Wednesday we headed back south towards Banff. We had heard of Mt. Edith Cavell from a coworker. We also had read about a nice walk around by the lake there. So we drove about 15 miles up a steep, narrow, winding road to the top. We hiked a bit around above the lake on some trails, then headed down to the lake. Angel Glacier feeds the lake.
(notice how the glacier does look like an angel with wings spread)
Kevin had been joking with a coworker about going swimming in a great lake filled with icebergs. When we got here, Kevin realized this must be the lake, so stripped to his swim shorts and swam out to the nearest iceberg.
He sat on it for a couple minutes, then swam back. It was icy cold!
(this iceberg was melting like crazy, but was still huge.)
As we were walking away, we heard what kind of sounded like thunder and turned around to see part of the glacier along the edge of the lake falling in. It was really neat to see.
(notice it shattering off on the far side)
We then noticed waves coming across the lake. (As did a few others who were sitting along the edge. They started scrambling and grabbing their stuff and running back. Was hilarious to watch.) Kind of a real life idea of how a tsunami/tidal wave could happen, and on a large scale, could be seriously scary!
(on the far side notice how much ice fell in)
We traveled on south to Columbia Icefield. We could pay something like $8 each to ride a snowcoach out to the glacier, or we could park low and walk a hill to get to a lower part of the glacier. We chose to park and walk. The glacier is still really huge, but has been receding over the years.
If you went down across the parking lot, across the 5 lane highway, down the hill to the glacier parking lot, then walked up the hill, you'd make it to the edge of where the glacier is now. (Estimate - about 1/4 -1/2 mile it's receded.)
Quite a few signs along the way warning of the danger of glaciers. Not so pleasant. There actually was another sign that said they had had a number of people falling into crevasses and the people died of hypothermia because they couldn't reach them fast enough. The most recent was a few years back and a little kid.
(This water was so cold! Leave your fingers in for 5 minutes and they'd be frozen!)
(on the far side notice how much ice fell in)
We traveled on south to Columbia Icefield. We could pay something like $8 each to ride a snowcoach out to the glacier, or we could park low and walk a hill to get to a lower part of the glacier. We chose to park and walk. The glacier is still really huge, but has been receding over the years.
Quite a few signs along the way warning of the danger of glaciers. Not so pleasant. There actually was another sign that said they had had a number of people falling into crevasses and the people died of hypothermia because they couldn't reach them fast enough. The most recent was a few years back and a little kid.
(This water was so cold! Leave your fingers in for 5 minutes and they'd be frozen!)
Old snowcoaches and current ones
As we were in the parking lot, we saw these lovely vacation goers...
As we were in the parking lot, we saw these lovely vacation goers...
The back end of that car was SO laden down, we wondered how it made it over bumps.
We continued on south. We enjoyed the falls at Tangle Creek.
We decided to head back to camp at Lake Louise Campground again. We tried to go to the evening program at the campground, but since we weren't 6 years old, we lost interest really fast!
We decided to head back to camp at Lake Louise Campground again. We tried to go to the evening program at the campground, but since we weren't 6 years old, we lost interest really fast!
1 comment:
I think it was closer to $35 US to take a snowcoach. I remmber thinking '60 for both of us? that ain't worth it'
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