It was August 16 night, back from Lake Louise and Six Glaciers, all of us were still in excitement. After shower, I proposed we going Banff to do laundry and have dinner at McDonald's. This was agreed upon. We carefully calculated the time and made sure the closing time of Laundromat could be met. However, an important fact was missed: the time difference between Pacific Time and Mountain Time. The consequence of this ignorance was obvious:). We still caught McDonald's, and enjoyed driving under a skyful of bright stars.
Monday morning, we set out for Jasper, another national park 100 miles to the north. Along the Banff-Jasper highway we met Bow Lake, which was feed by the Bow Glacier and was the headwater of Bow River. The lakeshore was a bit tilted to its feeder, like a bow cord. My guess was this was how the lake got its name.
Continue going north, about 15 miles more, was Mistaya Canyon. Water fought rock heavily and cut deep scars over its face. Standing at the edge of the canyon, the book of millions of years' natural history was clearly shown before us: the potholes witnessed how rapid swirls washed over, and the wave line on lime rock told how water rushed by into the downstream Saskatchwan River. There must ever be dinosaur wading through, elephants drinking and our far far away ancestors awing before the power of nature. Now came me, a young, new visitor to spread its grand name.
Go 30 miles further towards Jasper, the road expanded greatly and on the left side, appeared an enormous ice field. That was Columbia Icefield, 325 square kilometer in coverage and up to 1000 feet in ice depth. The part we could explore by hiking, was just a small part of it -- the Athabasca Glacier. Warning signs were all around on the path ways, but that didn't hinder us to hike to the upper limit of hiking trail. When we made the top, everyone was so excited that Ping directly lied down to get maximum contact with the most gigantic ice block she ever saw :D.
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