Alaska – Canada Travels 2014, Banff to Jasper and Liarad Hot Springs, Canada. June 19th to the 22nd.



Bridal Veil Falls, Ice Fields Parkway.

We travel on to Jasper on the Ice Fields Parkway. This is some of the most stunning scenery we've seen on our trip. We stop to see the most renowned sights; the Athabasca Glacier, the Columbia Ice Field and Athabasca Falls. It’s difficult to consider that the Glacier's retreat has accelerated so much with climate change.



The Ice Fields Center.

The Athabasca Glacier. 



The Columbia Ice Field.



Traveling the Ice Fields Parkway.



Athabasca Falls.

The Athabasca Falls are outstanding. The glacial-blue waters of the Athabasca River funnel into a narrows with a tumultuous roar and thrashing. Boardwalks take visitors to the top of the falls and down to the bottom below the narrows. Above and below the falls the river flows serenely as if nothing has happened in the couple hundred yards in between.




The falls rush into the narrows with a roar.



The frothy river flows through the narrows below the falls.



Jasper.

Jasper is a sweet little town. Everyone we talked to loves living there.

We spend the night at the Hinton KOA east of Jasper, which has very nice, level, grassy sites, great facilities and mountain views.

Our camp at Swan Lake.

The drive to Grand Prairie takes us away from the mountains and everything looks like Kansas. It's a bustling town and we're there only long enough to buy some groceries and stay a night a Swan Lake north of the city. This nice campground offers fishing and a nature trail along the shore.



Dawson Creek and Mile 0 of the Alaskan Highway.

The drive from Dawson Creek is pretty flat.

The next days drive gets us to Dawson Creek which is mile 0 of the Alaskan Highway, a milestone on our travels to Alaska. The countryside is rolling hills, lush and green with a road that disappears into a horizon line that is always somewhere in our future. We're surprised at how little traffic we encounter.





At Ft. Nelson we find this great little museum.



Ft. Nelson Museum.

Trappers cabin at the Ft. Nelson Museum.

 



In Ft. Nelson we find a great little museum with wonderful artifacts, stories, and historic buildings. It was fun and had nostalgic items from our youth. Buildings included a fully outfitted trappers cabin. Remember princess phones? You'll find these and more in the historic house that has a communications exhibit.  





Black Bear along the highway.



We've seen lots of Black Bear along the highway. Today we saw 12. They're feasting on nutritious dandelions growing along the road. We spend the night at Bucking Horse, a little roadside provincial campground on the way to Muncho Lake.

Muncho Lake is a gem and famous for its outstanding blue and jade color. We find a boon dock for the night and take the opportunity for a short hike up Boulder canyon and a 27 mile bike ride along the lake edge. We also see our first Stone Sheep.

Muncho Lake.

 

Biking along Muncho Lake.

Stone Sheep licking mineral along the road at Muncho Lake.

We depart Muncho after noon and make the short drive to Liard Hot Springs where we’ll spend a night and partake of the mineral-rich waters. The campground is wonderful, the nicest provincial park yet. A boardwalk to the hot springs traverses the marsh where we saw a moose in velvet grassing on water plants and a mallard hen with nine ducklings. The spring water comes out of the ground at about 175 degrees making one end of the pool unapproachable. The lower end of the pool is just right when the water is stirred to mix the hot and cool layers. A lower pool is cooler still. Most people get in the cooler pool first but we just stepped down into the Alpha Pool and settle down into its soothing, hot, clear-blue water.

Liard Hot Spring pool.

A little further up the boardwalk are a spring and hanging gardens.

The hanging gardens at Laird Hot Spring.

The hot springs and a well-maintained campground make this a great place to stay. A real treat if you’re ever up this way.

We see a forest buffalo grazing along the highway.

As we travel on we see our first forest buffalo grazing along the road. They are a darker color than the buffalo we see in Yellowstone. Beautiful animals.

See you down the road.

Jackie

Alaska – Canada Travels 2014, Waterton to Banff, Canada. June 15th and 16th.

Our destination is Banff and it’s a full day drive. We head north on the Cowboy Trail to Longview. The Cowboy Trail is a beautiful scenic drive through the grassland foothills of the Rockies. Well-kept ranch houses are tucked into valleys and an occasional herd of cattle roam in green pastures.

 At Longview we take Hwy 40, which had just opened on June 15^th. It’s closed from December 1^st to June 15 to protect the Elk during the calving season. It rains all the way and the mountains are veiled.

Beautiful downtown Banff.

Banff is the Vail of Canada. Nice, clean, attractive architecture, nice streets and shops. A tourist magnet. 

Big Horn along the Bow Valley Parkway.

Our camp at Castle Mountain Campground.

We camped north of town at the Castle Mountain Campground along the Bow Valley Parkway. A nice small camp with flush toilets and water, everything we needed.

Jim and the catwalk at Johnston Canyon.

A mile down the road is the Johnston Canyon Trail. The parking lot at the trailhead is paved with parking for tour buses and RVs so we figured it was a popular place. We get there early before the crowds.

The catwalk at Johnston Canyon

Lower Johnston Canyon Falls.

Upper Johnston Canyon Falls.

The literature we picked up at a visitor center didn’t mention what the attraction was but we soon found out and were duly rewarded with a beautiful walk on a catwalk up a narrow canyon along a frothy thunderous river, called a creek in these parts. The falls are spectacular as we’ve come to expect in this country and the narrows are a fantasy landscape.

The Inkpots in Johnston Canyon.

