Today we are going to do a couple of walks by some lakes, a short drive
north from Lake Louise village along the Icefields Parkway. This is the road
that connects Lake Louise and Jasper and is meant to be the most scenic drive
in the world. I can’t vouch for the absolute veracity of that claim, but I have
never seen views like it from a road. Enormous snow-capped mountains are lined
up on either side of the road and in addition there are occasional turquoise
lakes. Up ahead the cars have slowed down and some pull onto the shoulder.
Brigette tells me that this is probably because there is a bear. Sure enough
she is right and I see my first bear – and it’s a grizzly right by the side of
the road.
Grizzly
We pull into a car park and join the tourists on the short trail to a
lookout over Peyto Lake. A couple of National Parks rangers are here talking to
tourist about being ‘bear aware’.and people are telling them about the grizzly
by the side of the road. They know about him and say he hangs around these
parts.
Peyto Lake
Peyto Lake
Taking the trail a bit higher up the side of the valley soon leaves the
tourists behind and we come to a rocky outcrop where we sit and watch a marmot
sunbathing on a rock, while a chipmunk darts around near our feet looking for
crumbs.
Brigitte at Peyto Lake
Marmot
We drive on and stop at a less-visited lake – Bow Lake. Looking beyond the
head of the lake we can see the waterfall we are heading for, where the Bow
River starts from the melt water of the glacier above.
Bow Lake and Glacier
We walk along the side of the lake and then follow the river upstream as it
weaves across wide gravel flats and we climb up steps alongside a narrow gorge.
Following the River Upstream
Gorge
Beyond the gorge we are guided by small cairns across a wide grey gravel landscape,
backed by huge looming cliffs. As we approach the falls it is impossible to
judge the scale of the cliffs because there is nothing to gauge them against,
but we can no longer see the glacier which sits above and when we reach the
bottom of the falls we have to lean back to look up at the top.
Gravel Landscape
Cairn and Waterfall
Waterfall
2 comments:
Beautiful scenery, that's more like it/like you back in the wilds, hiking and taking beautiful pictures.
I loved your photos of Bow Lake and Peyto ; it is such a lovely turquoise colour. I expect you are now going on to Jasper at the end of the Rockies road. We stayed at an Inn called the Lobstick and I remember seeing all the elk walking through the village. Glad you saw a bear at last; everything stops for them. I remember we followed one across some open ground and then down a slope to the river. Take care. Love Jean X
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