Two Hams on the Road

Saturday, August 1, 2015

We’re still outside Jasper National Park in Alberta, Canada.  We decided to take our longest drive today and drive up to Athabasca Falls.  This is a three day holiday weekend in Alberta, Canada (Heritage Day), similar to our Labor Day and we were expecting it to be crowded.  It actually wasn’t bad.

Our first stop was for wild life, more elk.  There were three, sleeping in the grass next to the road.  Two were ignoring the tourists and this one seemed to be saying, “Stop bothering me and go away!”

Farther down the road were more elk and I just missed getting a picture of these two touching noses.  You’ll have to use your imagination. 

The scenery on the way up to the falls was outstanding.

And the falls were gorgeous.

Another picture of the falls.

The rock formations in this area intrigue us, and seem unlike others we’ve seen.

We left the falls and headed for Mount Edith Cavell, which has become one of my favorite mountains.  We drove into the backcountry of the park on a narrow winding road with some spectacular views.

Mount Edith Cavell can be seen from far away, but here’s a close up.

I’ve become intrigued with the lines of snow when the mountains nearby have none.

This is the valley “next” to Edith Cavell.

And one of the glaciers you can see from near Mount Edith Cavell.

Steve managed to catch a chipmunk who was just sure I must have something for him.

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Later, he caught a movement out of the corner of his eye and, with lots of patience, managed to catch this shot of a marmot, a large member of the squirrel family.

Our last wild life shot of the day was of this big horned sheep (which we’ve been calling mountain goats.)

We drove through more beautiful scenery as we left the park, so here’s one last picture.

We have two more days in Jasper and then we head for Banff National Park.

Deb