6/10/07 - Part 2 - Columbia Icefields & Jasper, AB

Our main event of the day was at the Columbia Icefield. As we were loading onto the bus it became very cloudly with the clouds moving in rapidly....so we thought we would not have good viewing at all. We rode a bus out to where they transfer you onto the "Ice Explorer". The route starts with a 35% grade so you feel like you are just dropping off the edge of the icefield. This is the largest icefield south of Alaska, shimmering glacial ice and snow cover some 233 sq. miles. We rode out onto the Athabasca Glacier, which is 3.75 miles long and 270-1000 ft. deep. Just as we departed the "Ice Explorer" onto the ice, the sun broke out of the clouds and it was beautiful. I don't know whether you will be able to see the small specs on the ice in the first picture, but those are the "Ice Explorers" out on the ice. That is how huge this icefield is. Wildlife sightings today: 5 Elk, 1 Black Bear, 10 BigHorn Sheep, 3 Mountain Goats, 3 Deer