Mountains of Mountains

It was windy and cold to start the day with temps in the 30s but the weather improved throughout the day with temps eventually nearing 80 deg F. with mostly sunny skies.

 We decided not to stop in Banff NP since we were there 5 years ago but it was difficult not to go by Morraine Lake for a quick look. But those thoughts quickly disappeared as we started up what has to be the prettiest drive anywhere, The Icefields Parkway (Hwy 93) from Banff to Jasper.

At the crest of every hill or the end of every curve was another breathtaking view with snowcapped mountains, lakes, rivers, and waterfalls on both sides of the road.

  

 We also saw several bears, bighorn sheep and mountain goats.

We hiked up to the Athabasca glacier which is a finger of the hugh Columbia Ice Field.

 It is really amazing to see how fast the glaciers are disappearing. The sign in the picture below shows how much the glacier has melted since 2000.
(Remember you can double click pictures to enlarge)

We are spending the night in Hinton, Alberta, only about a 5 hour drive from the start of our tour. KOA here was $39 CN for full hookups with TV and WiFi.

Gas was $0.919 and $0.979 per liter (For you non-metric types that is about $3.53 and $3.76 per gal)

P.S. WiFi turned out to be slowFI or NoFi satellite connection.Not able to post yet (It is 10:11PM and still light outside)

 PPS Posting this at 5am Monday.