Water to Kayak and Frozen Water to Walk On

Wednesday we went back to Lake Pyramid to do a little paddling. It was a very nice day and a nice paddle.When we got back to shore, Savannah was happy to see another Cavalier, this one a Ruby. Ruby is quite the swimmer. Savannah only wanted to jump and run on shore and in swallow water. She seemed to forget she knows how to swim However, she and Ginger  had a great time while we talked to her owner.

Thursday, we left Jasper and headed to Banff. We had decided to go on the Icefields tour on our way. There is plenty of parking for motorhomes. We left Savannah in the MH and walked to the Visitor Area to buy our tickets. We had heard there was a package deal for $99.00 a person that included the Icefield Tour, a Banff Gondola ride and a boat trip on Lake Minnewanka. We thought that was a good deal and so we purchased them.  The Brewster Ice Explorers are specially designed for glacial travel and take us on a remarkable excursion onto the surface of the Athabasca Glacier.    The driver/guide gives a lot of information on the way to the middle of the glacier. We are then allowed to get out and walk on the glacier itself. We are so glad to be able to do this as the glaciers are fast disappearing. There are still  glaciers in the area and we have seen a few on our drive on the Icefields Parkway. Information on the website states The Columbia Icefield is located on the boundary of Banff and Jasper National Parks. One of the largest accumulations of ice and snow south of the Arctic Circle, it covers an area of nearly 325 square kilometres, sometimes reaching a depth of 300-360 metres. The continuous accumulation of snow feeds eight major glaciers including the Athabasca, Dome, and Stutfield Glaciers, all visible from the Icefields Parkway. The Columbia Icefield is a true "hydrological apex," for its meltwater feeds streams and rivers that pour into the Arctic, Atlantic, and Pacific oceans".

Below are pictures taken from the Columbia Icefields Centre.

We really enjoyed this 80 minute trip and highly recommend it to anyone that travels to this area.


We then traveled on and arrived at the Parks Canada campgrounds at Banff. There are three campgrounds next to each other and we stayed at a spot at Tunnel Mountain Village 11. There are about a 1,000 spots between these 3 campgrounds and are a few other campgrounds in other areas near Banff as well.



Lodge in the campground