As we drove north on Hwy 1, we crossed from Banff NP, to Icefields Parkway, and into Jasper NP.
The highest mountain in the Canadian Rockies is Mount Robson near Jasper. Mt Robson is almost 4000m or 13000 feet and there are 53 peaks over 11,000ft in elevation in Canada. The Canadian Rockies run about 1000 miles along the British Columbia/Alberta border. They seem larger than the US Rocky mountains as they tower above the valley floor along the hwy 1/93 corridor.
The Icefield Parkway runs from Lake Louise to Jasper and can be driven in about 3 hours. The Athabascus Glacier is located about halfway and can be reached by a short hike from a parking area at the foot of the Glacier. There are tours that take you out on the Glacier in an Ice Explorer all-terrain vehicle and allow you to walk on the glacier, but at $180 per person Canadian, it hardly seemed worth it when you can hike for free from the parking area. Either way, be prepared for the wind on the hike!
The Columbia Icefields Skywalk is a suspended glass platform that puts you 918ft above the glacier landscape below at a cost of about $30 per person. Both of these are very popular and crowded.
We had walked to the edge of the Athabascus Glacier when we visited in 2015, and had no interest in paying to go on the Skywalk-lots of others did!
We stopped by to view the Athabascus Glacier and closer to Jasper, we hiked along the Athabascus river a short distance to the Athabascus falls. The falls were another incredible demonstration of the power of nature and water!
Athabascus falls had an area with bridges and stairs that allowed you to hike and see the falls from both sides, the top, middle, and bottom area where the falls ran through the canyon into the river below.
Mistaya Canyon is another great hike to do along the way that Erick and I did on our 2015 trip. Maligne Lake and Pyramid Lake closer to Jasper are also worth checking out!
We ended our day at Twin Pines Motel in Hinton, Alberta about 40 minutes past Jasper. On our way to check in, we passed emergency crews cutting up a fallen tree. Turns out the tree had taken out the power to a large area in town, including our motel. We checked in anyways with no estimate of when power would be restored and luckily, it was back on about an hour later.
We would recommend and stay at Twin Pines again! Good value and convenient location to end our day ❤️
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