July 11, 2013
This morning dawned crispy cool with a mix of blue skies and
heavy clouds. We continued our journey north through Jasper National Park and
lots more spectacular mountains. Our first stop was to look for Mountain Goats
unsuccessfully. Shortly after we arrived at Athabasca Falls and were early
enough to get an RV parking spot. The Athabasca Fall are not very high but lots
of water cascades through a very narrow canyon. The volume today was very high
with all the rain and spring runoff.
After visiting the Falls we disconnected to tour AB93A, the
old route north. This included a side trip up into the mountains to Mount Edith
Cavell (11,100’). We had hard rain and wind on the drive up, but it cleared
somewhat as we neared the top. New fallen snow was evident on nearby mountains
just above us. At the top it was 37F! The top several thousand feet of Cavell
is a rock peak with glaciers. We stopped to see how it changed…as with the other
memorable glaciers from our 2001 trip; it has retreated significantly as a very
large piece broke off last year.
We bypassed Jasper as it has become a big tourist
destination and widely developed like Banff. Picture a mid-sized tourist trap
town in the middle of Yellowstone or Yosemite National Parks. Anyway, as we
headed east on AB16 to Hinton we despaired we had seen no notable wildlife. As
we were driving by Folding Mountain our quest was answered with a group of
Mountain Goats on a hillside right by the road. They were quite close, like 30
yards from us!
Our big game/wildlife list now includes Whitetail Deer, Mule
Deer, Antelope, Coyote, Bison, Wild Horses, Black/Brown Bear, Grizzly Bear,
Elk, Big Horn Sheep, and Mountain Goats. Where is that Bull Moose so I can
score that $5 prize from Stu.
No comments:
Post a Comment