Learning to Let Go, On the Go.
We checked out the free GPS unit to look for the cache in our campground. We tried to find 2 of them and only found one(Scott is good at this, kids and I did one by ourselves and just could not locate the cache-it was somewhere in the middle of a wood pile). After lunch we headed to Maligne Canyon(really it is a gorge). It was so calming and peaceful with the sound of the water rushing through the canyon.
The drive from Banff to Jasper is spectacular! We drove down to the Columbia Icefields and took a bus up onto the Athabasca Glacier(it is the most visited glacier in North America, probably because it is one of the most accessible). This glacier has been shrinking for the past 125 years and has lost half it’s volume and receded 1.5 kms. Athabasca is 6 kilometers wide and 1 kilometer long. The Columbia Icefields behind it feed this glacier and 5 others. This is one of only 2 places in the world where there is a triple continental divide(water flows north to the Artic, east to the Atlantic and west to the Pacific). It was very cool to be standing on a glacier ice that is thousands of years old, but wasn’t quite worth the money.
We loved Jasper National Park so much that we stayed an extra day with no hookups. We were dry camping in Jasper at Whistler Campground. Wonderful campground! We biked to town after we got set up and kids had ice cream by the visitor center while we used the free wifi. Cute little town! Then we headed home for dinner and a game of Settlers Jr. Kids love this game(Scott and I love the adult version: Settlers of Zarahemla).
