Ice Fields Wednesday Walk
The are six glaciers flowing from the Columbia Ice Fields in Jasper National Park.
- Andromeda
- Snowdome
- Colombia
- Statfield
- Castleguard
- Athabasca
The glacier feed 3 oceans: the Pacific, Arctic and Atlantic.
It is a tremendously scenic drive on your way to the Glacier center, through the rockies and past turquoise tarn lakes, almost too beautiful to be believed.
If you are really lucky, you might even see a bear or two ... from the car and not the path ... don't get out of your car and be prepared to drive away at the first sign of approach. This male black bear would make short work of even the burliest and fiercest among us. Definitely, don't feed them.
That said ... park cars on the side of the road or a sure sign of a bear sighting.
We of course did do some walking, as is the prerequisite of a #wednesdaywalk post, from the parking lot, up the mountain, and to the foot of the Athabasca Glacier. Even on a summer day, be prepared for cold weather.
Flip flops are not recommended.
It was about 5-10 minute hike up the steep conglomerate and shorn granite slope. Watch your footing, but even on a cloudy day the view was inspiring, and with receding glaciers is one you may not likely see again. It is always changing.
Minime complained just a little, but of the cold and not the exertion. Yes, that is his hand on the side of my shot. As they say never work with children or animals.
We looked up and we looked down. Even high up on the glacial, alpine terrain, you will find #alwaysaflower. A quick google did not find the name of these hardy, yellow beauties, but you have to admire their fortitude, literally blooming between a rock and hard place. Anyone know their name?
The withering camellias are of course not alpine blooms, but captures from the sea level, temperate and cultivated rainforest of Stanley Park. In their end of life state, they reminded me of golden gilding.
Revealed minerality is the segue way of the day.
Once a glacier, then a stream, a river and drinking water, and even power for mankind. Terminus: an ocean for aquatic things. The water cycle is a wonderful thing. For a raindrop the meander is a long, glittery way.
Totem Poles
In Language Arts, Minime and I have been studying Totem Poles.
From our studies ...
In the video Our Story, Your Experience, they explore the Totem Pole carvings of Haida Gwaii. In Haida Gwaii Christian White tells us the art form began. The carving of totem poles continues today among the First Peoples of Canada and elsewhere. Totem poles are a way that one culture shares freely with another.
Totem poles are monumental size art that represent and honour the ancestry, histories, people, or events of the Pacific Northwest First Nations. They are generally made of red cedar. The carvings represent beings or crest animals associated with certain family lines. They are typically stylized, rather than realistic in form and feature humans, animals, and supernatural beings, like the Raven and the Thunderbird.
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