Lakes Louise and Moraine

I have no words to describe the magnificence of Lake Louise, Lake Moraine, and this whole area from Jasper to Banff. I can say that this, by far, has been the most beautiful, picturesque area I have ever seen.  Even on a mostly cloudy day with off and on rain, it is stunning here. Mountains soaring, glaciers to numerous to count, abundant forests, babbling brooks and creeks, canyons, and of course, the most stunning and uniquely colored lakes and rivers. This area has it all.  

Lake Louise, mountains wrapping around her with a glacier as her back drop, and the hotel standing guard next to her. I only wish the color of the water showed. It was cloudy, with occasional patches of blue skies. We needed to dodge rain showers, so the water is not vibrant.

The neon turquoise water of Lake Moraine were being enjoyed by kayakers and fisherman alike.       Having dinner here overlooking the lake is very romantic.          Does it get any better than this? God just keeps on giving gifts.

Columbia Glacier

Gorgeous morning, mountains penetrating up through the fog. Sun is shining brightly. Today is a great day already. First stop Sunwapta Falls. This glacier fed river splits around the small island and returns at the head of the Falls. The rocks are worn away by years of rushing water. Strange how this one rock jutting up in the head of the falls is still there. I wonder how big it once was. The water flows through a narrow opening in the rock creating another hole where the water spins like a whirlpool.    What away to start the day and it’s only 9 am.

MT Kitchener, still thick with a couple of hundred feet of snow on top, rolls right into a massive glacier and another glacier is just forward of Sunwapta Canyon. These glaciers that we are seeing are fingers of the Columbia Ice field which covers 241 sq miles. Today we will be able to take a trip onto Athabasca Glacier.   These huge vehicles, Ice Explorers, will transport us up to the head wall of the glacier. Now just a little info on these vehicles. There are only 23 of these in the world. 22 of them are here at Brewster Columbia Ice field Glacier Experience and the USA has one for arctic exploration. All the wheels are connected to the transmission and will not free wheel which will allows for travel on extremely steep inclines or declines. We traveled on a 34 % grade to bring us to the glacier.    

           The water that is flowing is from melt off from snow that is  at least 150 years old and is the purest natural water known.     We had to fill up a bottle         to have a taste and to bring some home for the grandkids. It really did taste clean and pure.

Last night treat was a rainbow, tonight's treat, bear.  Two of them, and they were fast.

Jasper

Jasper National Park is a Mountain Park. We thought that sounded odd until we drove in. This National Park is 4200 sq miles and is Canada's largest mountain park. These Northern Rockies are enormous. Glacier fed lakes were plentiful. This one at Mt Edith Cavell at the foot of Angell Glacier was spectacular. Glacial melt waters are full of rock debris. Heavier pieces sink quickly but the finest particles, called rock flour, stay suspended reflecting sunlight making for interesting colors. The more sun that shined on the lake the brighter it became.        The Angel Glacier’s wings are increasing in size the but the gown is receding.    (how could this be? Do I see two angels in one picture?)This glacier, Ghost Glacier, is mysterious. They don’t know how it continues to hang onto the side of the mountain. Maligne Canon continues to grow deeper as the water rushes through it.   Maligne Lake was calling us to sit for a spell. No restaurant could offer a better setting for lunch. Medicine Lake is drained by one of the largest underground river systems in North America and doesn’t the view take your breath away? Athabasca Falls,     with its carved canyon walls and water holes, where water gets trapped and spins round and round finally shooting out down river, was our next stop. A coyote kept our attention for a while as did this Elk. We had such a beautiful day and to top it off, a rainbow, this side of a mountain, it hung in there for nearly 10 minutes. We kept driving down the road and saw it at different angles .       It looked like we would drive right up to it.    What a day.

How Different This Drive Is

How different this drive is going from Dawson Creek towards Edmonton in comparison to the Cassiar Hwy. This drive is through farm lands with wide open spaces using trees as either wind breaks or property division lines. We even saw a Caribou farm.  Beautiful too, just very different from mountainous terrain we came from.       More towns are present with less miles between them.      Can you tell what this town is called?Yes, we had to stop in Beaver, just for a quick shot of the towns mascot.

Talk about how different things are, we are driving due south now and we can really see the difference in the daylight. Not only have we gone through one time zone change just leaving Alaska but another will come today. It will get dark about 9:30. EEEK! Yuk! Ooey! 24 hours of daylight was to much, but I don’t want dark at 8pm either. Sure would be nice if it got dark at 10 or 11 pm and light again at 5 or 6 am. It will hit us hard when we get home in October when it is dark at 6pm. When it is dark, I am tired. I like the energy of the light. With it getting dark earlier I can now remove all of the aluminum foil off the bedrooms windows and skylights. That was so helpful to block all the light when it was light all night.

Dawson Creek, Mile 0 of Alaskan Hwy

Dawson Creek is the stop for the day.       I have to give an abbreviated history lesson on this tremendous engineering feat called the Alaskan Highway or the Alcan Highway. I gathered this info from the book the Milepost:

The USA needed a road from the lower 48 to Alaska and after the bombing of Pearl Harbor it became a military necessity. President Roosevelt authorized the  construction on 2/11/42. The USA secured right-of-way through Canada in March. The agreement between the USA and Canada stipulated the US pay for construction and would turn over the Canadian portion of the road after the war was over. In turn, Canada furnished the right-of-way, waived import duties, taxes, immigration regulations, and provided construction materials along this route. A massive mobilization of troops from Company A, 648th Topographic Battalion occurred in March, and by June, 10,000 American troops were in the Canadian North. The general Alcan route, determined by the War Department,  was along the line of existing air fields from Edmonton, AB to Fairbanks, AK known as the Northwest Staging Route. Recon parties depended on local guides to help locate the actual routes. The troops worked 7 days a week, 16 hours a day, and endured mosquitoes and black flies in the summer and below 0 temps in the winter. Food was in short supply and the menu consisted of 3 pancakes, thin farina, and coffee for breakfast, Lunch, if there was lunch, was 2 quarter size hard biscuits, and dinner was fish and potatoes…and no cigarettes. By October vehicles could travel the entire length of the Highway. This road was built in 8 months 12 days!!! Truly amazing. And even more amazing after driving this road, seeing the dense forest, towering mountains, boulders, cliffs, and rivers that had to be conquered. One can only imagine how terrible it was to build this 1520 mile road.  This road has 133 major bridges and 3000 culverts, all built in 8 months 12 days! That is staggering! That World War II generation never ceases to amaze me and does deserve the title that Tom Brokaw gave… “The Greatest Generation”.