Canadian Rockies: The detour via Jasper. Day 3

Hey Steemies!!

On this final day of our weekend getaway, it was time to pack up the suite, load the truck and get on the long road ahead to return home. Typically , Canmore to Edmonton is really only a four and half hour drive, @silvergingerman suggested we take the scenic route home via jasper. In other words, drive further into the mountain pass in the opposite direction of where we need to go until we get out the other side and can catch the highway north again. Sounds counter productive , YAY I like it! Lets do it!

When we go in the Banff area, we always stay in Canmore because it's just as beautiful and it's quiet, more of a local resort town than an international hotspot therefore accommodations are cheaper. We never give it's surrounding beauty the attention and exploring it deserves being busy exploring everywhere else( I swear it's huge, you can't run out of hikes or lakes to visit). Before we left we had to do a quick drive around and appreciate it's charm.

Shot 1/250 sec. f/8 40mm, ISO 100

Frankly, I could live here, If I won the loto, became somebody on steemit or any situation where I didn't have to work in my trade to pay the bills...perhaps retirement! one can dream I suppose. Even the pooches have it good here, we came across the most beautiful dog park we had to stop( hang tight...it has a lot to do with the story)

Shot 1/250 sec. f/8 26mm, ISO 100

We found a road that goes up the mountain in the picture and it was still open and maintained. You guessed it, we had to keep going . We looked at the precautions and vehicle requirements and safety alerts and such. Turns out it's an avalanche area and poor road conditions only stop in designated areas. Fair enough, the beginning of the drive up was a bit sketchy but ok, then the road turned into one you would see on an Indiana Jones movie. The narrow road was carved out of avalanche debris left behind. We had yet to see any other vehicles at this point, cracked a few jokes about the avalanche area and the rocks and debris in the road, Finally the first vehicle we encountered was the avalanche clearing plow on it's way off the mountain...meaning it had just cleaned the road and there was already new debris!! Laughed about it for a while longer and cracked a few more jokes as the unsettling thoughts about the road's safety started to flow ( we had a road collapse from under the tire almost plunging us down a cliff in a previous excursion few years back). As reality was setting in as to what we were driving on, we came across a clearing in the trees that revealed just how high we really were on this narrow winding mountainside sketchy road, my heart stopped beating for a moment, @silvergingerman too!! he might deny it but I saw the look of slight panic for a split second, I'm sure it was the same expression I had. To the left of us was the spectacular view of the town of Canmore from probably around 6000 ft in elevation.

Shot 1/250 sec. f/8 46mm, ISO 100

The roads were starting to get icy, we eventually turned around much later when we reached the plateau where the mountain splits onto 3 peaks and it was safe to do so. I took the above picture on the way back down tightly gripped to the camera while the nothingness next to the road was now on my side of the truck. I think on that mountain, things got too real too quick, we needed to get going towards Jasper anyway since this time of year the sun sets at around 5pm and we had a few target areas we wanted to visit and photograph on the way before we lost too much sunlight.

Shot 1/400 sec. f/11 31mm, ISO 200

We generally travel via the Bow Valley Parkway when we go from Banff towards jasper and I highly recommend the experience ,it's a sight for sore eyes with many scenic stops that take you up and down the mountains but this time we needed to cut time so we went express on the highway until Lake Louise. One of our target was of course the famous Columbia ice fields so we eventually had to take the Ice fields parkway as it is the only road that gets there. It was no disappointment! We could see the storms on the peaks where we were headed. From below , they look like pretty clouds adding character to the gorgeous landscape but reality and our experiences says they are actually mad snow storms happening.

Shot 1/400 sec. f/11 18mm, ISO 200

I'm naturally an over-thinker and being in the car enjoying the landscape with some Metallica playing loudly gave me the perfect opportunity to sort out the million thoughts, questions and realizations I had made this weekend. Oddly enough as you are driving up and down the mountains, you don't really notice the change in elevation until you get to the top or open area and get a true visual, you can't really see roads on the mountains from the valleys either. I suppose if you were there for the first time you would have no idea where you are going or where you currently are(don't worry one long road, can't get lost), in the summer when the climate is temperate, you would have no idea what elevation you are either. In the fall, the climate seemed to change at every elevation getting worse as we got closer to the ice fields . We chanced that the road might be inaccessible because of the current storms. Still hard to tell from a distance but I was secretly hoping that the storms were directly over the glaciers even if it meant bad roads just to get a snapshot or even a chance to simply view.

Shot 1/500 sec. f/11 31mm, ISO 100

My prayers were answered , multiple wicked storms over the Columbia ice fields. Once swarming in tourists just a few weeks prior, was now an abandoned area. We were the only ones there, we were the only ones that had been there in a while too since the only tracks in the snow were ours. No birds, no animals...no sound but the howling winds from all the surrounding storms and the echo that intensified it's already intimidating appearance. We didn't go hike towards the glacier area for obvious reasons, instead stood by the closed visitor center with a distance view taking in the moment( happy I wasn't in the storm).

Shot 1/400 sec. f/11 26mm, ISO 200

As I stood in the desolate area, I couldn't help but think, as intimidating as those storms were, the glaciers are so impressive that it actually made the storms seem so small. As small as it made the storm appear, the glaciers is actually just the tip of the mountain. In other words, the tip of a mountain made several storms look small. Wow that is the only way I can put size into perspective for you. It was now time to get going, as amazing as this was, it wasn't the grand finally we had in mind, we had to continue on our mission to get to our anticipated destination before sundown. As we got back down towards the valley, the temperature was getting better and we were back into the fall landscape expected this time of year but we were losing daylight fast, it was now 4 pm and we were near our next target. Athabasca Falls, a place we hold dear but that's for another story,another day.

The original plan was just to take a quick peek at the waterfall but once there, I changed my mind once I saw how emerald colored the water was and I wanted to take a quick jog down by the river,I couldn't help myself! Luckily off season means not busy so I could go as fast as wanted thru the narrow corridors once carved by the flowing river.

Shot 1/160 sec. f/9 18mm, ISO 400

This day was turning out to be a sensory overload experience, it wasn't over yet and this was just another check stop and not the goal in mind yet. It was now 4:30 pm and tic- toc, now time was of the essence, we still had ways to go before we reached Jasper and get to the main event for the closing of the trip. As we raced against time we finally reached Jasper...so close! Our target was a field just outside the town of Jasper where large herds of elk run along the road near sundown. We might make it in time but doesn't mean there will be elk, I guess it's up to the universe now.Turns out we made it...and there was wildlife...lots of wildlife! The gods of the land had spoken and gave me my moment. There was a herd of over 30 elk running alongside the truck as we were slowly driving ( in case one decides to cross the road unexpectedly) I couldn't catch them all with my camera.

Shot 1/60 sec. f/8 65mm, ISO 800

Overall, this weekend delivered everything we expected and so much more. As we leave the mountains I can't help but think about the next time I return, what will I do? where will I go? So many things I have yet to see to explore in the area but going 3 days at a time to visit such a vast landscape is so little time, I still think someday I will end up living there and just explore everyday, it's just a matter of time. For now, the week-end long daydream we had just lived thru was over and now time to head north to Edmonton.

All images were taken with Nikon D7000 and sigma lense

Cheers friends! xox