16th day 05-08-2016 Lake Moraine - Icefields - sunny

Today we had to get up early again. 6:00 am wake-up call and getting ready. It was quite cold again and Anne's face cream was frozen. The children's mood correspondingly :-(

Without breakfast, we drove to Lake Moraine around 7 am. I thought that at this early hour we would still have the place to ourselves and find a parking spot. But we weren't the first ones. Nevertheless, the traffic and the number of visitors were limited. We had breakfast at the parking lot, it's handy when everything is on board. Then we walked the short path to 'Valley of Ten Peaks', then to the viewpoint and enjoyed the view. The air was clear (quite cold), sunny, and the visibility was very good. Even Marie said it was very beautiful. Because of the early hour, it was still quiet and magnificent. After we had seen enough, we went back to the parking lot, which quickly filled up, including with buses. We waited a bit until we saw another camper looking for a parking spot (unfortunately, many cars also park in the few camper spots) and then drove back to Lake Louise. There we stocked up on water and some groceries. Then refuel and off towards Jasper.

We drove a short distance on Highway 1 and then turned onto the legendary Icefields Parkway - 93. We passed several lakes and admired the endless expanse and massive mountain peaks. Several glaciers were also visible. The traffic was moderate and the weather ideal, sunny, warm, and no clouds. There were several parking options along the parkway where you could enjoy the view. However, we didn't see any animals as it got too hot. We made a stop behind a hairpin bend when it was steep uphill and looked into the distance. Then we continued towards the Columbia Icefields in Jasper National Park. Here, there were several large parking lots and we also stopped. We had already seen a report about it before the trip, which stated that this massive glacier is also melting. Bus tours directly into the glacier are sold here. But we didn't want to participate in that as it certainly doesn't help to preserve the glacier. Again, there were an incredible number of tourists here. We walked a bit along the edge of the glacier and took some photos for memories. Then we continued along the Athabasca River towards Jasper. Here, we first looked for the tourist office to get information and maps. Unfortunately, we couldn't find it, only the public toilets, which was also okay. It was very hot and we didn't feel like walking through the town, so we headed for our campground - 'Whistler's Campground'. Here again, the sign 'no vacancy' and I was starting to worry about where we would stay for the 3 nights for which I didn't have a reservation.

After the briefing, we settled into our site, and it is the most beautiful campground so far, among beautiful trees, with a view of Mount Whistler. We took a coffee break and sat in the shade on the camping chairs when suddenly a herd of elk (or moose, we are still arguing about that) grazed right in front of us. They came so close that you could touch them, but we didn't. It was impressive. The young ones were also very cute.

We ended the day at the campground. In the evening, there was another small obligatory mountain thunderstorm.