Wednesday, June 03, 2026

Day 1 - Some Frozen Lakes and Columbia Icefield

won't you please just let me go?
I'd be better off alone
Done With You - Omar Apollo

It was still snowing the morning of Day 1, which was a Sunday. Here below is the view of Tunnel Mountain from my window that morning, still very much shrouded and you couldn't see its full shape. Only days later, I realized there's actually other mountains behind it. In fact Banff is surrounded by mountains, which kinda reminded me of Machu Picchu in a way. Any direction you stand in Banff you will see a mountain, but that day I was still oblivious to all this.

I went out for breakfast with snow still falling, thinking how the day was gonna be. It's perhaps not gonna be so bad because I was visiting a glacier and the forecast showed that it would get sunnier. For breakfast I chose the nearby A&W which was staffed by Filipinos which made the experience rather familiar in a way. There's so many Filipinos and Indians in Canada and other Asians. When I told mom about this, she was like so are there Caucasians :D My time spent there was obviously too short but I felt like there's a wide acceptance to these immigrants and there's no fear of being different. Side note: seeing the so many Filipinos, I wonder why Indonesians with our huge population is not more out there. Anyways, back to A&W, I was stunned that they serve the meal in an actual plate, though my juice and tea did not come in a mug or glass. Also stunned, if you want a takeaway, you need to specify you need a bag (which is paper) and they charge you 25 cents (if I'm not mistaken) because if not, there you go holding your individually wrapped items. Plastic I get why you would charge, but a paper bag and the fact it's not given that there will be a bag to hold your items was just bewildering to me. Anyways, breakfast was good, I sat by the window watching the quiet street and snow. Being that I stayed in Banff, all the day tours start late. They pick you up around 09:50 AM and these tours actually start all the way from Calgary, like there could be tourists from there who make the 2-hour drive back and forth to explore Banff National Park. Both of the two day tours I chose in Banff was led by Indians. In fact, all the different guides picking up their customers were Indians. My two guides were actual Indians from India and I know one of them was without his family in Canada, so it's interesting how they could make it there.

The day tour for that Sunday was to visit the Columbia Icefield with some lakes along the way. Before I forgot, we saw a black bear by the side of the road twice, on the way there and after. I'm not sure if it was the same bear or even on the same road. The bear we saw wasn't very big, more like the size of a big dog, and it was alone. There's no picture, because it's not like we went out of the car to take picture. It was sure interesting. Anyways, first stop was Lake Louise. Since they get many visitors, there's a lot options for parking. I think our guide chose a nice one. It's on the upper side and the walk from the parking lot to the lake was through trees covered in snow and with snow still on the ground, like a winter wonderland scene. When I saw the lake, I was suprised because it's still frozen. Again they were on their summer schedule when I was there so I really didn't expect this, though if I have checked the Internet as I just did, I would have known that the lake is still commonly frozen mid-May. That being said, it still sure was beautiful. With the snow the day before, everything was just white. We had time to walk around and I walked as far as I could before going back.

After that we made a stop to a viewpoint where we can see the Crowfoot Glacier. Honestly I cannot point exactly where it is and I may have ignored the guide's explanation. AI is telling me the picture here is of the Crowfoot mountain and I have conflicting answers if the glacier is there. If it is, it's blanketed by snow. Anyways, I did see crows on this viewpoint, not that they're related to the name of the glacier and mountain.

It was short drive from that viewpoint to the Bow Lake viewpoint. This lake felt very wide and it's all white, covered in snow. It too sure was still beautiful in its frozen state.

Next was the Columbia Icefield. The activity here was not included in the day tour and we had to book separately. The tour just asked to book for the 2 PM slot. We arrived before then and there were many people and since I was worried about the wait in the cafe line, I got some things to eat from Starbucks and ate outside and got kinda cold. Someone nearby said the view was breathtaking and my mind was like, okay. Yeah mind wasn't blown, but this picture is pretty.

The package that I booked included the ride to Athabasca Glacier and the Columbia Icefield Skywalk. First was the Athabasca Glacier and we got there by riding what they called the ice explorer which is a bus with big wheels. The bus that we took was the red one below. The bus dropped us off at this designated area where we're given time to walk around. Now I have to admit, since I've been to Katla Ice Cave in Iceland, this part was so-so for me. A guy in the group remarked to his mother saying technically we walked on snow not glacier. I guess he's right. I spent the time walking around, touching snow, taking photos, and repeat.

After that it's off to the Columbia Icefield Skywalk. The highlight is the glass-bottomed platform overlooking Sunwapta Valley. There's a short path to this platform where you can see mountains, the valley, and the Sunwapta river below. AI told me the mountain below is of Mount Wilcox. The platform is not very big, though I suppose people with fear of height will find it concerning. I didn't spend too long here because I was worried that the bus back would be very full and I couldn't get in and miss my meeting time.

After Columbia Icefield, we still had some more lakes to see. The first was Waterfowl Lake which was not frozen; it's all water. So that was different :D

The last lake was Peyto Lake. Upon arriving at the parking lot, the guide said I had cleats for you all and he distributed them to us. I didn't quite understand why but then I found out the way to the viewpoint was all covered in snow. It's actually rather fun for me to do this, but apparently it's not easy for some. By some I mean ladies older than me who had difficulty and I don't think they made it all the way up. I don't recall it being hard, but I think yes there was effort required, but I guess I hadn't reached the part where I was questioning myself doing this. Going back down was a bit scarier though and I was going really slow less I slipped. There were some young kids who like slid down and were having fun with it and I wished I could do it too but that would be embarrassing. I wonder how the hike is like without the snow; would it be really hard. I think it would be less fun. Anyways, the view was really stunningly breathtaking because it's white everywhere. The lake is below and some parts of it were thawing.

We were back in Banff not too late actually, but I was too lazy to get on the local bus to have dinner in the town center. So I chose to go back to A&W and packed some dinner to eat in my room with the TV. For pictures from the Icefield, you can go here. Looking at the pictures, I did see some pretty sceneries. Starting that afternoon, the weather was improving and there were more blue sky.

:) eKa @ 8:50:00 PM • 0 comments