Our Alaska Trip Part VII Inspirational Moments

This is the seventh in a continuing series about our trip through Canada to Alaska

“Sit awhile and relax, enjoy the beauty that surrounds you:  Towering mountains, soaring birds, whispering pines and awe-inspiring waterfalls.  I am here in the essence of nature. So until we meet again, live life to its fullest for we are here but for a little while.”

From a plaque honoring the accidental death of Barry George Wall at Lower Sunwapta Falls.

Okay, I’ve got to agree with Monique – “It’s all soooo gorgeous!”

I’ve been trying to focus in these blogs on what you might find helpful if you decide to make the trip to Alaska, but while you’re reading all that, we are here reveling in the scenery.

We spent last night in a parking lot; no hook-ups, listing to the left, snow flurries coming at us, NO INTERNET.  But don’t spend too much time pitying us.  The view from the left side of the trailer was spectacular, as the photo above proves.   Outside our window was a glacier only about 80 meters away – oops, we’ve been here five days and I already sound like a Canuck – 250 feet from us.

The Columbia Icefield in Alberta, Canada, is vast, the culmination of many glaciers that produce the only triple continental divide in the world.  The run-off feeds the Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic Oceans.  Ice 1,000 feet deep, but far less than in centuries past, slowly melts away as the climate warms.  You need to get here in the next 300 years to really appreciate its grandeur.  And throwing facts, figures and descriptions at you isn’t quite the same as seeing the pale blue ice from the “glacial flour” under your feet.  It’s another WOW!

And here’s a defense of signing up for a caravan going to Alaska.  The cost of the bus and the Brewster Ice Explorer is $49.00 per person.  “Well, should we go?  We can see the glacier from the visitors’ center anyway.”   Had we been on our own, we would have hesitated before pulling out the plastic that would have enabled us to walk on the ice.  Had we saved the $$$, we would have missed a very memorable experience.  For us, we didn’t have to decide because it was included in our registration, along with the $16.90 for entering the National Park.

Oh, and a caveat:  We were up there on the glacier with a bunch of mostly juvenile retirees, many of whom seemed to have lost some inhibitions at high altitude.  And, from our bus/explorer drivers we gleaned some very interesting knowledge.

“Bear Jams.” We were part of ‘em.  A bear jam is where a traveler sees a bear (could also be for a moose, bighorn sheep, anything wild) and stops.  We see a stopped car and so we stop.  In 30 seconds, there are dozens of cars and RVs strewn along the side of the road, interspersed with tourists’ cameras and binoculars trained at a moving bush.  Tuesday we saw two black bears and a cinnamon. Bigggg guys.

Then Monique and I stopped for lunch beside Bridal Veil Falls watching it jump, jive and wail down the side of a 10,000-foot Canadian Rockies peak .  Just another spectacular spot along our route.

We turned our RV in at spectacular falls recommended by our wagonmaster.  While there, I chanced upon a couple from the U.K. coming off a no-big-deal trail, who told me, “You’ve got to go there.” Since there was so much enthusiasm in their voices, I ran across the river and grabbed Monique, telling her that we had to go.  “It’s only 2 km each way,” I told her.  I was thinking we were going two-thirds of a mile round-trip, but she corrected me – “It’s almost two and a half miles.”

It led to one of the most inspirational places we have visited in our 11 years of hiking together.  The power of the falls filled our bodies and souls with the richness of nature.  Being in this spot alone, surrounded by raging water and lush green trees and under blue skies and snow-capped mountains cast a blanket of calm over us.  The plaque (transcribed above and shown below) caused us to give thanks for the opportunity of finding that sacred place.

No more writing for tonight, just some photos.

A

And when, as I look at the 360^o panorama and say, “Oh, my God,” it’s just me giving thanks to the Creator for all the beauty around us and that we have the privilege to see.

From the “Never-Bored RVers,” We’ll see you on down the road.

Continue to Part VIII – “Our Alaska Trip – New Horizons” >>