Canada - Day Four – Athabasca Ice Fields

Now I remember why I don’t like camping. I’m too old to try to sleep on a hard ground with little rocks pressing into my spine. I think I know how the Princess and Pea felt! I think I got some sleep, only because I remembered a dream about being a paralegal, which I haven’t been for about 15 years. Explain that one. So we packed up as fast as possible headed to the Athabasca Ice Field Center. Now remember, none of had too much sleep, so when we got to the visitor’s center, we were very ‘punchy.’

And to all my Colorado friends – here is the temperature update.

This was where the icefield
was in 2000.

After breakfast, we took a hike up toward the ice fields. There are markers along the way showing where the fields were in recent years.  A very good argument for global warming!

On our way to the Athabasca Falls, we saw this grizzly bear, although I guess they call them brown bears. We call the bears here in Colorado brown or black bears, so it can be confusing. I understand that you can tell the difference between the two types of bears by the hump, or no hump, on the back. I also heard that grizzlies don’t climb trees, so you can tell the difference by climbing a tree. If the bear follows you up the tree and eats you, it’s a brown bear. If it just shakes the tree until you fall out and then eats you, it’s a grizzly. I hope that clears up any questions. After getting this picture, I got back into the car.

We also saw a wolf! I love wolves – in fact I am wearing a wolf t-shirt at this moment. As we were driving, a wolf ran across the road about 20 feet in front of us. It was a little gray, almost white and it had a tracking collar. He was so fast, I couldn’t grab my camera, but I was just thrilled to see a wolf in the wild.

Our last stop before heading to our family reunion in Olds was Athabasca Falls. Now, I used to live in Yellowstone where the Upper and Lower Falls of the Yellowstone River are located, and I didn’t think anything could beat it. However, this falls could come close. You can’t believe how loud it is. The Athabasca Ice Field is so big that it feeds the Pacific, Atlantic and Artic Oceans. It is the headwaters of the Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest. These falls take water to the Artic, so the water may think it is cold not, just wait!

So we are leaving the Park to head to the reunion—about four hours of driving.  Finished knitting the brown hat for Lorne, so I need to arrange the boys to model them for me for pictures. More later.

The boys are complaining that not everything has to be a Kodak moment.