On Tuesday we left Lake Louise early, after a good bagel brekkie at the village deli. It was cold, about 2 degrees, and mum had already bought a woolly hat and gloves! We knew it would be a long drive to Sunwapta Falls near Jasper, and we thought we'd probably want to stop several times on the way as it was due to be a stunning drive.
After about a 45 min climb, we found ourselves surrounded by massive snow capped mountains and big, big skies. We stopped by Peyto lake and hiked up to catch the view, both at the tourist viewing point and again an hour up the mountain near the peak. The vista was surreal, and out photos look like something downloaded from Getty images! You couldn't take a bad shot it you tried. The alpine wildflowers were so pretty, especially the Indian Paintbrush, all red and feathery. After that we headed North for another hour or so stopping by 'Big Bends' to have a picnic lunch overlooking a wall of scree and waterfalls. The journey then took us through the Columbia Icefields to the Athabasca Glacier, a whole bowl of snow in between two mountain peaks, which was apparently as deep as the Eiffel Tower is high! It was amazing to be in summer clothes in the mountains with snow all around us. Another hour or so took us to Sunwapta Falls where we stayed the night in a rather strange motel. It was a short walk from some beautiful waterfalls which was lovely, and the restaurant was good, but the room was very basic and a bit dark and with too many mosquitos! It was all good fun and we felt we'd seen a lot in one day.
Gina
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