Day 7
On this day we went to the Athabasca Glacier which is part of the Columbia Icefield. We drove there and one thing I noticed when we were driving was that the mountains were up in the clouds. Then when we arrived we took a shuttle bus up to where the snocoaches were. The snocoach looked like a monster truck mixed with a bus. It was very cool and we learned that there are only 23 in the world and 22 are at the glacier. We rode the coach up to the glacier and then got out. It was amazing walking around on the glacier and seeing all the white ice. Then we went over to were the water was melting down and got a bottle of water. It was the best water ever and it was very cold. After we walked around a little bit more and saw the other glaciers next to the Athabasca. I was upset when they said we had to ride back because it was so cool. When we got back on to our regular motor coach after riding back down we watched a movie on the Columbia Icefield and learned some things about it. I learned that the Icefield was used for Alpine Fighting training during World War 2 and that it is prone to avalanches.
On our drive back to Banff we stopped at Peyto lake and another lake and they are green because of the rock flower from the glacier. Then a little while later as we were driving we saw a black bear on the side of the road. It was cool seeing a wild bear for the first time. Then we started driving again back to Banff. When we got there we went shopping for souvenirs for one hour before dinner.
After we ate we got to meet a retired mountie. We learned about the history of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police like how the got royal in their name, how they got a different kind of hat from Montana, and that they don’t ride horses anymore except for a group of Mounties that go around performing drills. Then we learned more about what the man did when was Mountie for 25 years. After we talked Mountie we went to the hot spring. It was really nice except for I didn’t get to stay in for more than 5 minutes because the whole time I was trying to lock my stuff into a locker, the 5 minutes was still nice. After we changed we headed back to the lodge for the night.
P.S.
The picture of the running water on the glacier is where I drank the water and the picture of what looks like a pool is the hot spring.
