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