Sunday June 7th

We couldn’t wait to leave out hotel with our tiny room this morning! We DID have breakfast, although there was no buffet laid out this morning. What was the random Saturday morning buffet all about then?!

Today’s breakfast, funnily enough, was actually the most enjoyable. I left the “survey” and out letter of complaint in the room, got a free mug of tea (of course) and left.. It was snowing and very cold. I was SO glad I had put my thermals on today! Especially as we were doing the Columbia Ice field today. Weather was supposed to be showery and cold in Lake Louise, and sunny and warm in Jasper!

We travelled along the Ice fields Parkway in search of wildlife. But we think it was too cold this time, for the porcupine we had seen the other evening, or bears to come out and play today. Regardless, we searched the roadsides and forest for bears, goats, moose, elk and found nobody.
Along the way, we passed and photographed some VERY large, steep cliffs (no goats though!) and the “weeping wall” – a couple of waterfalls on the side of one of these cliffs. We then got to the Columbia Ice field. At first we weren’t so sure if we wanted to do it today, because of the weather. That would have been a real shame. It had been very cold all day, with low clouds (well, the are low when you’re high in the mountains!), covering up the sun and snowing on and off throughout the day.

We parked and looked up at the glacier, and noticed that it was brightening up, so we decided to go ahead with it. When we had gone up the gondola in Banff, we each had a voucher to get a free bottle of glacier water if you bought a ticket to get onto the glacier. So we did! We boarded a coach which took us part way up the moraine on the side of the glacier. Then we disembarked and boarded a bus which resembled a tundra-buggy – an “Ice Explorer” with Big a$$ wheels to drive across the ice with!

It was bumpy and great fun. When we got to the point of getting off the Explorer to walk onto the glacier, snow had just began to fall again and it got so heavy that the cloud darkened and fogged over every mountain peak visible from the glacier – even the visitors centre and resort disappeared. We guessed this would happen, as we saw the weather front approaching. We had photos taken which looked very eerie, but after a little while the clouds passed and the blue sky started to reappear.....giving us excuses to take even more photos! We spend 20 minutes on the glacier, and while we were there we filled up two of our own empty bottles of glacier water which I thought just tasted like normal water really – I have heard of ancient water being “delicious” or “sweet” but this was just plain water....although it was nice to drink naturally clean, untreated water from a glacier, instead of filtered tap water!

I managed NOT to slip over on the glacier, which was a bit of a miracle. We got back into the Ice Explorer, onto the coach and back to the visitors centre where I bought some postcards, and we had lunch in the car. At this point I noticed my cheeks and nose were quite pink – I had worn sunglasses, but I wasn’t sure if I would get sunburn.....but it just goes to show that you should put sun cream on even if you’re on a glacier in a blizzard. The reflection of natural light – even if the sun isn’t shining – is enough to burn your skin.

After lunch, the weather looked even brighter, so we decided to do the short walk to the “toe” of the glacier, which has retreated quite a lot over the years. About 10 metres per year apparently - there were markers along the walk, showing where it used to end beginning at the car park at the visitors centre. Meaning: the glacier used to cover the car park!

The walk up to the toe of the glacier was short but very steep. I didn’t realise how steep it was until we came back down. I must admit I was quite determined to do this “up” so I really did take my time with it, after all we were at an even higher altitude than before here, being so close to a glacier in the Rockies. But I managed it and I even managed NOT to slip on the snowy bits in the middle of the walk. Plus, I didn’t realise that the moraine at the end of a glacier rests on TOP of the glacier itself – we were still walking on the ice and the toe was just the last visible piece of glacier. We could also see the (incredibly thick) edge of the glacier itself. After seeing a map of the area it covers and seeing how much we walked on earlier, its incredibly difficult to comprehend how large this glacier is. It was quite amazing. And it snowed in June!! (well, that’s not really that unusual for Canada though..!)

Coming back down seemed much steeper, and I was doing SO well until the last part of the snowy bit where I fell (or rather, sat down and slid!) the last TWO steps of the way. Many people were falling over here, so it wasn’t just me! I was SO glad I had worn my thermals.
We continued on to Jasper, driving by the Bride’s Veil” waterfall, over the summit – the highest point in the Rockies between Lake Louise and Jasper. Eventually, we stopped at a lay-by to look at the edge of the Columbia Ice field glacier. It was snowing on the top so we decided to wait until it had passed and the blue sky make it clear enough to take a photograph. The lay-by also gave us a view over a large valley or plain with forests either side. We glanced down into it and what did we see?

TWO BLACK BEARS!!

It was out lucky day – we saw a mother and a cub, although the cub must have been around 1 year old or so. They were strolling along the plain looking for food, finding plenty with yummy fresh buds and dandelions – their favourite. We watched them there for around 40 minutes whilst also taking photos of the glacier edge as the weather improved. I could have watched these bears all day. But alas, we did not have time to do so, so we bade farewell to them and continued our journey along the rest of the Ice fields Parkway.

Not long after we’d started back on the road, we saw something by the roadside...ANOTHER black bear! Just by the road, just one bear by himself. Being on the other side of the road, Mathew did an ad hoc u-turn so we ended up closer so I could take some photos. He nonchalantly looked up as he as *nomming* on dandelions and I took photos as he moved and ate. He looked lovely! At one point, he even stood on his hind legs to look around down into some of the foliage. That gave me a couple of good snaps! He looked so cute with his little ears standing up! He soon *pommed* off into the forest and it was time for Mathew to u-turn again to get back en route.

The landscape changed. We were higher up in the mountains, but this also made the mountains seem sort of lower. The valleys in Jasper were much flatter and wider, and there were also MANY more trees than in Banff of Lake Louise. Or so it seemed anyway. I thought the landscape looked quite Scottish. Once in Jasper, I noticed that it wasn’t quite as “touristy” as Banff, although it did have its own range of gift shops. I wondered if I could find any more ladies cut t-shirts with bears on but I doubted it.....

We stayed at the “Alpine Log House” where we stayed the first night in “The Den” and the last three nights in the “Bear Hill” room. We ate Pizza at “Earl’s” and visited the supermarket to get some food for eating in a couple of evenings while we were here. We didn’t know when we booked this place, but it was actually a house with three bedrooms and a communal kitchen and living room. There was no “Breakfast” as such, she just topped up the tea, coffee and fruit bowl. Still, this was an opportunity for us to eat in and save a little money for a couple of nights.
There were two French couples when we arrived, staying one more night before leaving the place to us. We didn’t know who else, if anybody, was going to be staying here while we were here.