Athabasca Glacier to Jasper

After the leaving Icefields Centre we continued north along the Icefields Parkway to Jasper where we were to stop for a couple of nights at the excellent Whistler’s Campground.

We called in to the Sunwapta Falls where the meltwater from the Athabasca Glacier drops about 18mtrs through a very narrow gap in the rocks.

A bit further along the road were the Athabasca Falls where the water drops 23mtrs.

A bit further along we diverted off the Icefields Parkway and took the much quieter 93A and stopped for lunch at Leech Lake. It was very quiet and would have made a great overnight stop if camping was permitted. It looked very tempting jump in for a swim but the water was rather cool!

A bit further along the road we saw a turn off to Moab Lake. The 7km track to us to a parking area and we walked down a rather overgrown trail to the lake. We saw signs of bear activity; bear scats (bear poo!) and scraping on trees so we went into bear avoidance mode – I got Ali to walk in front making a noise to let any bears know that we were around. It must have worked because when we drove away a large black bear charged across the track in front of us nearly taking out a chap on a trail bike coming in the opposite direction.

Jasper was a fairly laid back town but quite busy, it is a stopover location for the Rocky Mountaineer and there were quite a few people waiting to re-join the train.

Maligne Lake.

On the drive back we spotted some moose by the side of the road. . .

. . . and a bit further along a large grizzly bear wandered across the road in front of us.