range view until Lake Patricia and Lake Pyramid. Shortly before the destination, some of the local wildlife moose or elk (we have not been able to clarify the definition of who is who unambiguously, we only know that the male animals have a slightly overgrown small antler) join us. So we learned something for the natural science class again ...

The view at the two lakes, which are not far from each other, has not really improved. So we made a quick stop and got back into JC5 19A (after having to give the car number at every hotel, we already know it by heart) and continued driving.

Next destination is a big one: Mount Edith Cavell. We walked the Path of the Glacier Trail, which is one of the best short hikes in Jasper NP. This trail leads to the Cavell Glacier. The preceding Cavell Pond at around 1700 meters is still full of ice floes even in summer, and above it spreads the Angels Glacier, which looks like angel wings.

To stand at this lake below Mount Edith Cavell, which is 3,368 meters high, is a very special feeling. Snow avalanches frequently come down from the mountain itself, spreading out on the lower part of the mountain and being harmless to us as spectators. When the avalanches come down, it sounds like fireworks. The lake itself is situated in front of a glacier that spreads over the large width of the mountain base. Ice floes float here and prevent the reflection of the mountain in the lake.

To the right of the mountain is the Angels Glacier. It looks like solidified lava mass, but it is ice several meters high. And there are waterfalls running down the slope everywhere ... 

This previously unseen natural spectacle is very impressive. You can easily spend more time here than planned ...

But the influx of tourists is increasing, so it's the best time to leave. The weather hasn't really improved, although the sun occasionally peeked out. That was not enough for us. At 4 degrees Celsius, it was enough at some point. 

And since we haven't seen a Canadian waterfall for a long time, the next one was not far away: the Athabasca Fall. According to the travel guide, this waterfall is a must-see despite its small drop height, so it's also a must for us, as well as for all Asians, including Indians. 

And that's not all. Like at the fish market, there's another one for free: the Sunwapta Fall. It is characterized by flowing in two streams around an island and then rushing down together into the depths. In typical Canadian fashion, this is always accompanied by a huge noise and great excitement.

At some point, the waterfalls became too much for us, so we stopped taking pictures with the camera and just looked with our eyes. 

On the way to our accommodation, we passed our next big glacier: the Athabasca Glacier. Since the weather forecast predicts better, sunnier and warmer weather for tomorrow, we have postponed the visit to the glacier until tomorrow. Let's keep our fingers crossed that it works out. Since this destination is also the main destination of all Canada tourists, Thorsten has decided to remove the Glacier Skywalk from the program in order to avoid the masses of our favorite tourist species. It's really crazy how many people are there. Tomorrow we will leave there very early, hoping to have the glacier completely to ourselves ;-)

This time we will stay very, very rustic in a quaint and stuffy inn that takes advantage of its direct location to the Athabasca Glacier and lets previous generations of lumberjacks pay well for its morbid charm. Here, supply and demand determine the price ... and no alternative in sight ... Pictures of the apartment will be available tomorrow - today everything is filled with suitcases and utensils ...