Day 12 – Tuesday August 17, 2010
Kilometres: 293.1
Time: Seven and half hours, including stops
Weather:
Rocky Mountain House: Overcast, 12 C at 9 AM
The icefields: smoky, 2 C on the glacier, at the excursion centre: smoky and 16 C
The Crossing (hwys 11 & 93): Light smok, bright, 24 C at 4:30
It rained overnight so that cleaned a lot of bugs off of my bike as I didn’t put the cover on. I had the best breakfast of the trip: cheese omelette, cinnamon roll, a banana and coffee. I’m gain weight from the processed, salty food, and I am starting to feel a bit sluggish.
Last night I got all my cold weather gear unpacked and ready for the morning. It was so chilly that I simply decided to wear everything at the beginning of the trip to save pulling over later on. It was a good idea, as I was soon riding through the Rocky Mountains Forest Reserve. The road was a bit twisty, which made it fun to ride, and the hills slowly got larger. I saw my first wildlife here. A coyote stood looking back up the road behind me. It was just beyond the ditch at the side of the road. I actually thought it was a cross fox, but it had white on it. Later, when I was looking in a gift store, I saw a postcard that looked exactly like the canine I’d seen.
The weather started to close in – or I should say, I met the weather. The further I rode, the high the hills, and because of the low cloud cover, I was riding into clouds. No, this wasn’t fog, as fog sits close the ground. When I rode into valleys, the visibility cleared up. At one point in the ride, which lasted about 20 minutes, I crawled along at about 60 kph because I could see less than 250 metres in front of me. I know that for a fact, because several times I saw signs saying, “Right lane ends in 250 metres.” I couldn’t see that far ahead of me to see the merging lanes.
Gas was a huge concern, as there are few towns out in this area. I stopped at a little place called Nordegg, which is an old coal mining town (now offering ghost town tours!). This looked like the last gas stop until who-knows-when. But the best sign I read today was at the Nordegg city limits. It said, “No hunting in town.” I topped up my tank ($3.50) and headed for Banff National Park.
At this point I was beginning to freeze. I had five layers on, including my heavy, winter hiking socks and hiking boots. But my feet and hands were cold and so was my nose. When I got to the toll gate at park’s entrance I stopped and put on my rain-off gloves, hoping that they would offer a bit more protection from the wind.
I would love to go back to Blackfoot Motorcycle in Calgary as they carry all sorts of clothing that is not available in Toronto. I guess that is another reason for a return trip.
I saw a doe at the side of the rode. It was too close to the rode for comfort, and I hoped that it didn’t feel like wandering in front of me. I pulled in my clutch and revved my engine, hoping it wouldn’t come in my direction. Like the old saying goes, the deer froze, and I rode by. The one thing that really struck me about the doe was how large its black nose was. It just looked out of proportion.
I was soon at highways 11 and 93, known as the Saskatchewan Crossing, or simply The Crossing. It contains one complex with a motel, a gift store, gas, and restaurant. All owned by the same people. I pulled in for gas, and was shocked at the price. Elsewhere in Alberta, gas was between 93 and 95. Here it was 1.28. Nonetheless, I topped up the tank, and headed north to the Columbia Icefield.
On the left is a picture of the road I'd just ridden ... and I still wasn't at the top of the Icefields Parkway. The haze is from the forest fires.
The mountains on either side of 93 (also called the Icefield Parkway) are much different than the ones to the south. These are higher in elevation, seem to have sharper peaks, and many of these mountains are snow covered in areas. Because of their height, the treeline is clearly visible. I stopped at few turnouts on the way north. I saw Bridal Veil Falls, where the water comes from a huge height (probably over 9,000 feet).
At one point, I saw cars on both sides of the road pulling over. I pulled over and grabbed my camera. About three car lengths ahead of me and in the bushes the other side of the road ditch was a big brown bear feeding on berries. I snapped off a few quick pictures and left. I just don’t trust large animals that can run faster than me, and have very sharp claws.
There were a couple of steep parts in the roads, and it was at times very twisty. At some point the sun tried to shine through, but it wasn’t clear sunshine. As the heavy cloud cover dissipated, the sky still didn’t seem clear.
