Dylan on Ice

We’ve now travelled the Icefields Parkway, apparently one of the best roads in the world, over the course of two days. The first day had clear blue skies, the second was the complete opposite. However, based on the scenery, it’s definitely one of the, if not the, best drive I’ve ever done. 

We started the first half at the Jasper end of the parkway, ticking off all of the sights up to the Icefields discovery centre, which sits half way. 

The first stop was the Athabasca Falls, you guessed it, waterfalls. 

We then stopped at a viewpoint to admire the mountains in the distance. They have these bear proof bins everywhere, and I couldn’t help but laugh at the vandalism caused to one of them. 

Another waterfall, the Sunwapta Falls, and more views of the surrounding landscape. 

We then made it to the most popular area on the parkway, at the Columbia Icefields centre, and walked up to the Athabasca glacier. 

We continued down the parkway to our last stop for the first day, Parker Ridge, with more stunning views of another glacier. 

We then headed all the way back up to Jasper before tackling the second half of the parkway the next day, in the pouring rain. 

We managed two main stops on the second day, the first being Mistaya Canyon. 

Finally, we made one more stop before calling it a day due to the weather, Peyto Lake. It was incredibly busy here so I decided to take another path where there were very few people about. People get on my nerves at viewpoints as most of them don’t have any common sense and just get in the way.

We made our final journey into Banff along the Bow Valley Parkway, which was refreshingly quiet.