Spectacular Icefields Parkway! A UNESCO World Heritage Site...

Bopping along the highway northward, I revisited both Banff and Lake Louise.    However, it was a gorgeous Friday afternoon, so both resorts were filled with happy tourists crammed along the resort streets.  Damn tourists!   LOL.    Having been to both resorts last year, I stayed only briefly, then moved on.

The next morning I was up very early and onward to the world-renowned Icefields Parkway, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.   National Geographic has praised this highway as "...one of the most scenic drives in the world."   And, indeed it truly is, at least in my limited experience.   The 144-mile highway runs from Lake Louise to Jasper.  Along the way, more than 100 glaciers and some of the tallest peaks in the Rockies are visible from the road,  as well as sightings of moose, elk, caribou, mule, white-tailed deer, mountain goats, bighorn sheep, black and grizzly bear, mountain lions and wolverines.  'Phew!   Here are 2 photos I took of Bow Lake:


Isn't this a spectacular place?   The time
was 10 a.m..  There was hardly any breeze so the lake was mirror-smooth.

I don't recall any clouds, but the water in the second photo appears to be reflecting clouds.   Or God's angels.   This IS, after all, God's country, eh?

 I exited Bow Lake, and headed toward Sunwapta Pass, the highest point on the Parkway.  

 
 Midway up the pass, I stopped at a scenic overview to look down upon the highway I'd just traversed.   A friendly Canadian offered to take my photo.  So...here I am!




 
Along the way I came to another well-known site: Athabasca Glacier.   This site is the confluence of several glaciers.   I took a short video of the entire site and it emails fine, but it won't download onto this blog.   It's a shame b/c these 2 photos don't do the site justice.   But..it's what I have to work with:

 

Onward to Jasper.....!