Ice Fields – We Finally Get to See Some Glaciers

Hinton, Alberta, CA – Thursday, July 7, 2011

The main event today was the Ice Field Centre in Banff National Park.  The Centre has an interesting museum and on the upper decks fantastic views of the Ice Fields. We also saw the last bit of an avalanche as we stood on the observation deck.

The Centre is a very popular destination.  There were so many here today, a Thursday, we’d hate to see it on the weekend. Maybe they’re retired or it’s just summer vacation time.  A majority of the visitors seemed to be oriental. EJ has been wanting to see a RCMP in full dress, so while at the center we came across this guy.

Glacier Buses that you could ride out onto the ice fields were also available (for $50 pp).  Or for free, you could park within a quarter mile of the glacier toe and walk right up to it. 

We stopped at several more vistas including a walk to the Athabasca Falls.  The roar and power of these falls was mesmerizing.

We were trying to make it to Grande Cache tonight, but the clouds in that direction were starting to look very ominous.  After some discussion, we alter our destination to Hinton.  Good thing we did, because shortly afterwards it began to rain.  We found out later, that 200 mm of rain was predicted in the area we were originally headed. For the non-metric folks, that’s just shy of 8 inches. Walmart parking lot, here we come.

As the evening progressed the RV population at Walmart increased from 8 to about 30.  Popular place.  The two local commercial campgrounds looked like they were full, so maybe this is just overflow.  Or, maybe they’re trying to stretch their loonies, just  like us.

BG Miles Today	138	BG Total Miles	3888
Eat Out total $	290.41	BG Total Fuel $	2033.41
Entertainment total $	104.1	Total Camping $	541.88
E Miles Today	.15	E Total Miles	1515.15
E Total Fuel $	303.59	Day # of Trip	37