The first hour or so retraced our route of yesterday along Canada 1 as far as Lake Louse. These spectacular long horned sheep were spotted beside the road.
On this stretch we once again climbed over Kicking Horse Pass, and you can see the effect of the "figure of eight" tunnel. The right hand photo shows the front of the train emerging from the bottom of the tunnel, while the rest of the train is still entering the top of the tunnel. This rather odd arrangement of tunnels was the only way they could avoid the original 4.5% gradient, which proved too steep to be negotiated safely.
We turned onto the Icefield Parkway at Lake Louise. A glorious road that leads up to the top of the Columbia Icefield. The Columbia Icefield sits astride the Continental Divide of North America. The icefield lies partly in the northwestern tip of Banff and the southern end of Jasper National Parks. It receives up to seven metres (23 ft) of snowfall per year. The icefield feeds eight major glaciers. The Athabasca Glacier is visible from the Icefield Parkway and has receded significantly in the last 100 years. One can travel onto the glacier in "snow coaches", but passing over the col in mist, we decided that the trip today would be a waste of money.
Instead we stopped at the National Park Centre and had a chat with this Mountie Bear, before descending down the other side of the col. Melt water from the Icefield feeds rivers that run into 3 oceans, Arctic, Pacific and Atlantic.
Once we got lower down, the sun came out, and we could enjoy the views of the snow capped mountain tops.
There was even an artist sitting beside a river painting the scene
All Seasons B&B– Jasper. They say about themselves " We are located in the heart of Jasper just one half a block from Jasper's best restaurants, trendy cafés, and unique shops. We are also conveniently close to the tourist information centre, bus depot and the train station. As long time residents of Jasper, we have experienced much of what this beautiful mountain park has to offer. We look forward to being able to share any of this information with you" All Seasons web site "
All Seasons was not a B&B, as they did not do breakfast, but it was only a few yards into the shops, or we could make our own breakfast from the small kitchen in the apartment. The apartment was fairly basic, and suffered from other guests looking straight in as they negotiated the steps outside the bedroom window. Nevertheless it did offer good value for money as it was not expensive.