The Jasper to Banff Bike Ride – Day 2

I took too many pictures today, and I do not have too much time to go through them. And there are also too many pictures that I am tempted to post.  So please excuse the scattershot approach to this posting.

I am up early on the second day. I wander around the resort property before the sun has climbed over the mountains to our east. After breakfast we get started on the routine that should continue for the next few days. We  pick up our bikes from the support vehicle and get on our way. We are once again riding beside the Athabasca river. Each picture opportunity with the river in the valley beside us and the mountains behind is prettier than the one before.  Here is stream crossing the road that feeds into the river.We even stop to go down to the water. Some folks dip their toes into the ice cold water that is flowing straight out of the glacier up the road.Unfortunately, there is a haze in the air from the smoke of the forest fires in British Columbia. The impact is bad today because of the direction of the winds.This is from a picnic stop along the river.Ride on!And then it is time to climb 200 meters up an 8% slope. That was quite the challenge.Here are some views from the top. Perhaps you can make out the nature of the challenge we undertook.We coast back down to the bottom of the hill and we are now once again riding along the river.  The ride is still pretty brutal in spite of the relatively flat nature of the area because of some vicious headwinds. But we persevere.We reach our destination for the evening, the Athabasca Glacier in the Columbia Icefield. This is the source of the Athabasca river.This is our hotel for the night.Lunch!A zoom shot of the action on the glacier.  You can take the bus, or you can do the ice walk. It was too late to book at place for the ice walk. You had to do that many days in advance.People walking to the toe of the glacier from the parking lot.The head of the glacier and the start of the Athabasca river.The bus ride to the glacier.Yes, we are in the middle of the glacier!  It is 5 km long and 1 km wide, with a depth of 250 meters. You can drink the water if you are upstream of the people.You can almost make out our hotel at the bottom of the hill beyond the bottom of the glacier. The glacier used to extend to the location of the hotel in the 1870s.If you look carefully, you can see that one of us in the picture is wearing sandals.  The decision to do the bus ride was somewhat sudden.A view from our glacier. You can see another glacier on the mountain beside us.And then it was time to head back.A shot of the mountain peaks from the lobby of the restaurant of the hotel. Thankfully, the smoke had cleared by the time we arrived at the icefield and began to make our way to the glacier.And that’s all she wrote, folks!  I try to continue to keep you posted.