|
The splendour of the Icefields Parkway (Hwy 93) can hardly be overstated: a 230-kilometre road from Lake Louise to Jasper through the heart of the Rockies, it ranks as one of the world's ultimate drives. Its unending succession of huge peaks, immense glaciers, iridescent lakes, wild-flower meadows, wildlife and forests - capped by the stark grandeur of the Columbia Icefield - is absolutely overwhelming. Fur traders and natives who used the route as far back as 1800 reputedly christened it the "Wonder Trail", though in practice they tended to prefer the Pipestone River Valley to the east, a route that avoided the swamps and other hazards of the Bow Valley. Jim Brewster made the first recorded complete trek along the road's future route in 1904. The present highway was only completed in 1939 and opened in 1940 as part of a Depression-era public-works programme. Although about a million people a year make the journey to experience what the park blurb calls a "window on the wilderness", for the most part you can go your own way in relative serenity. After 122km, at about its midway point, the Icefields Parkway crosses from Banff into Jasper National Park (about a 2hr drive); you might turn back here, but the divide is almost completely arbitrary, and most people treat the Parkway as a self-contained journey, as we do here. Distances in brackets are from Lake Louise, which is virtually the only way to locate places on the road, though everything mentioned is clearly marked off the highway by distinctive brown-green national park signs. Pick up the Parks Canada In the Shadow of the Great Divide pamphlet from visitor centres for a detailed map and summary of all the sights and trailheads. You could drive the whole highway in about four hours, but to do so would be to miss out on the panoply of short (and long) trails, viewpoints and the chance just to soak up the incredible scenery.
Your Tip for Icefields Parkway
Help other backpackers! Write your own guides and backpacking tips to Icefields Parkway - they will appear instantly on this page - Please only write a tip/guide to Icefields Parkway - visit the main Icefields Parkway forum to ask a question!
Please do not post links to your site here (they won't work) - please use the Icefields Parkway webguide section below! Thanks.
|