I was soon at the Icefield, where I show my pre-paid ticket to both the two hour hike and tothe snow bus excursion. But my timing was off. I could do one but not the other as the times overlapped. If I tried to do both, I wouldn’t get back to my motel (at The Crossing) until about 7 PM. That was waaaay too late for me, even though it would still be light. I opted to do the snow bus and then was given a full refund for the hike. Yup, another reason to come back this way again.
I took the 1:30 tour bus, for the 8 minute ride up to the transfer station. There, my little group of about 50 got onto snow bus. The tires on this thing are 5 foot 4 inches tall (see pic on the left).
The bus took us down one of the steepest navigatable hills in the world. It was an 18%grade drop over only about 200 metres. (See pic on the left.) It was very steep and very bumpy. I had my helmet on the seat beside me, and it began sliding off. Part of the road is not paved because the glacier moves the area about a metre and half every year. Once the bus was on the ice, the climb was up hill, and not as bumpy. Interestingly, they have diverted some of the melt water into a little river, which is about two meters wide and about 15 centemetres deep. This washes the moraine debris from the tires. This debris, when deposited on the ice, absorbs heat from the sun, which contributes to making the ice melt quicker.
The ice is very dirty. When it snows on the icefield, the snow attaches to particles in the air, which are the deposited on the ice. I found out that the air was hazy because of smoke from the forest fires in BC. Even the wind blowing the ash particles onto the ice will increase its melting. In about 100 years, the Columbia icefied will be gone and in its place will be a glacier lake.
I have always wandered about the beautiful turquoise colour of many of the lakes and rivers in the Rockies. As the glacier melts, it rubs against the side of the mountains and on the valley floor. The ice slowly wears away at the bedrock, and the small particles are picked up by the melt water and eventually carried to the sea. It is the “rock flour” (small bedrock particles) that gives the water its colour. Only glacier fed lakes and river have that colour.
Anyways, enough lessons. Out little group got off the snow bus and ventured onto the ice. It was slushy ice. About three kilometres from where we stood was the head of the glacier. Downhill, the toe of the glacier seemed so small, yet longer from this perspective. Every now and then I looked down and saw a tiny river moving under a thin layer of ice beneath my feet. Around the “safe” perimeter designated for tourists, was a fast flowing, beautifully clear running river of melt water. It was mesmerizing to watch it as it slowly wound its way down into the small lake at the toe of the glacier.
On the left is a picture of the melt water river with the head of the Columbia glacier in the distance.
It was very windy on the glacier, and as the guide later explained, this is because of the cold air created by the glacier moving down to the toe. Cold are sinks, while hot air rises. Being in the middle o the glacier means that wind created from all the ice above us, is streaming downwards, thus creating a lot of wind. On the ice, it was 2 C, not including the windchill.
Directly to the south is the Andromeda glacier (pictured at left), which sits on top of Mount Andromeda. I thought it was a more spectacular sight than being on the icefield. A few rivers and waterfalls came from the glacier, which looked spectacular.
I was on the glacier for about 20 minutes, which doesn’t seem like a long time, but it was enough to see and do everything.
The hour and half excursion seemed to fly by and I was soon unlocking my motorcycle cover and prepping for the trip back The Crossing. Interestingly, I had parked directly in front of a moraine, which was deposited by the glacier in 1844. Since then it had retreated three kilometres. I checked the temperature at it was 16 C, which is quite a difference from the 2 C on the glacier.
The ride back to The Crossing was uneventful. I was still a bit cold, but I knew a good meal and a cold beer would soon make be feel better. I soon found out that The Crossing is nothing more than a tourist trap. If I wanted toast, it would cost me $4.83. A small coffee was $3. A bowl of soup was just over $8. I ordered fish and chips and a beer for the cheap price of $23.
The good points were that I had the quietist night and the darkest night. Even thought I slept well, I didn’t want to stay an extra second. I unpacked only what I needed for the night (a lesson I had learnt from the Howard Johnsons) and kept the rest of the stuff locked on the bike. I was ready for a quick getaway in the morning.
Finally, here's a picture of the entire icefield from the Excursion Centre, which is located beside the moraine left by the glacier in 1844. It's retreated quite a long way.
