On the way to Jasper, AB, Canada

We parked the rig in Libby, Montana and headed off to see Banff and Jasper National Parks in Alberta, Canada. 

Our first stop was Libby Dam.  This dam in 422 feet tall and 3,055 feet long.  The lake it impounds is called Lake Koocanusa, a combination of the Kootenai River, Canada and USA,  so named since the lake spans the border.  The lake is 90 miles long and 370' deep at the deepest point.   The Kootenai River is the third largest tributary to the Columbia River.  The construction of this hydroelectic dam was completed in 1972 with the first power on line in 1975.

Our first stop after crossing into Canada was Columbia Lake by Canal Flats, BC.  Once again, I wished the photos showed the real color and beauty of the area.    We passed through a lot of flooded land because of a couple weeks of rainfall on top of the spring run off.  I fact, we could have made this trip the week before because of flooded roads.

I'm embarrassed to admit that it took me a few minutes to figure out how to turn the heat on.  Yes, everything is in Celsius.  This Radium Hot Springs, BC hotel room also had a huge tub and separate shower. 

The next day we headed into Kootenay National Park.  The road passed through narrow Sinclair Canyon before heading past the springs that Radium Hot Springs is named after. 

We stopped at the Kootenay Valley Viewpoint.  Shortly after this viewpoint we had to slow down for a bear crossing the road.  Just a small black bear. 

Just a pretty view.

We stopped at Numa Creek to see the falls.  A couple weeks of rain had swelled the river so the falls were more dramatic than usual.



Down stream from the falls.

See how the churning water had created holes in the rock?  Spin cycle!

Enjoying the scenery.

Pilot Mountain is 9,690' tall.

Our next stop was closed due to flooding but we stopped by Moose Meadow, so named because it used to be occupied by moose in the 1800's.  There were mountains on each side and this picture tells about each.  The following are photos of the mountains on each side.

The next stop was Lake Louise.  I had to do this sign in two photos since it was so large.  Click on the photo to read about the lake.

The water was a beautiful turquoise color that doesn't show in this photo.  You can see a lot of canoes in the water.  The lake is surrounded on three sides by mountains.

The view to the right.

The view to the left.

Just a little closer view.

Just some views of the tilted mountains along the Icefields Parkway.

The next stop as the Icefield Centre in Jasper National Park.  Read the photo then look at the next photo.

That's a long way to the glacier.

Zoomed in view of the glacier.  That spec on the mid-left of the glacier is a huge tour bus that goes out onto the glacier for a tour.

This is the type of bus that goes out on the ice.

The mountains on either side of the Athabasca Glacier also held glaciers.

Sunwapta Falls was the next sight.  To gauge the size, look for the people on the point to the left.  We are standing on a bridge over the falls.

There is also a viewpoint on the cliff on the opposite shore from the bridge.  You can see the bridge in this photo.

We walked through the woods down to the lower falls.

The last stop for the day was Athabasca Falls.

View just to the left of the falls.

The falls.  Enlarge to see the rainbow.

 

 

Glacier National Park

Lots of great scenery and waterfalls!

Avalanches areas where the snow has cleared a lot of the trees.

A little closer view.

The rock walls were close in places and the water runs off down the sides.

If you look closely at the photo you can see where the 2003 fire ended.

Lots of dead trees from the fire.

You can see the road that we traveled to get to Loop.

Bird Woman Falls.

 

Looking back the way we came, we could see the tunnel we had passed through.  It is 192 feet long, has two windows and was bored in 1926.

The distance shot of the previous falls.

Most of the guard rail wall was probably the rock wall created by the CCC.  This wood guard fence was something we hadn't seen before.

You can see the Going-to-the-Sun Road in this photo.

The Weeping Wall where water sprays the cars as they pass underneath.  Not so great for motorcycles in these 50° temperatures.  

We saw a lot of these circa 1936 buses on the route.  They had rolled back the fabric roof.  I bet that was a cold ride and not great where the water came down the mountains and dripped off the tunnel openings.

The trail at the Visitor Center became snowshoe only after a short distance.  This guy was putting his on.

The top of Going-to-the-Sun Road didn't open until three days before we got there so we expected to see lots of recently plowed snow on the sides of the road.  We didn't see that.  This snow has been pushed to the side for quite a while.  My guess is that they've been using the time between when it was cleared and the opening date to do road construction.

This ram was the only large animal we saw on the trip.  It posed on this snow bank for quite a while.   Just wished the camera would zoom in a little more.

 

This sign is a little worse for wear but it's still readable.

Jackson Glacier

We decided to take a walk to St. Mary Falls.

This is Beargrass, the unofficial symbol of Glacier National Park.  The plant survives for more than a dozen years before it produces its first flowers.   As the individual flowers begin to open, from bottom to top, the flower head elongates.  I'm bummed that it's a bit washed out and you can't see the individual blooms on it.

Our first view of where St Mary Falls ends.

Nolan crossing the bridge so we can get a great view of the falls.

 

All I can say is that it was awesome!

I can't believe I got spots on this, the only shot I got of the falls.

The water swirled under this rock so it hung over the water quite a ways.

Looking down stream.

Paintbrush

A different angle of the paintbrush plants.

There was a short section of path that was raised by surrounding the area with logs and filling it in with dirt.

 

Wild flowers. 

Sunrift Gorge is a narrow, water-carved gorge.

The road crosses over this creek

St. Mary Lake was beautiful.

Wild Goose Island is very interesting looking with the trees on it.

There were lots of waterfalls but I zoomed in on these from the proceeding photo.

Prime mountain goat habitat.

The sun was shining on these rocks and the slate was so many beautiful colors.

Heading back up over Logan Pass.

West side of Logan Pass.  Sure was a lot sunnier on the east side.

Portions of Going-to-the-Sun Road were built in avalanche areas and was very narrow.

Some of the narrow road.

Going under the falls at the Weeping Wall wasn't as wet as I thought it would be.