poss

After our briefish stop at Icefields Center, we stopped at Sunwapta Falls (I think that's the right order-- I'm doing this by memory. I don't keep notes-- tho my husband does, and I could check anything someone might want to know more abt.) Did the pleasant hike to both upper and lower falls and enjoyed it very much. Were in that pretty place less than 2 hrs. Didn't have any great desire to linger more, but it was lovely.
Then Athabasca Falls! Mighty impressive! For one thing, it was fun seeing the falls after seeing the Athabasca River for so long, and Athabasca Glacier. I believe that the Ath River carries the most water of any in the whole Rockies, and when you see those falls you can believe it. And hear them! They really do "thunder," much more so than any of the other falls we'd seen. The falls are wider, too, and they seem to plunge and roil with much more terrific force than the other falls. Every vantage point is spectacular, and each quite different in "feeling" as well as perspective. Be sure to hang out at each of them-- each feels so different. ALSO: we enjoyed the abondoned channel (where the river used to be) as much as we loved the falls themselves. For sure, if you can, walk down that little steepish gorge (it must be dangerously slippery in wet weather) to the lower part of the canyon. The views are wonderful, very beautiful, as well as spectacular. And the walk down reminded us a bit of climbing through "The Baths" in Virgin Gorda, for those of you who know that pleasure. We liked Athabasca so much that we made sure to stop again on our way back down the Parkway. By the way, unlike some of the other wonderful places, these falls are right off the road (where 93 and 93A meet)-- so very accessible, no hike to get to, in other words.
And on to Jasper. It was getting lateish by this time, so, as I mentioned on an earlier report, we decided to stop for dinner along the way. We found Tekarra after a bit of trouble (person at Becker's wasn't very helpful, even tho they were abt 5 min. apart from each other) and liked our first meal there enough so that we made reservations for our last night also. By the way, I'm not sure I mentioned this before, but we thought everything was terrific at Tekarra-- EXCEPT the lettuce wraps. I've had better lettuce wraps every other time I've had them (at "real" Asian restaurants). The rest of the food was great, some of it even memorable.
Then on to Jasper Park Lodge for 3 nights. (abt a 7 min drive from Tekarra) Jasper part later. (loved everything we did-- surprise!)

Judy_in_Calgary

Thank you for Part 7 of your trip report, poss.

I look forward to Part 8 when you get a chance.

poss

Hi Judy-- next report soon.
I kind of wish that people had some questions tho. Doesn't anyone have questions?? When I was researching the trip, reading these posts, etc. I had so MANY queries. Seemed the more folks reported, the more questions I had. I think maybe we're in between busy times now, i.e. after the high season, but perhaps too far ahead of next season for people to be making plans?

Tasha440

Poss, I'm in the process of preparing my questions for our trip next summer. I have been pouring through many threads here, and several books. I wanted to figure out what I could on my own before jumping in here with my questions. Your reports have been very helpful. I think one of the reasons you may not see many questions is that your reports are so detailed, we don't need much clarification!

newretiree

poss - thank you for such a detailed trip report. Sounds like you had a fabulous time. We just returned ourselves, and I hope to complete a trip report, but mine won't be nearly as detailed as yours! Isn't this area one you just want to return to over and over again?!