The Columbia Ice Field in Jasper National Park

"a world where snow and ice, rock and sky dominate the land.  A world where nature rules, where humans look on in awe."  IceWalk Guided Trips, Jasper

I am in the photo above......look really closely....I have on my Icelandic white and pink sweater I knit.  Yikes....white....what was I thinking???

We have travelled to the Columbia Ice Fields.  I feel completely surrounded by the white, grey, icy mountains.

A closer zoomed in photo of the Athabasca Glacier.  This glacier is considered one of the six main 'toes' of the Columbia Ice Field.  'Toes' or 'snout' are terms used to describe the end of a glacier.

A further out look at the glacier.  One of the 'dots' in the centre of this photo is a parking lot and entrance point to hike up to the glacier.

The 'dot' is now just to the left, on top of the glacier lake.  That is exactly were we are driving to.

This glacier recedes almost 16 feet per year!  In the last 125 years, 1.5 kms. is gone and half it's volume.

A wee bit breezy here.

The Athabasca Glacier snow coach.  They were not doing tours on the day we arrived.  Not sure I would be ok to do it even if we could.  

Heading up to the Athabasca Glacier.  I definitely do not have proper boots on....but I really want to see it.  So off and up I go.

Pretty cold....little frozen stream along the way.

I am following those four tourists.  'Hey...wait for me.'

As I go up....I think about the fact that this glacier will be gone one day.  If there is a chance to see one...I highly recommend it....as they won't always be here.

Random thought:  go to Youtube.com  Scarlett Johansson's song 'Before My Time.'  A song about losing our glaciers and icebergs from a documentary I saw titled 'Chasing Ice.'

Almost there.  But quite slippery.  I love the smell of the crisp air, and it is so quiet.

Looking back to the parking lot.....near that pond.  It didn't look this far or high when I started.  Yikes.

I MADE IT!

The Athabasca Glacier is almost 3.7 miles long, covers almost 2.3 sq. miles, and is between 300-980 feet thick.  Really scary to think about all that.

Looking out on the glacier.  The speck on the left, about an inch from the bottom of the photo corner is the nearest person to me.

A zoomed in look at the crevasses farther up the glacier.  This glacier moves down from the icefield by many centimetres per day.

A long way back for me to get down from this climb.  Took me a lot longer to get down because I just kept slipping. 

This glacier, in 1935 reached to the small glacial pond at the parking lot!

This sign reminds me of the dangers that nature holds.  Unfortunately tourists die every year going off the trail.  

Heading down.

In 1982, the Athabasca Glacier was here at this marker.

The speck on the grey path heading towards the pond is Debbie taking my picture....lol.

A glacial pond adjacent to the parking lot.  Beautiful green-blue colour.

Looking back at the glacier.  THAT was amazing.

Driving Thru Jasper National Park.....destination...the mountain town of Jasper, BC

We arrived in Jasper early afternoon and still had plenty of time to take awesome photos before dark.

Jasper is about 45 minutes from the entrance to the Jasper National Park.

An incredible sight as we drove into the park, the Bighorn Sheep.

Guard rails don't stop these Bighorn Sheep from crossing the highway.

The largest national park in the Canadian Rockies covering 10,878 kilometres.

Can you see the CP Rail crossing at the bottom of the photo?  Gives a sense of size to the enormous mountain behind it.

The park is home to 550 Elk......

A herd of over 30 Elk welcomed us at the entrance of Jasper.

Oh yeah.....my money shot photo of my very large friendly Elk still eating his grass as I snap away.

She definitely is on about something?

I think she hurt his feelings?

Jasper National Park was established in 1907.

Approximately 2,022,878 visitors came to Jasper in 2013.

Ice and snow covering the streams heading into the town of Jasper.

This train stopped and the passengers enjoyed a wee bit of time visiting Jasper.  Then off they went to their next destination west.

Jasper to the Columbia Ice Fields through the Jasper National Park

Heading out of Jasper on a gorgeous sunny morning.  The plan is to head to Canmore, Alberta but we will play it by ear.

I love the views of the mountains with our CN train rolling down the tracks.  So Canadian in my mind.

Two wee Elks waiting in the meadow to say good-bye to Deb and I until next time.

These mountains are still so far down the highway.....they look so cool. 

Everything is snowy because it snowed in Jasper the day before we arrived.  So crisp and refreshing.

And the views just keep coming.....

Athabasca Falls is our first scenic stop today.  Neither Deb nor I have been here before so we both follow the path to see how far we can get.  We are only about 30 km from Jasper.

It's very chilly with ice everywhere along the path.  Snow had left a dusting on the rocks and plants.

The sheer volume and force of the Athabasca River falling into this gorge has carved these huge, deep, spiral potholes into the cavern.

Someone little woodland elf made this wee snowman at the falls.

The falls is not high, 23 meters, but the force of the water is incredible.   

Little Debbie at the top of the falls next to the Athabasca River.

The river and falls are feed by the Columbia Ice Field.  No photo can do justice to how intense and intimidating this falls looks at the top.

From the river the water 'falls' over the rocks down 23 meters rushing through the canyon, swirling and twirling....to this ice cold, green pond in the quiet trees.

As we leave the Athabasca Falls, the mountains and roads become quite a bit more snowy.  It becomes a lot colder.  Even the scenery looks profoundly different.

'Winter is coming....' Watch for Wildlings and White Walkers....yikes.

A long highway ahead of us....but loving every minute of it.

Ice flows in the mountain tops.

A very tall trickling stream coming down from the mountains.  They are everywhere...some little, some gushing....

On the left are two Observation platforms, not open now, that position you out in midair overlooking the valley below.

Jasper Park is dotted with glaciers, wilderness as far as you can see, huge, deep canyons, waterfalls, and these chiselled mountains of enormous size.

Almost 1000 km of hiking trails can be found here in Jasper National Park.

But you can also drive the epic 230 km of the Icefields Parkway....which is what we are doing today.