A Rockie Road trip

The drive north from Banff that takes you up to Lake Louise forms part of a drive that's listed in the worlds "top ten" drives. The main part being the Icefield Parkway which snakes past part frozen turquoise lakes and hundreds of glaciers which at this time of year start thawing and begin to steadily feed a network of alpine rivers and streams.

The Bow Valley Parkway section, that starts at Banff and runs parallel with the main Trans-Canada Highway, has so much wildlife around it that at certain times of the year the park authorities ask drivers not to use it at certain time of the day! There is still soooo much snow around we were just hoping something had decided to make a spring appearance. Well it was the first week of May.

Just off the Bow Valley you reach Johnston Canyon. Normally this time of year the lower and upper water falls would be running like crazy. But alas with the snow still packed in solid all the hype was centred around the parks warning signs "venture past this point at your own risk". Going on recent events we wisely moved on.

As the valley road continued the mighty Castle Mountain appeared to the left of us, towering over the vista scenic point car park. Once the Ford's engine was switched off there was not a sound to be heard,  the hibernating Rockie wildlife fast asleep. Not a sound. We just stood there looking up thinking what it must have been like for the original mapping pioneers who trekked, successfully mapped and then documented these terrains, quite unbelievable. The same could be said for the jaw dropping Crowfoot glacier. The toe of the glacier clearly visible from the safety of the roadside. The silence at these two spots was truly fantastic. Only broken by a jet black crow that joined us in checking out the view. Mountains and crows alike, both eye bulgingly huge.

The Bow Valley section completed it was onto Lake Louise. The true highlight in these parts, flanked by the grand, but ever so bland and too over powering, Fairmount Lake Louise Chateau Hotel. A gross extension, you could say, to the simple single level log cabin that was essentially the extent of the original building back in 1890, intended only as a day lodge for visiting mountaineers. Progress we think this is called. "Lake Louise" was the third name given to these waters in 1884. This name proceeded the "Lake of Little Fishes", the first name given to the lake by the natives who settled in the area. Then in 1882, Tom Wilson, a horse wrangler for the Canadian Pacific Railway, christened the lake "Emerald Lake" due to its brilliant green colouring. "Lake Louise" was in honour of Princess Louise Caroline Alberta. She was the fourth daughter of Queen Victoria, but more importantly, married to the Marquis of Lorne, Governor General of Canada at the time.

Like all the other lakes at the mo, the Lake of the Louise was still under the grasp of late seasonal conditions. Either way though this was a spot that would wow you whatever the conditions. Victoria glacier to the centre rear. Mount Fairview banked high on the left and Mount Whyte poised enormously on the right. Making for one hell of backdrop for a coffee stop.

The township of Lake Louise is small but has its own charm. We passed some great looking log cabins on route to the village that would act as a perfect base for a future vacation.  Just up from Lake Louise townsite, within the heritage train station, sat someones labour of love.  A fully restored vintage rail carriage that was now home to a classic Canadian dining experience. It seemed to be just about coming back to life again after a very long winter lay off. Getting ready to romance spring visitors once again. With views over the mountains from the dinning room this seemed pretty easy to achieve.

Not that we are making this a habit or hobby but here we found ourselves stood facing the vast view that is a constantly receding and protracting Athabasta glacier. Along with the Fox and Franz Joseph glaciers in New Zealand, Alberta's Athabasta glacier has also been steadily receding.  Between 1870 and today the glacier has lost more than two thirds of its volume and more than half its surface area. It has retreated 1.5 km in 125 years. In saying this it's still as thick as the height of the Eiffel Tower and the melting ice that flows from the front of it has been on a 150 year journey from the icefield to the very edge of the glacier known as "the toe". These are such formidable landscapes. Where everything is quite literally taken over by the power and might of glacier conditions. Vast landscapes that are left in the recede of the glacier take on the appearance of waste land.

Our experience here at the Colombian Icefields couldn't have been more different from the glacier experience we had in New Zealand where most people, including ourselves, got away with wearing shorts for our ice walk. Here if we had the entire contents of our backpacks we would have still been freezing. Never the less we still walked close to the toe of the glacier until the pull of the Ford's heater called us back to the car park.

At one point on our return South there was a desert like heat haze on the road but at the same time it was snowing! A formidable landscape indeed. Road markers, not too dissimilar from golf flags, 2m plus high mark the position of the road so that the army of snow ploughs can keep things moving.

On rounding a turn close to the Bow Valley junction, there they were. No, not bears, a fine pair of moose, just enjoying the low afternoon sun. Luckily we had time with them on our own prior to a somewhat speeding camper joined us in the gazing session that was so magical prior to them arriving. Just as  an audience was building the allusive Canadian moose were gone.