28/06/15
It’s the morning after the night before and with heavy hearts we are leaving Storm Mountain. But don’t feel too bad. We’re spending the day driving to Jasper, via the Icefields Parkway, 232km of beautiful scenery that passes through the heart of the Rocky Mountains. To break up the journey we made several stops. The first of which was Peyto Lake. The lake is named after Bill Peyto, the grandfather of the guy who owned the horse riding company we went with earlier in the week. It’s glacier filled and an amazing colour of blue which is apparently created from glacial silt.
From Peyto Lake we carried along the parkway and stopped at the Columbian Icefield. Formed during the Great Glaciation (238,000 to 126,000BC) it’s pretty old and pretty impressive. As you walk to the base of the glacier you pass several markers which record the glacier’s position over time and from what we could see, it has receded dramatically in recent years. The amount of runoff was surpriseing and while we didn’t walk on the actual glacier it was still an impressive sight.
It’s the morning after the night before and with heavy hearts we are leaving Storm Mountain. But don’t feel too bad. We’re spending the day driving to Jasper, via the Icefields Parkway, 232km of beautiful scenery that passes through the heart of the Rocky Mountains. To break up the journey we made several stops. The first of which was Peyto Lake. The lake is named after Bill Peyto, the grandfather of the guy who owned the horse riding company we went with earlier in the week. It’s glacier filled and an amazing colour of blue which is apparently created from glacial silt.
From Peyto Lake we carried along the parkway and stopped at the Columbian Icefield. Formed during the Great Glaciation (238,000 to 126,000BC) it’s pretty old and pretty impressive. As you walk to the base of the glacier you pass several markers which record the glacier’s position over time and from what we could see, it has receded dramatically in recent years. The amount of runoff was surpriseing and while we didn’t walk on the actual glacier it was still an impressive sight.
When we’d had a good look around we jumped back in the car and headed for Jasper. The Icefield Parkway isn’t only a beautiful drive, it’s also an amazing way to spot wildlife. According to our guidebook if you do the four to five hour drive without seeing anything you are incredibly unlucky. We were incredibly unlucky and didn’t see anything.
But never mind, it was onwards and upwards to our lovely hotel in Jasper. But wait, it wasn’t lovely. Our historic hotel is in the centre of town and has a certain charm but lets not beat about the bush; it looks like our room was decorated by a ninety year old woman.
Our first stop was Lou Lou’s Pizzeria for yet another meal we couldn’t finish. We then walked around Jasper, got our bearings and had our first Tim Hortons of the trip and I can safely say it’s a Canadian institution for a reason! Reluctantly we went back to our little hotel room – it has nothing on Storm Mountain!
No comments:
Post a Comment