The Icefield Parkway - Alberta
One of the most famous mountain highways in the world, the Icefield Parkway travels between Lake Lousie and Jasper, along the crown of the Canadian Rockies. Highway 93, the Icefield Parkway, connects Lake Louise with Jasper. This in not only one o Canada’s most scenic drives, it ranks among the best scenery in the world. Throughout its 321 km length are countless glaciers, turquoise lakes, enormous cliffs, gorgeous vistas and many opportunities for photography, hiking, nature walks and more. Wildlife is abundant here – you are likely to see mountain goats clinging to the sheer rock walls that tower above the roadway. The roadway traverses two mountain passes – Bow Summit and Sunwapta Pass. The scenery is absolutely dramatic; soaring peaks still under the bite of glaciers; turquoise green lakes surrounded by deep forests; roaring waterfalls; and, at the very crest of the drive, the Columbia Icefield, the largest nonpolar icecap in the world. Besides the scenery, there are activities and opportunities for recreation. A number of lakeside lodges offer canoe rentals, short horseback trail rides, whitewater rafting trips, and trips onto the Columbia Snowfield in specially designed snowcoaches. Just off the highway, by the Athabasca Glacier, the Columbia Icefield Centre provides information on the icefield and the glaciers. Wildlife is abundant: mountain goats, mountain sheep, elk, moose, and bears are frequently sighted. Just north of the boundary between Banff and Jasper National Parks lies North America’s largest sub-polar accumulation of ice, the Columbia Icefield. This ice field covers more than 325 square kilometres and spawns eight glaciers including the Saskatchewan Glacier and the Athabasca Glacier. The Athabasca Glacier is clearly visible from the roadway. Visitors can take an excursion onto the ice surface either on foot with a guide or in a Brewster Ice Explorer, a vehicle specially design for glacier travel.
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