Another rainy day and we are heading down the Icefields Parkway to Banff (actually our campground is in Canmore, the first town outside of Banff National Park). There is some beautiful scenery along the Parkway but the weather limited our photo opportunities. Susie kept her camera going out the window of the moving truck in an effort to capture some of the views. Those views that we could see makes one understand why they are called the Rocky Mountains. At this latitude and altitude, the tops of the mountains are barren rocks, unless they are snow covered. After crossing the first of the high passes, we knew were on the way home because the glaciers drained to the Saskatchewan River and ultimately to the Atlantic.

The Parkway crosses the highest passes we have encountered on this trip. Two passes were in excess of 6,700 feet (2,060 meters) and were a tough climb for the truck and trailer. Most of the road is at an elevation that averages approximately 4000 feet. In fact, the campground is at and elevation of 4,296 feet, so we are still in pretty high country.

Icefield Parkway Scenes
The Athabasca Glacier, right, is covered with a cloud. This cloud covers the area where we walked two days earlier. It would not have been as pleasant on the glacier and much of the view would have been obscured.
The view from our trailer this evening