The landscape here is just overwhelmingly beautiful. After spending most of the previous day driving through amazing, jaw-dropping scenery we couldn’t believe that it was possible for the scenery to get any better. However, the vistas at the Columbia Ice Sheet abundantly exceeded our expectations.

From the visitor center the view encompasses 5 large glaciers nestled in between peaks of the tallest mountains in the Canadian Rockies. The higher latitude here means that tree line is lower on these peaks than in the Colorado Rockies, so even though these peaks are a little bit closer to sea-level than some in Colorado, the effect is marvelous – towering, rugged peaks that preside over the Columbia Ice Field and the impossibly-blue lakes below. One of these peaks, Snow Dome, marks the tri-divide — the glaciers from Snow Dome fall into the Atlantic, Pacific or Arctic Oceans depending on which side of the mountain the snow melt trickles down.

Quinn boarding the ice bus

We booked a ride on a bus tour onto the Columbia Ice Sheet. Of course, these were no ordinary buses! The buses are specially made for ice travel and all the ones like it ever made are in operation here – that is, except for one which is used for transporting employees around McMurdo Research Station in Antarctica (maybe Bjorn could tell us some fun bus stories from one of his tours down there. Is it really dubbed “Ivan the Terri-Bus”?).

On the glacier

We got to fill our water bottles up from the glacier melt. This resulted in very cold hands.

Our 6×6 bus with the enormous tires got us up and down 18-degree-sloped roads handily. Our driver/guide joked that the bus tires are the most-photographed items on the tour — and he might be right; despite the glorious scenery all around us, those tires did get our attention!

Since we’d arrived there early in the day we had the benefit of only having to share the ice with 8 other people (there can be up to 300 people on the ice during busy times) so we got to explore the area at a relaxed pace. We filled up our water bottles with glacier water just to top off the experience!

Later that day we headed into the town of Jasper to visit the rec center pool (so Q could get some pool time and we could get some showers). While we were there we also grabbed some dinner at a brew pub — where we had the privilege of paying $7.50 each for our pints of microbrew beer!

Afterward dinner we investigated the Jasper train station (where the Trans-Canadian passenger train passes stops as well as numerous freight trains). We also admired the fantastic steam engine that’s parked there. We easily spent 45 minutes just looking at that steam engine. Quinn was in train nirvana.

It was getting late by the time we drove into our campsite, so perhaps we shouldn’t have been too surprised to find that it was already occupied. The momma elk and fawn seemed really comfortable there though, so we just waited until they finally decided on their own to get up and move on.

The elk family was occupying our campsite when we arrived. They didn’t pay the entry fee, but we don’t think they used the showers, so it’s all good.

We slept in the next morning and Witt and Quinn made blueberry pancakes for breakfast. It was a nice departure from our usual granola or oatmeal. We also got to know our campsite neighbors who were on holiday from Saskatchewan and gave us the scoop on the upcoming Canadian Heritage Day Weekend (it’s basically their Memorial Day weekend). In a nutshell, that meant to us that finding campsites was about to get a lot more challenging for us over the next few days.

We found out from the park ranger that everything that could be booked in advance is already booked through the weekend. Our only option was an overflow lot at a nearby campsite. So we went there and paid for a spot. Since the overflow lot was basically an open field we had to mark the spot we wanted with rope and some chairs while we left for some sightseeing.

We drove the windy and scenic road toward Maligne Lake with the additional goals of looking for wildlife and finding a picnic table with a view where we could enjoy some dinner. All of our objectives were achieved — the lake was gorgeous (of course), we saw several big horn ewes and lambs, and the view for our delicious dinner was incredible. This bolstered our spirits in preparation for the return to the chaos of the overflow campsite. The campsite wasn’t horrible, but it was crowded and we were really glad that we weren’t planning to stay there more than one night.

Maligne Lake

In the morning we headed toward the Miette Hot Springs for a dip in the therapeutic waters. We arrived there early so we avoided the crowds and had a fantastic time. We also took in a short hike to the source of the springs. There we also saw the remains of the structure that was used to house the hot springs for public access until 1984 (when they decided to build the new facility).

Not wanting to deal with holiday weekend crowds anymore, nor stay in the same overflow lot again, we decided to leave the park. As we drove out the eastern exit of Jasper NP we passed a long line of campers and cars waiting to enter. We think the line was about 3 miles long! It seems like it’s a good time to head to Edmonton.

More photos from Banff, Jasper, and a sneak preview of Edmonton…