Driving Through the Clouds

The drive from Lake Louise to Jasper was incredibly scenic - unfortunately, it was a rainy, snowy, cloudy day so we didn't get to see as much as we might have been able. But we did still get a bunch of great, misty photos. Want to see?

When we first left Lake Louise, we drove by this gorgeous river (the Athabasca I think) - it's almost the same colour as the lakes!

My dad was saying that this blue originates from the dust of the glaciers (dust created when 2 pieces of ice rub against each other).

We drove around & beside the river for a stretch, watching it change to a paler blue.

The mountains were hard to see - you could tell there was a lot hiding behind the clouds.

As we got higher & higher into the mountains, it got really cold (the lowest point was 2^oC). It rained on & off, and at one quick rest stop, a local told us we had just missed a snowstorm.

Indeed, there was evidence of snow along the side of the road for most of the trip.

This was the stone marker at the border between Banff & Jasper National Parks (the Sunwapta pass marks the border).

Here I am reading the sign (about the changing sizes of the parks over the years) beside it. As you can see, I'm pretty cold & there's snow underfoot.

A little further along, we came over a ridge & saw the road ahead climbing in front of us. First, it went down into a huge loop, then quickly rose the side of a mountain. At the top, there was a place to stop for photos.

On one side you could see the road we had just taken - on the other, a waterfall rushing into the valley below.

Just a last couple photos of a neat cloud belt I caught just before we got to Jasper. We stayed at Pocahontas cabins, just outside of town. It was a cute campground & we were happy to wake up to bright sunshine. We went to Miette hot springs in the morning & a horseback ride in Hinton in the afternoon.... but you'll see more of that later this week!