This is the fifth in a series of posts about our bicycling trip down the Icefield Parkway, through Jasper and Banff National Parks in Alberta, Canada. The full series can be found here.
We got up, ate breakfast and packed our bikes, and started on our way. This would be our shortest day, but since the day featured a real stinker of a climb, we figured it would work out in terms of effort.
Sunwapta Pass
The hill we had to climb was the front part of the Sunwapta Pass, a saddle between Mount Athabasca and Nigel Peak; it’s what separates the Sunwapta River valley from the valley of the North Sasketchewan River. The worst part of it had us climbing about a thousand feet in just under two miles — luckily it also had several parking areas and overlooks we used to catch our breath — and then we were up in the pass, though it still kept climbing for a bit. We would essentially be up in the pass until tomorrow’s big downhill.
This is the area where the Columbia Icefield is most accessible. The first crest had a tourist “cliffside walk,” where we celebrated our ascent; then came a small downhill, and then we climbed again, and finally we came around a bend and were hit with an icy wind, and the Athabasca Glacier was there to our right. This glacier is a sort of tongue sticking out of the Icefield past Mount Athabasca, and is the source of our friend the Athabasca River. You could get tours of the glacier in special vehicles, like all-terrain buses, which took you out to where you could hike around. We could see the vehicles up on the glacier — they looked like ants in the distance.
This was at the Columbia Icefield Visitor Centre, our lunch stop, where we ate in the cafeteria. Maybe it was the spectacular view, or maybe it was all the exertion in that fresh cold mountain air, but the food there was especially delicious…
Columbia Icefields Campground
Unlike the last two nights, we had no reservations for this night’s lodging. Jasper and Banff National Parks were known to be busy in the summer, and since we were just coming into the Canada Day Weekend, likely the busiest part of the busy season, we were worried about being able to find a place for the night, but just past the Icefield Centre were two campsites — no reservations, first come first served. It was still early in the day, so we hoped to find a campsite at one of them.
We were in luck. The first campsite had plenty of openings, including several beautiful, secluded, walk-in only sites, which were just a bit down a trail and across a small creek from the rest of the place. Julie took one spot, and we took the one next door, and our neighbor turned out to be another rider we’d seen on the road. Sweet!
We were now up in (or just on the edge of) the Icefields, and finally camping for real. It was time to start practicing bear discipline: no unattended food at our campsite (there were special bear-proof lockers in the main camp), and our bear spray always ready just outside the tents. I’m not sure how serious we needed to be, our car-camping neighbors were there with their dogs, and grilling steaks without much apparent concern, but we at least were in deadly earnest. Dinner and cleanup (far from our tents), then a walk around the campsite, and then bed.