The Inkpots. Notice the crater created in the sandy bottom by the spring.

We hiked a couple miles past the Upper Johnston Falls to the Inkpots, a cold spring that bubbles up in 5 clear pools to form shallow circular craters in the sandy bottoms. You can watch them as they form. It is something unexpected and a worthy hiking destination.

Upper Johnston Creek foot bridge.

The Inkpots are in a wide valley where the river spreads out before plunging into the narrows of Johnston Canyon. If you hike a tenth of a mile further there’s a wooden foot bridge across the river and an excellent place to get more great pictures.

We pose for a picture with the inushuk.

Along the river we find cairns called inukshuk. This is an Inuit word meaning “in the likeness of a human”. This human shaped cairn was important for survival and meant that someone was here or you are on the right path.

The Ice Fields Parkway.

Glacial rivers.

Glacial lakes.

We journey on along the Ice Fields Parkway heading for Jasper. Sharp, severe peaks form an impressive corridor of stone on both sides and a glacial river flows along beside us, its waters so incredibly blue.

 

Our camp at Mosquito Creek.

A little inukshuk at Mosquito Creek.

 

We stayed the night at Mosquito Campground, unfortunately named, along the Mosquito River. No mosquitos but a nice little campground along the river. We found this inukshuk by the river.

The view from our camp at Mosquito Creek.

 

The North Fork of the Saskatchewan River.

More beautiful lake for moments of peace and contemplation.

We cross the beautiful North Fork of the Saskatchewan River which spreads its turquoise waters out across a broad river valley.

Bicycling on the Ice Fields Parkway.

 

Incredible views from a bike.

We take a couple hours to bike along the Parkway. We didn’t allow enough time for all the hikes and bike rides there are to do here. It would be worthwhile making another trip here.

Our next destination is Jasper. Until then.

Jackie

Alaska – Canada Travels 2014, Glacier National Park, MT and Waterton, Canada. June 11th to June 14th.

Hiking up Swiftcurrent Creek in Many Glacier.

With only one whole day to spend we decide to hike up Swiftcurrent Creek in the Many Glacier basin. The snowpack was good this year and waterfalls tumble down from the high places. The lakes and creeks are clear, cold gems, the color of emerald, jade, turquoise and aquamarine. On the slopes and high ledges, but too far for a picture, are big horn sheep and mountain goats. We see our first moose and calf grazing by the lake. All around are glacier-carved peaks snagging the clouds that send shafts of sunlight windmilling across the valley.

Swiftcurrent waterfall.

It’s a walk in a garden so majestic that all the spirit needs for renewal is right here . . .

Red Rock Lake.

beauty and serenity. 

 

 

Bridal veils.

 

 

The valley has a hundred brides whose white veils drape the mountainsides with sequined mists and trembling roar to marry with the valley floor, and spill into the lake.

Swiftcurrent River.

Springs first breath moves through the trees exhaled by a soft, sweet breeze as the whole wild world awakes and winters icy grip abates, to lay flowers at our feet.

Red Rock Lake.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A lily.

 

Sadly we have to leave Glacier and head for Canada.

 

 

 

 

Approaching the Canadian border.

We cross into Canada at Waterton with only a few questions, a few minutes wait and we’re on our way. What’s great about traveling in this country are the easy-going, friendly Canadians and that everything is much like the U.S. At Waterton Townsite we picked up a talk/news radio station and find they have all the same issues and problems as well. We’re really are the same people. It’s something we understood from our association with Canadian travelers when we owned our business.

Over looking Waterton Lake from the top of the Bears Hump.

We spend 2 nights at Waterton and hike the Bear’s Hump and the trail to Bertha Lake.

The trail to the Bear’s Hump is only .75 miles but is almost straight up with lots of stairs to a very windy birds-eye view of Waterton.

Bear Grass in bloom.

The next day was drizzly and foggy and we unpacked our rain gear for a 7-mile round-trip hike to Bertha Lake. The hike is a steady 1,500 ft. climb through dense fir forest. Along the way we see the first Bear Grass in bloom. A very eloquent flower.

Lower Bertha Falls.

A foot bridge crosses the creek at the base of Lower Bertha Falls. The pounding white water speaks about the snowpack higher up. The falls thunders at us as we cross the bridge but is only a whisper compared to the bridal veil of Upper Bertha Falls, its water tumbles and smashes at the rocks.

Lower Bertha Falls.

Bertha Lake.

We arrived at the lake, crossing the snowpack that covered the last section of trail. The lake is rimed in snow and a gray mist has settled over it. Soft rain dimples the surface smudging its reflections. A single Barrow’s Goldeneye, handsome in his black & white feathering, floats serenely on the water, occasionally disappearing in a dive. The fir trees spread their needle nets to catch a thousand misty gems that shimmer on the needles edge then fall to earth again. We can’t see the peaks that cradle the lake but the mists bring a softness to the scene that is enchanting and we linger even as it rains.

We leave the lake and its mists and hike back down the mountain.



Our campsite with our additional portable solar panels.

Our camp at Waterton Townsite has large grassy sites in a large flat clearing. The campground is by lake at the end of the road through Waterton. There are restrooms and showers.

The view from our campsite.



Downtown Waterton.

It's just a short walk to the little downtown area with shops, restaurants, bike and peddle cart rentals. The Bertha Lake trail and one other trail leave from the campground. You can also take a ferry to the upper end of the lake. A very nice place to spend a few days.

Tomorrow we begin our journey north across Canada.

Until then.
Jackie