Day 27 At Hinton after the Icefield Parkway July 1, 2011

(There is a day skipped and I will remedy that.)

Day 27 July 1, 2011 Enroute to Hinton,AB via the Icefield Parkway

We are going to try one more time to get to see and photograph Peyto Lake As we closed camp and headed up Hwy #1 it look propitious and a much better weather wise day than Thursday. The sun was peeking through, the Cougar did not show up in the park, and we were on our way.

It was good to see the wildlife overpasses (bridges) and the 20-30 mile long fences on both sides of the road to protect the wildlife. MOst of that project is now completed with a little finishing touches left. (Some of the bridges don’t have their trees planted yet. ) The main stop was Peyto Lake with both the Athapasca and Sunwapta Falls right behind. The weather Gods were with us as even though the temperature dropped to 37 F at 7,000 feet when we reached the Bow Summit (the look out for Peytyo Lake) the sun was staying out more than it was hiding. Ruth got her pictures and we assisted some tourists in taking a group shot. The blue green of the lake is caused by the dust particles of rock that float in the water and as the suns rays hit them they emit the blue/green colors to the eye. The walkway was icy and slippery from the overnight snow so we had to be careful.

Then it was to Sunwapta Falls where the river has cut a deep canyon through the granite-like rock and makes a very quick 90 degree turn into chasm below the falls, and there is a lot of churning water here. (Notice we are not mentioning the birds as we have not seen them at all. Maybe it is too cold?) There are two bridges that make access to the falls easy for most. The walk to the falls is a few yards from the parking lot. Most of the stops that are recommended have toilets and there are NO commercial entities anywhere on the Parkway except at Lake Louise and at Saskatchewan Crossing .(Gas and food, well, gift stores, too) . The stop at Saskatchewan Falls is similar only here the river (same name) is much larger and carries much more volume. It was probably one that undercut the rock at one time, but now slices through the hard rock and carries down the water some 1,000 yards of cataracts and drops. The old channel it cut is no longer the channel so it is dry but still cut deep into the rock. The river ends up in a frothing, white mass of water, with attendant spray, moving swiftly between two walls of resistant rock.

We found a quiet spot to eat at the side of the road and continued after stopping for gas at the only stop on the Parkway ... Saskatchewan Crossing . It was $1.65/L or about $4.95 /gallon. Whew! Remember we lose 7 cents on the Canadian dollar.

As we moved north it was obvious that the Sunwapta River which enters into the Saskatchewan is becoming wider and more like the glacial rivers in the upper BC and Yukon. They are flat , meandering, and filed with gravel. Now the valley is wide and the mountains start to get rounded , rather than with those sharp edges we have seen. The Canadian Rockies begin to move NW away from a true north to South line. We will pick them up again just inside the Yukon Territory at Swift River when the Alcan Highway moves west to Alaska. They rather parallel the Alcan Highway until that point and then the Continental divide travels north through the Yukon to the Arctic Ocean.

Technically there are two highways. First the Alaskan Highway that travels from Delta Junction AK to Dawson Creek BC and the East access route from Edmonton to Dawson Creek. The Canadian portion was first called the Canadian Military Highway. There are many good reads of the Alaskan Highway and how it as built so quickly. Today it is paved all the way with some construction improving it’s route each summer.

Back to the day’s event!

We did arrive into Hinton, stopped in town for groceries , and some reasonable gas ($1.18/L) , but when I turned into the KOA, just outside town I was directed to the “first drive” and a left turn. It happened that it was a residence and was downhill with no cul d’ sac to turn around. After about four attempts to reverse the situation I managed to get on track and turn into the KOA . We had reserved the site and it was good we did, as this was Canada Day weekend and would have been full had we not. It is an open campground but friendly and with warm host and hostesses. It is good to be off the road for tomorrow we take AB 40 for 180 miles, across a “timber and wildlife” road to get to the Alcan Highway at Grand Prairie. Hopefully we will see more than logging trucks on this potentially wildlife filled road through the wilderness. (There is one town about a third of the way.) It is a camping, hunting and fishing paradise.