The Icefields Parkway runs from Jasper to Banff and is situated in a narrow valley with very large mountains on both sides. The scenery is incredible.
We are leaving the Whistlers campground in Jasper and heading towards the Icefields Parkway. Along the way we encountered several of these strange undulating overpasses. It turns out that these are bridges to allow wildlife to cross the highway!
The Icefields Parkway runs from Jasper to Banff and is situated in a narrow valley with very large mountains on both sides. The scenery is incredible.
Iconic Canadiana at its best! (in case you can’t read the writing on the cup: “Tim Horton’s”, and no, we didn’t put the cup there).
The mountains are incredible. The layers of rock that make up these mountains are quite visible. The orientation of the layers range from horizontal, to almost vertical. The layers on steep angles are the most dramatic (to me).
About half way between Jasper and Banff we stopped to spend the night at Rampart Creek Campground.
As soon as we turned off the parkway into the campground we found an expedition vehicle in front of us… it was a KRUG!!! The owners, and older German couple, were a little grumpy, so we didn’t talk to them much. Too bad, but it was our FIRST sighting of a KRUG in the wild!!!
Super nice campground. Lots of trees and private campsites.
Mountains to the left of us…
Mountains to the right of us…
… and just to make it perfect, a river behind us.
Lot’s of bears in the area apparently. One of our neighbours showed me a video on the cellphone of a bear wandering through the campground the day before we arrived. Good thing we are not sleeping in a tent!
Only one night at Rampart Creek and then back on to the Icefields Parkway.
The glaciers on the mountain tops (for which the parkway is named) are beautiful, but not as dramatic as the mountains themselves.
There are two campgrounds at Lake Louise: hard-sided and soft-sided. The hard-sided campground is for RV’s that don’t have any “soft” openings (e.g. pop-outs/up with canvas or other material openings).
The soft-sided campground is for tents and and RV’s with non-solid openings. The soft-sided campground is surrounded by and electric fence. This fence is used to keep the door-to-door vendors (and bears) away from the tourists.
The campground at Lake Louise was a bit disappointing. No mountain views, and the campsites were all doubled-up. You have to park your vehicle (RV, trailer, etc) right next to your neighbour.
Trip Summary:
Depart: Jasper National Park (Whistlers Campground), Alberta 11:30 am June 13; Odometer: 228944 km
Arrive: Rampart Creek Campground, Alberta 2:15 pm June 13; Odometer: 229086 km
Depart: Rampart Creek Campground, Alberta 11:00 am June 14; Odometer: 229086 km
Arrive: Lake Louise Campground (hard-sided), Alberta 1:15 pm June 14; Odometer: 229182 km
Gas Summary:
none