We left Banff at 6.45am after only a few hours sleep. There was disappointment that we had so little time to see Banff but the schedule was unable to be changed. I felt it particularly since I remember my mother being very taken with Banff and she hated to travel. What we saw of it in a short drive around the town found a very clean and quaint village overlaid with expensive magnificence.
Soon afterwards we came to the famous Lake Louise. A beautiful emerald green lake with a glacier between two mountains, crisp air and a luxury hotel. We would have loved to hike around the lake and into the forest, but on this trip it was not to be.
On we went to Bow Summit and Peyto Lake. Yet another magnificent picture postcard view. Tall craggy sharply defined mountains of limestone, dolomite and shale, with plunging valleys between often filled with emerald green glacial lakes. This stretch of road was 260 km long between Banff and Jasper and there were over 100 glaciers. Not all were visible particularly with the low cloud cover of the day.
One fabulous experience was the visit to the Athabasca glacier. Here we were transported onto the glacier in specially constructed all terrain vehicles to stand on 300 metres of ice that was over 300 years old. It was an amazing experience.
This journey by coach was wonderful because it followed along the actual Rocky Mountains and was so spectacular. Certainly there is nothing like this in Australia.
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| Athabasca Scene |
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| Athabasca Glacier |
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| Athabasca Falls |
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| Peyto Lake |
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| Lake Louise |
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