Gilbert and Jenna's Alaska Adventure

Tuesday, June 14
Day 6

Today we left Lake Louise for a short 98 mile trip to the Columbian Ice Fields which are roughly 1/2 way between Lake Louise and Jasper. The ice fields are located in the Jasper National Park and Lake Louise is located in Banff National Park. The trip was mostly uphill as the ice fields are located at about 7000 feet. On the way we saw a black bear and a grizzly bear - our first bear sightings. The black bear was just off the road and we only saw him because of the Bear Jam. A Bear Jam is defined as many cars pulling off the road to let occupants look at bears. We joined the bear jam by pulling our RV onto the shoulder. Some people were within 8 - 10 ft. of the bear and he quietly munched on vegetation along the road. He didn't seem the least bit interested in anyone. His coat was jet-black and he wasn't too large. Later, we pulled into a rest area with about 10 other RV from out caravan. Art came running up to our window and excitedly told us that there was a big black bear close by. We saw a big brown grizzly bear strolling along side the parking area totally oblivious to everyone watching and snapping pictures. I managed to get some good shots of him.

Shortly after the bear sighting, we arrived at the Columbia Ice Fields. We, along with all of our caravan and about 10 more RV's used the parking lot as our campground for the night. Jenna and I parked at the end of the lot with the side of our trailer facing the glacier and the mountains. What a beautiful view we had. There were actually 5 different glaciers within view of our trailer. About 4:00 we loaded a bus to go to the staging area to get ready to go on the glacier. The glacier we went to was the Athabaska glacier. Water from this ice field actually flows in three different directions. It goes north to the Arctic Ocean, west to the Pacific, and east to the Atlantic. That makes this area a triple continental divide. Once we reached the staging area we loaded a snocoach for the trip onto the glacier. Snocoaches are large (70 passenger) buses on huge tires. Each tire is about 6' tall and 36" wide. The rime is 25" wide. Each coach costs about 3/4 of a million dollars and there at 12 of them at the ice fields. They are the only machines especially designed to be driven on a glacier. The only other one in the world is used in Antarctica. Our trip onto the glacier started by going downhill on a 38 degree angle. The coach was almost standing on it front end as we went down. A short 10 minute ride to us to where we could get off onto the glacier. A storm blew in just as we arrived and it was snowing like crazy while we were there. It was also quite windy and extremely cold. What a rush; another thing to mark off the bucket list. We had a great time throwing snowballs and playing on the ice. We had been advised to take a cup to drink the glacier water. It was so clean, clear and refreshing - and COLD! We stayed on the glacier about 20 minutes before the return trip to the staging area and a bus ride back to the visitor center. They told us that they usually get 30-40 ft. of snow each winter and they only operate the center and coaches from April - September. The building has been designed to expand and contract with the temperature. They told us that the mid winter temperature reaches to -59 degrees and that the building contracts up to 1 meter. I guess there is a major repair job come each April. All 120 employees live in a building close to the center - the guide described it as "a summer camp with a liquor license."

After our ride we had a travel briefing for tomorrow's travel and the staff served us cheesecake. Then we returned to our rigs for dinner and sleep. The wind blew about 30 mph and the temp dropped to 40 degrees. All of the motorhomes have generators so they had no problems. The 3 5th wheels had to rely on battery power. It did a good job of running the furnace and water pump, but we didn't use the lights as it would drain the battery too fast. We went to bed about 9:30 - it was still light outside - and managed to sleep warmly all night. Tomorrow we travel to Valemount - about 135 mile northwest. Til tomorrow - Happy Trails!!