Canada
Icefields Parkway
Two hundred and thirty glacier-hung kilometres link Banff to Jasper along the spine of the Rockies.
Every curve reloads the windscreen with another rampart of ice and stone. Lakes appear in colours the mind files as edited.
The Parkway is the drive other mountain roads are measured against, stringing the Columbia Icefield, waterfall canyons and turquoise lakes between two park towns. Pull-offs and short trails turn transit into a full day or three. Fuel, food and phone signal are scarce by design, so provision like it matters.
Solo
The drive rewards a photographer's discipline of dawn starts and sudden stops.
Couple
Share the wheel and the pull-offs; the road is the itinerary.
Friends
A carload splitting fuel makes the Parkway the cheapest spectacle in the Rockies.
- The Parkway strings glaciers, canyons and impossible lakes for 230 kilometres.
- Pull-offs and short trails turn transit into the destination.
- Scarce fuel and signal are part of its design, so provision seriously.
Provision in Banff or Jasper; the road itself offers little by design.
The Discovery Centre midway is the one dependable table.
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Wells Gray Provincial Park
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