July10 Lake Louise to Jasper

Busy day. 

First stop: Lake Louise. First discovered  by Europeans and named Emerald Lake, it was renamed after Queen Victoria's 4th daughter. The original First Nation's name was Ho-run-num-nay (Lake of the Little Fishes). As you can see from the picture, the setting is spectacular.  The lake itself is not huge,but the color and surrounding mountains make it. The color comes from the glacier runoff called "glacier flour" from the fine silt of the ground up rocks and dirt from the moving glacier.

Back on the bus to the Columbia Ice Field, the source for the largest glaciers in North America. First lunch, then onto other busses to the base of the Abathasca glacier. We boarded a kind of snow tractor to take us up on the glacier. See the picture for the size of the tires. Once there, we walked 50 yards up. Of course, it was slippery, and I became the support, as Ann had left her walking stick on our original bus down in the parking lot. It was a LOT colder, and she had bought new sweat pants.  The glacier has receded about 250 yards since the early part of the 20th century. 

Another 2 hours on the bus to Jasper, a cute little town, also on the railroad line. Our hotel room overlooks the station.  We'll see how noisy it is overnight.