We drove from Banff N.P. to Jasper N.P. via the Icefields Parkway. Roberta and I communicate by radio as we drive and we both agreed on this leg that we needed sunroofs in the motorhomes to see all the spectacular scenery around and above us. During the drive we encountered some bighorn sheep and, on one occasion, a bighorn climbed up on a hillside next to the road where a mountain goat was standing on top. That was quite a sight! We also saw our first bear on the trip. I thought for sure we would see some in Yellowstone or Glacier N.P., but we didn’t. I passed the 2,000 mile point since leaving Albuquerque just west of Banff village. Arriving near Jasper village, we parked at Whistler 
Campground in the N.P.—another nice park with pull-throughs, nice trees, and elk roaming through on occasion. After setting up camp and relaxing a bit, we drove to Maligne Lake. Enroute we passed Medicine Lake which disappears each winter, only to reappear in the spring. Maligne Lake is the largest natural high altitude lake in the Canadian Rockies and is truly a beautiful location. The upthrust mountains alongside the lake are really incredible to see. During the drive we saw 29 bighorn sheep along the highway just north of Jasper village and two moose and one bald eagle off the main road. The eagle was high up in a tree preening itself and totally unconcerned about the group of us watching from the ground.June 2nd we drove to the Columbia Icefield Centre to take a tour onto the Athabasca Glacier. We were bused to the loading point for the Ice Explorer vehicles which are unique to say the
least. The ice was estimated to be approximately 1000 feet thick where we were let out to walk on the glacier. The Columbia Icefield is 120 square miles in size and is the largest body of ice in the Rocky Mountains. Drainage from the icefield goes to the Pacific, Arctic, and Atlantic Oceans. It was an educational and very interesting experience. On the drive back to camp, we stopped at the Sunwapta Falls and the Athabasca Falls—both were unique and had a lot of water flowing because of the snow melt. We also saw several bighorn sheep and 13 mountain goats by the road on the return trip.While driving the Icefields Parkway that morning I asked Roberta how one could describe the fantastic scenery we were seeing. She replied that you can’t describe it—you just have to say it is incredible. That pretty well sums it up.
Sunday, June 3rd, we moved to a KOA at Hinton, BC. This was planned as a “down day” for shopping, laundry, catching up on email (the park has WIFI), etc. The park was quite new and very nice. Vegetation is quite a bit behind this far north. Peonies have just put out buds and I saw a few lilacs just beginning to bloom in Jasper village. Wildlife count this day: 2 elk, 1 muskrat.We drove to Dawson Creek, BC, on the 4th. It was a 299 mile drive through some hills and rolling countryside. We had several 8% grades between Hinton and Grande Prairie on Highway 40. The road was generally good with steep shoulders (i.e. no shoulders to pull over onto). Vegetation in that portion of the drive was of a sub-alpine nature; trees were short and without long branches, probably due to the short growing season and severe winters. The countryside opened up just south of Grande Prairie and was rolling with farms interspersed with groves of trees the rest of the way to Dawson Creek. Quite a lot of grain is raised in this area and we saw cattle and elk being fed. We stopped at the South Peace Centennial Museum at Beaverlodge, AB. This is an agricultural pioneer museum featuring buildings that have been moved onsite and refurbished with early to mid-1900’s furnishings, an antique car/pickup/truck collection, many antique tractors and threshing machines, many artifacts, etc. It was a very interesting stop. They offer free overnight parking to RVers (no hook-ups) who visit—it would be a good stop in the future. It was hot today—87 degrees was the warmest I saw on the thermometer as I was driving. We are finally at the beginning of the Alaska (Alcan) Highway and I’ve driven just over 2500 miles from ABQ.
