Earlier this month we headed out west to Edmonton, where we used to live about a hundred years ago or so, when our first daughter was born (she’s 36 years old now). We were attending the wedding of the daughter of a close friend, which was held at a great venue on a farm southwest of the city. Watching someone you’ve known since she was about six years old walk down the aisle has a way of making you feel old! (I felt the same at my own daughter’s wedding, times 100). It was a great affair, and after it was over we headed off with a couple of friends on a trip down the legendary Icefields Parkway from Jasper to Banff. Our plan was to see some sights, go on some great hikes, look at some mountains, eat some good food, and then drive through the Rockies and end up at our friends’ place at Predator Ridge, which is north of Vernon, B.C.
We stayed at a place just outside Jasper Park called Jasper East Cabins, where they had about thirty or so one- and two-bedroom log cabins with kitchens, right in the shadow of Folding Mountain (named for the way the rock in the mountain folded as it cooled). There’s a great brew-pub right next to the cabins, which was very convenient! After an evening there we headed off for a quick tour of Jasper, to see what kind of progress they were making on rebuilding the town, which was hit by a devastating fire in 2024 that wiped out a significant percentage of the homes there (we couldn’t do a hike out to Maligne Lake because it was still closed due to fire damage and restoration). As we drove away from Jasper and down the Parkway we saw trees that had been turned into standing charcoal stretching as far as the eye could see in both directions.
We stopped to do a couple of small hikes on the highway south of Jasper, including one near the site of Jasper House, which was the site of a trading post on the Athabasca River that functioned from 1813 to 1884 as a major staging and supply post for travel through the Canadian Rockies. Then we stopped again to do a hike at the Jasper Dunes, which were right beside the highway, and after we reached the top of the hill above the dunes we saw a bunch of Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep — the same kind we had seen standing around on the highway itself just a few minutes earlier (I didn’t get any good pictures, but we had to stop to wait for them to make up their minds about crossing the road). Luckily there was a road sign warning us of “les mouflons” on the road.
Then it was off to one of the sights I really wanted to see: Athabasca Falls (we drove down the Icefields Parkway after we moved to Edmonton in 1987 but we didn’t really have time to stop at many of the sights). If you’re interested in a hike, the falls aren’t going to fit the bill, because they are literally right beside the highway. They are spectacular though — massive channels cut through the rock over thousands of years, and there are walking trails throughout so you can get a different perspective. Our friend Barb, of course, had to climb over a fence right beside a sign warning in giant letters not to do so, just so she could get closer and get a better shot of the water rushing past. Classic. “Does your friend not know how to read?” a couple asked me. Oh no, she definitely knows how, I assured them.
Not far from Athabasca Falls is another excellent fall attraction, if you like watching water rush through ancient channels carved through the Canadan Shield, which I definitely do. Sunwapta Falls is also quite close to the highway, making it very easy to get to, and there are a couple of trails that set off from there, as well as a wooden bridge that sits about fifty feet off the channel the water makes as it makes its way through the rocks. And yes, our friend Barb had to climb over the fence here as well so she could get closer LOL.
We stopped for a lunch break near the Stutfield Glacier viewpoint, which gave us a great view of the giant glacier hanging over the valley below — larger than the Columbia Icefield, but much harder to get to! For lunch we had leftover braised beef from the wedding (we had been served enough for a table of eight and we were only six, so we boxed up the extra portions and made wraps). Then we were off again, and we didn’t plan to stop for awhile, but then we saw some cars stopped by the side of the road and we spotted a couple of critters wandering around so we had to stop. They are called Rocky Mountain goats, but apparently they are not true goats, but more like a kind of antelope, similar to the European antelope/goat known as the chamois.
Further down the road we came to the Columbia Icefields, which give the parkway its name. Unfortunately, the Icefields tour with the buses that have giant moon tires was closed for the season, as was the visitor centre. We got out to hike up the trail a bit and get a look at the icefields, but it was so windy and cold even with puffy jackets and hats and mitts that we quickly headed back to the car. Then it was off to Boundary Lake, right near the boundary between Jasper National Park and Banff National Park. There we found a great trail that led us up through the woods and out to a spectacular acquamarine lake that we had all to ourselves (the colour is apparently due to what’s called “rock flour” which gets scraped by glaciers and remains suspended in the water).
