In July of 2013 Ken Godowski, a long-time friend from Colorado, joined me for a 10 day road trip to the Canadian Rockies. This grand stretch of the Rocky Mountain range is home to the Rocky’s biggest glaciers and icefields and its most massive peaks, some rising precipitously 10,000 vertical feet from their base.
The next leg of our trip took us North on the Icefields Parkway, one of the most scenic roads in North America. Stopping for night at Wilcox Creek Campground, we enjoyed short but scenic hikes on Parker Ridge, Wilcox Pass and to the retreating terminus of the Athabaska Glacier – perhaps the most famous river of ice in the Rockies. After passing through the mountain town of Jasper the next day for lunch, we drove to the Northern terminus of our Rockies road trip: a two-night backpack in Mount Robson Provincial Park, home to the highest and grandest peak in the Canadian Rockies.
Standing at the valley floor at an elevation of 2700 ft, craning our necks skyward toward the 12,972 summit of Mt. Robson, less than 5 miles away as the crow flies, we are struck by the sheer, monstrous vertical relief, over 10,000 feet in all. Looking like some giant icy monolith transplanted from the Himalayas, Mt. Robson stands head and shoulders above all the other great peaks of the Canadian Rockies, in terms of altitude, scale and in the severity of the weather on it’s freshly snow-whitened crown. The weather down at the visitor center and campground was hot, in the low 90’s, even while icy clouds brooded nearly Robson’s summit. After a warm relaxing afternoon of rest and a good night’s sleep, we awake at 4:00 AM the next morning to begin our 12 mile backpack while the day is still cool.
After filling up with gas and ice cream in Jasper, the last leg of our trip gave us the chance to see the Icefields Parkway from the other direction, as we drove back South to the Posh and Touristy town of Banff. Ken’s flight out of Calgary was the next day, as was my 12 hour drive back home to Western Washington. The drive home was relatively fast and uneventful, other than the small bit of bear spray I got in my eyes while emptying the can before crossing the border (bear spray is not allowed over the border). We had an excellent trip and were able to get an good introduction to Banff and Jasper National Parks and Mount Robson Provincial Park – enough of an introduction to know we’ll be back again someday.
2 replies on “Canadian Rockies, July 2013”
Great pictures as ever. Wish I was there. Thanks!
I really enjoyed the photos.
Maybe they should label that ‘Les spray’?