Week 221 · Icefields Parkway · Jasper · Lake Louise · Johnston Canyon
Calgary
First trip to Calgary and the Canadian Rockies — or as the locals call them "the Rockies." My time in Calgary was work-focused, so I didn't see much of the city outside the downtown core, but it reminded me a lot of Oklahoma City. Flat, lots of trucks and steak places, cowboy hats, and a grid layout. But 13 hours closer to the mountains than OKC — and the mountains are only 90 minutes away.
The only mention of the American Rockies is that they "aren't as good" — reality is that both are spectacular, but the glacier formations in the Canadian Rockies do make them more dramatic and create the aqua-blue water. Original plan was to base out of Calgary for the weekend and take day trips to Banff, but Alexandra talked us into driving 5 hours each way to go north to Jasper via the Icefields Parkway. It was the right decision — driving up and stopping along the way broke up the drive and we had 7–8 hours hiking and exploring. We hit all four seasons on the way up: sunny, snow, rain, and fog. I had rented a Jeep through Turo (like Uber for rental cars) and it was better than my Emerald Aisle sedan would have been. First stop was Johnston Canyon with about a 4-mile round trip hike.
The Icefields Parkway (Highway 93) runs 232 kilometres between Lake Louise and Jasper through Banff and Jasper National Parks — both UNESCO World Heritage Sites. It is widely considered one of the most scenic drives in the world. The parkway passes the Columbia Icefield, one of the largest non-polar icefields in North America at approximately 325 square kilometres. The aqua-blue colour of glacial lakes like Lake Louise and Peyto Lake is caused by "rock flour" — finely ground sediment produced by glacial erosion — suspended in the meltwater, which scatters light at shorter wavelengths. Lake Louise was originally named "Lake of the Little Fishes" by Indigenous Peoples; it was renamed in 1884 after Princess Louise Caroline Alberta, daughter of Queen Victoria — and the province of Alberta was also named after her.
After a very quick stop in the town of Banff, we continued north to Lake Louise — never crossed my mind it would be frozen and look like a white field. But still a great view and we have a reason to come back in the summer. Many people braver than us were out on the ice even though the signs warned of thin ice.
The Jeep worked out well except when coming down a hill I got stopped for going 66 MPH in a 54 zone. Then I met the Royal Canadian Mounted Police — very nice guy (in a truck, not on a horse) but my insurance in the Jeep had expired the prior day and he didn't know what to do.
By the book, he said he needed to impound the car and take us to the police station. But after talking to his boss — and my providing my insurance — they decided to let me go and send the owner a ticket. Just too hard at 7pm Saturday at end of shift. Found out later the insurance was renewed but the updated proof wasn't in the car. I later got another speed camera ticket for 33 in a 24. More tickets in Canada than I've had everywhere in the past 20 years.
We continued up the Icefields Parkway with dramatic scenes as the weather changed — ending up at Athabasca Falls where we did have some aqua-blue water. Jasper was pretty quiet between ski and summer seasons with only a few restaurants open. Not as upscale as Banff and our AirBnB looked a bit sketchy on arrival but was nice inside and a good location.
On the return trip south, we did the gondola ride almost to the top of The Whistlers Mountain just outside of Banff — weather was spectacular. The mountain was still covered in snow and we bypassed the option to snowshoe the final 800 feet (2 miles round trip). Going south the scenery seemed much more dramatic — not sure if it was the weather or just a different viewpoint.
Flew out the next morning to Toronto — shortly after getting to the office, got a call from our security department to check on me. Then found out about the terrorist attack with the van and some of my co-workers were right in the middle of it but were safe. Back to reality.
"Alexandra talked us into driving 5 hours each way to Jasper via the Icefields Parkway. It was the right decision — 7–8 hours hiking and exploring, all four seasons on the way up."