After that we were back on the road. Unfortunately at our next stop, Peyto Lake, the hiking trail was so icy we literally couldn’t make more than a few feet of headway before slipping and sliding backwards. Even walking through the trees so many people had done the same that all those trails were icy as well. A man with ice cleats on his boots said he even gave up! So we got back in the car and headed off to Lake Louise, where we stayed at Paradise Lodge, a place that had cabins (closed for the season) and bungalow-style units. It was incredible to wake up and step out onto the porch and see the sun shining off the face of an enormous mountain right outside our door. We had dinner at the Chateau Lake Louise, and then then next day we got up early and headed up to the Chateau to hike around the lake in the shadow of the glacier (which used to reach all the way to the lake).
I’ve been to Lake Louise a number of times over the years, but it never ceases to amaze me, just the vista of the lake and the glacier and the beautiful Chateau right at the end of it. Every angle you look at is like a postcard. Most of us decided to hike on the flat trail that goes up to the head of the lake, but of course our intrepid friend Barb decided to go off on her own and hiked all the way up to the Tea House about seven kilometres up the mountain, and then ran most of the way back down. Unlike Peyto Lake, she said the trail wasn’t that icy, which surprised me. And then after Lake Louise we headed off to Banff, where we hiked partway around Lake Minnewanka, a beautiful lake just up the hill from the townsite. It was a spectacular day weather-wise. Then it was back to Banff itself for dinner at an izakaya (family-style) Japanese restaurant. We wanted to go to the Grizzly House, which serves fondue and which we have been to many times over the years but they were booked.
Then it was off to drive from Banff through the Rockies to Vernon, B.C. Luckily the amazing weather continued, although a number of attractions along the way were closed for the season. Eventually we passed out of Banff National Park and into Yoho National Park in British Columbia, and we managed to stop just in time to see a train passing through what are known as the Spiral Tunnels through Kicking Horse Pass — two figure-eight loops that were built in 1909 to replace a huge grade where trains often derailed. We saw the train come out of one tunnel, do a couple of quick turns, then back into another, then we saw it above the highway continuing, and later saw it going through another series of tunnels. It sounds boring, but it was pretty cool LOL. , and just after we passed Field we got to a site where there’s a natural bridge formed out of rock (and more waterfalls), then it was up the road a little ways to Emerald Lake, which has a famous lodge on an island.
Eventually we made it to Revelstoke, a small town that has some quaint shops but mostly seems to exist so that people can go heli-skiing in the mountains — every second storefront and most of the billboards seemed to be advertising heli trips. We made a detour to stop at the memorial in Craigellachie for the Last Spike, the one that joined an existing Western railway to the eastern and Prairie version and formed the Canadian Pacific Railway, which joined the country together in 1885. The sign there didn’t mention it, but the CP railway is why we have such a great Chinatown in Calgary, which is nice, but it also killed thousands of Chinese workers — according to one estimate, three Asian workers lost their lives for every mile of track through the mountains.
Once we got to Vernon it was time to unpack for a day or two and relax, but because we all love hiking so much (well most of us anyway LOL) we drove up into the hills near Vernon on an old logging road for about 45 minutes to hike up to what are known as the Aberdeen Columns, a natural formation of basalt columns that are similar to the Giant’s Causeway in Ireland, but smaller and less accessible 🙂 As I understand it, the cooling of rock after volcanic activity millions of years ago created these striking hexagonal columns, some 20 metres high, all positioned together like someone built them. The boulder fields below, which we had to scramble over to get to the base of the columns, contained rocks that were huge and surprisingly uniform, with yellowish-green lichen that looked like it had almost been spray-painted on. Quite spectacular.
And that was our great Western icefield and Rocky Mountain road trip! Looked back on it, we lucked out in so many ways for a trip that went through the mountains at the end of October. There was very little snow — apart from a skiff in the woods when we hiked up to Boundary Lake, and of course the icy stuff that kept us from going up to Peyto Lake, but really it was nothing. We got those snow tires on the rental car for nothing! LOL. And we brought all kinds of heavy gloves and hats and other cold weather gear, and apart from the short hike at the Icefields (where it was -14 I think) we didn’t really need them at all. Oh well, better to have them and not need them rather than the other way around!