Jasper to Banff

Leaving Jasper we drove the Icefields Parkway, a 200 mile (300+ kilometers), which links Jasper and Banff National Parks.  Perfect weather and too many amazing photo opportunities.

The first glacier encountered driving south is the Stutfield Glacier.

We stopped in at the Icefields Visitor Center, grabbed some lunch and scored table out on the deck.  We ate and had a view of the Athabasca Glacier.

We decided NOT to take the tour that took you on a sky bridge walk (yeah, who cares) and drives you on to the glacier itself.  But we did walk up to the toe of the glacier, or as close as they would allow.

It's an alluvial fan!

Big Horn Sheep

It got hot, so I waded in.

The amazing Peyto Lake.  It was SO crowded that I couldn't enjoy the view.  There were so many people bumping into me trying to take a picture.  It bothered me on this trip how much I noticed that when coming to a beautiful place, they look at it through their screen.  I really tried to take a moment, and find the beauty and then figure out what I wanted to remember and then take one or two photos.

Ok, Ok, I'm just like everyone else.

Entering Banff, we arrived at Lake Louise late in the day.  Turns out during the day, it's so crowded the parking lot fills and you have to take a shuttle.  Again, too many people, too many people and their screens.

Lake Louise is so famous, but I found Maligne Lake in Jasper to be much more stunning.

Find Onions!!!  Next stop of Moraine Lake.  For some reason, I've had a harder time of late with climbing steep uneven surfaces, so I didn't think I could join Onions at the top....

...but I found the regular trail and here is the view!

Our full day in Banff wasn't that exciting, we did a quick walk up Johnston Canyon to see the falls.

But then drove to Radium Hot Springs for another afternoon soaking.

On the drive home, after an afternoon at the hot springs, massages and a big dinner, we saw goats on the way back to camp.