July 27 - 29, 2018: Jasper National Forest - Columbia Icefields,
British Columbia (BC)
As usual our drive from Yoho to the Jasper National Forest was...incredible. I think I took so many mountain pictures that I'll never be able to keep track of what mountain/glacier is what. This area and the glaciers are just breath taking. After this travel adventure, I want to come back to this whole area (Revelstoke, Yoho, Jasper, etc.) for a few months and hike, hike, hike!
We got some insight from a park ranger at the Lake Louise visitor center about her three favorite campgrounds in Jasper and to arrive before 10am. So we took her advice and arrived at Rampart Creek Campground by 10am. Good thing we did because we got the best spot along the river! If you are ever in this area, #46 is the bomb!
Once settled, we headed off to the Columbia Icefield Center. We knew it would be crowded with tourist, but....go with it right? We hiked to the Toe Of The Athabasca Glacier which was about 1.5 miles.
Since I didn't get enough hiking done at the Athabasca Glacier, the Parks Canada rep suggested another hike...we hiked the Parker Ridge Trail which was about 6 round trip. It was absolutely beautiful and gave us a spectacular view of the Saskatchewan Glacier and Lake! This is the kind of hiking I love, steep switchback up to a ridgeline and then astounding 360 mountain views. Craig was such a good sport and I told him that for ever hike he'll do with me, his reward is ice cream! We had a place recommended in Banff so once we go there, I'm buying : )
Any time there is snow on a hike, I have to make a snow angel
At the end of the trail head we stopped for a snack. This is the Saskatachewan Glacier and lake behind us.
This was our view off to the left
Back in our campground, we met a fellow Boisean! Bryan who is a junior high teacher and riding a KTM for 1 month this summer. Since this is our favorite and best camp spot so far, we wanted to just sit by the river and veg so...we extended another night (seems to be a theme going here - smile). We extended and spent the day reading books, meditating, and looking for wildlife with the binoculars. We invited Bryan for dinner since he's a fellow rider, Boisean, and we know what it's like to eat MRE's or backpacking meals. We had a great dinner (Thanks Chef Craigy) and good conversation! And guess what? Yep, there was a bear in the area : ) we never saw it though.
The temps both nights got down to 41f, buuurrrrr. However, we thought we needed to embrace it because soon we'd be hitting hotter weather.
We both could have stayed at this campsite for a few more days, but...there are just too many things to do!
