Ice.....on the rocks

Still camped out at Jasper and no rain :) We spent the day exploring the northern section of the Icefields Parkway between Jasper and the Columbia icefield. There are many sites to see, but the glaciers really do take the cake. The Athabasca glaciar is the most (only?) accessable one, and is the most well known. There are a steady stream of tourists making the trek up to the toe of the glacier, only to be confronted with a rope guard rail and notices about the dangers of walking on the glacier. There is even a story of a nine year old boy who broke through the icen fell into a crevasse and died of hyperthermia before he could be rescued. They clearly don't want people walking on it. But walk on it they do, even after reading the dire warnings. On Graham's urging, I threw my usual caution to the wind and climbed over the rope and followed the crowds onto the glacier. Who was it that said do one dangerous thing everyday? Well that was mine for today.

One of the neat things for me was to be able to look at the rock over which the glacier had advanced and retreated. The movement of the glacier, scours the rock below forming striations that you can actually feel as scratch marks in the rock. Geologists use these striations to deduce the movements of ancient glaciers, so it was neat to see the striations and the glacier together.

After returning to camp I took off for my run and this time ran on a trail alongside the river. It was one of the most scenic runs I've ever had, which somewhat made up for the fact that it was also very slow!

Tomorrow we head south on the Icefields Parkway again, hoping to make it to Nelson, and explore the boyhood haunts of Graham's grandfather.

Trip Facts:
Driven today: 230 km
Driven in total: 4290 km
Run today: 15.5 km
Run Total: 60.5 km
Number of TH Stops: 13
Number of Speeding tickets: 1
Ipod progress: B's Bob Marley Currently "Positive Vibration."
Song of the Day: "Easy Skanking" Bob Marley