The Icefields Parkway may be one of the most stunning roads in the world. Glaciers on glaciers, mountains on mountains. I’m so glad the smoke from early in our trip cleared and we had beautiful weather for the drive from Banff to Jasper and then back to Calgary from Jasper.

For example, the mountain on the right side, Sulphur Mountain was a mountain we hiked on our first day in Banff. That striking mountain on the left, Mt Rundle, was completely invisible to us. We hiked all the way up there, looked out, and just saw a wall of grey. An older gentleman was also at the top and was teasing us for how much effort we put into walking up to the top for “such a great view.” I refrained from pointing out to him that he had just paid $60 per ticket to get him and his wife to the top for that view and I think I got the better end of the deal. At least I got the experience, the exercise, the fresh air and the sense of accomplishment.

The next four pictures are the many angles of the Athabasca Glacier. You can see the hill in front of the glacier, what’s astounding is that in 1980 that’s where the glacier ended. In Jasper we had seen where all of this water ended up, at Athabasca Falls.

So you can see just how amazing this road is, all of the pictures below were taken just out of the car window. I can’t imagine what this road must have been like even 30 years ago when the glaciers were so much larger and hadn’t receded so much. Imagine 50 years ago. I’m glad I got to see it now before it’s too late. Sorry to be so melodramatic but the dramatic recession of the glaciers was so in your face and obvious on the parkway.