4 Wheels 4 Girls

On June 17th, after leaving Lake Louise, we took a nice drive on the Icefields Parkway on our way to Jasper National Park. It was BEAUTIFUL.

There was still ice on the surface of Bow Lake

First we saw Bow Lake. It was a frosty blue-green, with mountains all around it. I thought it was amazing, but then Dad said we’d see another lake that was ten times as beautiful, Peyto Lake.

When we got there, we got our hiking shoes on ’cause there was a little hike we had to take before we could reach the lake. When we did, I was SPEACHLESS. It wasn’t that big, but the color and scenery around it was gorgeous. It was honestly the brightest blue I had ever seen in my life; it made my blue sweatshirt look like a lame excuse for a bright blue. There were lots of mountains and glaciers surrounding it.

No photo can capture the actually color of Peyto Lake

I marveled at the lake for awhile, and then suddenly I heard a thundering noise that no one seemed to hear except my family. At first it was just a loud, distant BOOM! But then I heard snapping, cracking, tumbling. It was an avalanche, tearing down trees and scraping rocks as it barreled down the mountain! Unfortunately we couldn’t see it since it was on the other side of the mountain, but it was so cool to hear it. SO cool. The thundering sound went on for a long time.

We kept driving and suddenly we saw another RV parked on the side of the road, obviously looking at something. Once we pulled over to join them, we saw that it was… a black bear! We watched it eat for a little bit and then drove on our way.

A Black Bear walking along the Icefields Parkway

Some time later, we saw a whole MOB of cars parked at the side of the road. This time it was a grizzly bear!!! Some fool got out of his car, actually a few fools, and they were trying to take a picture of it. They were SO CLOSE to it, within twenty feet of it. I wanted to shout, “DUDE(S)! THAT”S A GRIZZLY BEAR! HE’S GONNA ATTACK YOU!!!” But of course I didn’t. I let them suffer the consequences.

It was such a beautiful drive!