Fantasy Days 9 (Free Day) & 10 - travel from Banff to Jasper visiting a glacier along the way!

Sunday was a free day at the campground in Banff -- we did laundry, went grocery shopping, and rested!

In the evening, we had a travel meeting to discuss Monday's travels:

Our travel meeting was held between Jim/Kris and Andy/Cherie's rigs with a gorgeous view into the valley.

We were treated to a charcuterie Prin-cuterie board where we got to sample 8 different kinds of Pringles...

... and try a taste sensation recommended by our Tail Gunner, Jeff, powdered mini donuts between two Pringles! Carl is wearing the shirt that his brother gave him for his birthday -- he gets a lot of positive comments every time he wears it!

During our travel meeting, we were told about our busy travel day on Monday. We were to stop enroute at Columbia Icefields where we were going to walk on the Columbia Glacier!

Monday was also my birthday, so our Fantasy Ambassadors marked the day with a sign at our campsite and a card!

We got out early -- soon after 8am -- to be able to enjoy the drive to Columbia Icefields!

Part of the route was on Trans Canada 1 which we had traversed during our bus tour on Saturday. Here is another picture of one of the wildlife overpasses. You may be able to tell that there are trees growing on it making it part of the landscape to the animals. There are fences alongside the highway to try to keep wildlife off the highway.

Beautiful views...

... one of our fellow guests on the road in front of us also being treated to the beautiful views!

Soon we took the exit to 93, the Icefields Parkway.

The views along this route...

...were just amazing...

... bright blue skies...

... sometimes lakes with the mountains...

... seemingly around every corner...

... jaw-dropping gorgeousness...

For a while the Parkway traversed next to the North Saskatchewan River.

Still beautiful sights!

We got to Columbia Icefields and parked in the RV parking lot with our fellow travelers.

We could see the glacier from our parking spot but we'd soon be getting much closer.

After fixing a quick lunch, we grabbed warmer jackets and walked over to the Columbia Icefields Discovery center.

Some flowers along the way -- on Saturday, our bus driver called this "Devil's Paintbrush" but when I used Google Lens, it indicated "Giant Indian Paintbrush" (and it looked like Indian Paintbrush from Texas).

I think this was indicated by Google Lens as wild sweet peas.

Information along the way as we walked

View of the glacier as we headed into the building to join our tour.

Heading into the building

We visited the gift shop and waited while our tour ambassadors arranged for our tickets. Eventually, we boarded motor coaches to take us across the road where we transferred onto an Ice Explorer.

Information about the Ice Explorers...

... zoomed in on the information.

Gee whiz facts and figures

Inside the Ice Explorer

I think we were told that this grade was 35%!!!

Lake at the bottom of the glacier

View of the Ice Explorer with some of our group exiting

We were invited to walk out on the glacier within a roped off area.

The Ice Explorers waiting for us to finish.

The group at the upper edge of the roped off area

Beyond the roped-off area was another, smaller version of the Ice Explorer.

We had been encouraged to bring cups to scoop up glacier melt...

... wow - tastes great!

Carl wasn't sure he wanted to try it, but he did...

... no third eye seems to be growing yet!

Views around us of the glacier

You did have to watch where you stepped as there were some melted spots that you could sink your boot into and get wet (and cold).

On the glacier!

After about 20 minutes on the glacier, it was time to re-board our Ice Explorer (we were on the Woodpecker).

The Ice Explorer took us back to the transfer point where we boarded another bus to return to the visitor centre.

A panoramic picture of the area -- we were told that there are 5 glaciers -- besides the one we walked on (Columbia, in the middle), there are 3 additional to the left and one (I think called Dome) on the right (in the picture just by the edge of the building).

Picture from photoboard at the centre

Another picture, zoomed in a bit, of Columbia Glacier. Those small black dots that the red arrow is pointing at are the Ice Explorers that we rode in to get onto the glacier.

It was so beautiful (and there were lots of other folks visiting too as you can see from the cars in the parking lot).

Back to Gracie with the glaciers in the background

One of the frustrating things we experienced is that the parking in the car lot was pretty full, so cars were parking in the area "reserved" for trailers and RVs. We had gotten there early enough in the day that we were able to all park, but by the time we were leaving, there were no spots left for big rigs.

Carl and I decided to make an optional stop on our drive toward Jasper, to stop at Athabasca Falls. We had been told that they have a very large parking lot, but, again, many passenger cars were parked in the RV spaces. We were blessed that there was one RV space left, so we took it... and made the short walk to the falls.

Unlike other falls that we have seen, these are cutting into harder rock...

... the falls are right at eye level.

A video of the falls:

More clouds in the sky at this point, and the river has "rock flour" that makes it more of a milky color.

At another point on the walkway, we had a different view of the falls.

We were glad that we got to see these falls enroute -- we could have driven back the next day, but it was good to see them on the way.

Continuing toward Jasper, more clouds in the sky, and not as much sun, but still beautiful mountains!

As we turned toward Hinton where we would be staying Monday night, we saw an elk alongside the road...

... and more down along the river flowing beside the road.

We elected to go past our campground a few miles and fill up with diesel in Hinton. Several others of our group were also there, so we all got checked in at about the same time a little after 6pm. Since we had left our Banff campground at about 8am, it was a long travel day!

One more funny note... Carl had given me a gift of dark chocolate salted caramels for my birthday. He had gotten them back when we were in Coeur d'Alene, and,

... unfortunately, they had been subjected to some of the heat we experienced in Washington and when we first got in to Canada, and thus had melted into a large blob! We bent the plastic container and got the blob out...

... and then cut them up into bite-sized pieces! Better than gnawing on the blob!!!

What a wonderful day we had for my birthday! I couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day or more enjoyment than seeing the beauty of God's creation! We are, indeed, wonderfully blessed!