Icefields Parkway
Imagine, if you will, the interior of a vehicle. The riders gape out the windows at the passing beauty, awed at the sights their eyes can barely encompass, straining to take it all in. They ride all day, eyes wide open, drinking in the vistas, exhausted by their efforts to absorb it all, but never come to the end of the wonder. Little do they know, they are trapped in the world’s largest post card, the Icefields Parkway of Alberta, Canada.
If Rod Serling wasn’t reading that introduction to you in your head with Twilight Zone theme music playing in the background, try it again.
The Icefields Parkway is otherworldly in its beauty, so large are the vistas, so long does it go on, that it is simply frightening, in a really good way. It is so beautiful that I had an incredibly difficult time choosing a single photo to share for this blog. They were all amazing and none of them could adequately capture the majesty of this place.
Connecting Lake Louise to Jasper is Highway 93 North. Built in the 1930’s using manual labor and horses, it cuts through the heart of the Columbia Ice Field for 144 miles of the most beautiful landscapes in the world.
Although our visit fell too early in the season for most the lakes along the route to be fully thawed, they still offered an incredible experience and a peek into unblemished natural beauty that is rare in our daily lives. In the summer months, these glacier-fed lakes are of such a vivid aquamarine blue that it is difficult to believe they are really that color. Their iridescent quality comes from the ‘glacier flour’ floating in the water. They literally appear lit from within as these miniscule particles of crushed rock suspended in the water reflect the sunlight. It’s a captivating sight that leaves you bewildered at what your eyes are taking in. We caught the colors from one of the smaller lakes along the route that is in an area of geothermic activity, the larger lakes cloaked their glowing wonders beneath the ice. It only affirms the conviction within us that we will return here one day to catch them in their true splendor.
The endless mountain peaks and ridges are also a sight that leaves you awestruck. They just go on, and on, and on. Each as spectacular as the last, an overwhelming feast for the eyes. They were white with snow on our visit and even under an overcast sky, their rugged peaks reached prominently for the heavens, demanding our attention to their artful majesty.
The Columbia Ice Field is 200,000 years old and feeds 6 major and several smaller glaciers. These rivers of ice are a wonder to behold as millimeter by millimeter they work their way through the rock. It’s difficult to imagine that the ice toe of the Athabasca glacier that we can observe along the route is made of snow that fell 4 centuries ago.
The falls along the route are unique in that they fall into gorges that are sculpted into incredible curves and eddies by the force of the water. The rivers fall over a ledge of quartzite and into a softer limestone layer that is constantly being reshaped by the water. It’s a living sculpture that evolves perpetually, a force keenly felt through the heart.
The wildlife is abundant along the parkway and not shy at all about the visitors peering at them daily. We observed white tail deer, elk, big horn sheep and a black bear munching on the green grass by the roadside. What a thrill to see these beautiful animals doing their natural thing in their natural place as they have since, well, ever.
In short, the Icefield Parkway is a place that resists description in its wonders and beauty, there simply aren’t enough words. I wish I could impart the internal shift that happens when you find yourself witness to a true marvel of nature the types of which are so condensed along this 144 mile stretch of road. You must see it to believe it. I hope that, God willing, I will see it again.
Awestruck,
