Day 20 - Icefields Parkway

In the morning we spent some more time around Jasper, especially with the black bear that was going through the bushes along the road and didn't mind us watching him. Our trip for the day was to go down south on the Icefields Parkway down to Banff. Having a late start from Jasper and a bunch of things on the watchlist I already pictured a late arrival. Athabasca Falls, Sunwapta Falls, Weeping Wall, Athabasca Glacier, Peyto Lake...all worth a stop.

We have also seen some mountain goats next to the road, again very resiliant to bystanding people. Of course with horns sharp like those I wouldn't worry either.

The parkway gets its name from the 30+ glaciers that can be found in this area. Couple of decades before the ice reached the highway, now you have to climb a steep trail to get to the bottom of the glacier. At this part of the road, you are around 2000 m altitude and those mountain tips are well above the 3000 meter mark.

Since we were running out of time heavily (sooo many things to stop for) we decided to go only until Lake Louise and spend the night there in a lodge. After the last freezing night tenting was not an option. The weather was not much better, the car showed constantly single digit temperatures along the road. And this was an August afternoon. Brrr...