{"id":21888,"date":"2010-09-22T22:05:37","date_gmt":"2010-09-23T05:05:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/travelswithmiranda.uskeba.ca\/?p=9356"},"modified":"2016-09-16T15:34:21","modified_gmt":"2016-09-16T12:34:21","slug":"the-icefields-parkway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.raecrothers.ca\/blog\/the-icefields-parkway\/","title":{"rendered":"The Icefields Parkway"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Icefields Parkway is considered to be one of, if not the most, beautiful drives in the world. National Geographic considers it one of the drives of a lifetime<\/a>. I did my homework on this road! I researched grades, RV-worthiness, facilities, etc. and knew exactly what I was getting into as I headed south from Jasper towards Banff.<\/p>\n

Except for one section after the Columbia Icefield, there are no major grades on the parkway, just a lot of small steep sections that could fool you into complacency and wear down your brakes. One of the things I quickly established was that I would not be able to stop as much as I would have liked for two reasons:<\/p>\n

1) many rest stops and attractions were close-ended and too small to turn around with a toad;
\n2) they were at the bottom of hills and would require too much brake jamming to stop at.<\/p>\n

I stopped whenever I felt I could safely do so and took long breaks to give both the brakes and the engine a chance for a rest, too.<\/p>\n

The parkway starts off lined with trees and rimmed with jagged snowy peaks and then gradually climbs up to the Columbia Icefield where you can see the Athabasca glacier. I stopped at the centre there to see the exhibits, but was not tempted by a pricey trip up the glacier.<\/p>\n

The Icefield is located about halfway and the day had been going so, so well. I could have driven up the glacier to a view point, but decided the grade was too steep and that if I made it up, I probably wouldn’t make it down. I was playing it safe.<\/p>\n

So, I finally let myself relax and that was that. I’m not sure if I did something wrong going down that big grade, but I got my fill of mountain passes for a lifetime.<\/p>\n

My picture gallery ends just after the Icefield. My mind was not on photography after that. \ud83d\ude41<\/p>\n

\"This<\/a>

This plaque about David Thompson is significant to me. It says that he died at Longueuil, which is practically my hometown. I did not know this. It just goes to show how French Canada goes out of its way to squash down the English side of Canadian history.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"IMGP0761\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"IMGP0762\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"IMGP0763\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"IMGP0764\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"IMGP0765\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"IMGP0766\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"IMGP0767\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"IMGP0768\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"IMGP0769\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"look<\/a>

look at where those clouds are!<\/p><\/div>\n

\"perfect<\/a>

perfect place to stop for lunch!<\/p><\/div>\n

\"IMGP0772\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"IMGP0773\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"IMGP0774\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"IMGP0775\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"I<\/a>

I love how these folks were sitting on their chairs, enjoying their picnic!<\/p><\/div>\n

\"IMGP0777\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"IMGP0778\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"approaching<\/a>

approaching Columbia Ice Fields<\/p><\/div>\n

\"IMGP0780\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"IMGP0783\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"IMGP0784\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"IMGP0785\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Athabasca<\/a>

Athabasca Glacier<\/p><\/div>\n

\"I<\/a>

I don’t think I’ve seen one of these in two years!<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Do<\/a>

Do you want to know… where are the toilets. Seriously. Personally, that wasn’t my first question upon arriving at the Ice Fields Centre!<\/p><\/div>\n

\"staircase<\/a>

staircase up to the Ice Fields Centre<\/p><\/div>\n

\"IMGP0790\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"IMGP0791\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"IMGP0792\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"IMGP0793\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"with<\/a>

with a camera zoom like that, who needs binoculars?<\/p><\/div>\n

\"IMGP0796\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"IMGP0797\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"IMGP0798\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"IMGP0799\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"IMGP0800\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"IMGP0801\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"IMGP0802\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"IMGP0803\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"the<\/a>

the glacier recedes annually a distance that is roughly equal to the width of a post card!<\/p><\/div>\n

\"IMGP0806\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"IMGP0807\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"this<\/a>

this memo states that the exhibits haven’t been updated since 1996, but they are working on updates<\/p><\/div>\n

\"IMGP0809\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"IMGP0810\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"IMGP0811\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"IMGP0812\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"this<\/a>

this double-sided sign used to stand a the border between Banff & Jasper national parks<\/p><\/div>\n

\"this<\/a>

this double-sided sign used to stand a the border between Banff & Jasper national parks<\/p><\/div>\n

\"IMGP0815\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"IMGP0816\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"I<\/a>

I made a note of this plaque because of the ‘water-melon snow algae’, which I saw a lot of on the Chilkoot<\/p><\/div>\n

\"old<\/a>

old Bombardier snow machine that took tourists up the glacier<\/p><\/div>\n

\"a<\/a>

a perfect example of why people have silly stereotypes about Canada<\/p><\/div>\n

\"a<\/a>

a perfect example of why people have silly stereotypes about Canada<\/p><\/div>\n

\"I<\/a>

I almost missed this nice little addition to the display, seen from the floor above the information centre<\/p><\/div>\n

\"IMGP0823\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"this<\/a>

this plaque reads that the edge of the glacier was right there in 1843. I’m guesstimating, but it looked to me like the glacier receded at least 1km since then<\/p><\/div>\n

\"hardy<\/a>

hardy glacial plants<\/p><\/div>\n

\"IMGP0826\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"IMGP0827\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"one<\/a>

one last attempt to capture the majesty I now had to flee…<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Icefields Parkway is considered to be one of, if not the most, beautiful drives in the world. National Geographic considers it one of the drives of a lifetime. I did my homework on this road! I researched grades, RV-worthiness, facilities, etc. and knew exactly what I was getting into as I headed south from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1041,1060,632,1203,635,5,3],"tags":[717,800,802],"class_list":["post-21888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alberta","category-banff-alberta-canada-travel","category-canada","category-jasper","category-north-america","category-rving","category-travel","tag-experiences","tag-natural-history-museums","tag-parksgardens"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.raecrothers.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21888","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.raecrothers.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.raecrothers.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.raecrothers.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.raecrothers.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21888"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.raecrothers.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21888\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.raecrothers.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.raecrothers.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.raecrothers.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}