Glaciers and Icebergs - dead ahead

The first glimpses of Saturday came very early in the morning.  Emma was having bear fears at 2am.  Later we had a visit to the toilet which was very scary.  We were slightly reassured that there wasn't a teddy bears picnic occuring outside of the tent!  It had been an extremely cold night - on the next camping adventure more clothes are needed.  Emma put the kettle on at about 8.30am and after breakfast we packed up camp and headed into Jasper town.

We headed into the Mt Edith Cavell area towards our hostel for the night.  We couldn't check in until 5pm so we decided to do a short trail called the glacier loop trail.  This was a walk to the foot of Mt Edith Cavell (11,033ft)and the glacier which sits on it.

  At the very foot of the mountain lies a glacial lake with many pieces of ice floating in it.  Along the far side of the lake was another glacier.  It created a sublime scene - very difficult to put into words and we're sure the photo's won't do it justice.  It was just fascinating to sit and look at.  We even managed to walk on one of the ice bergs floating in the water - we had found a mini Greenland!  The walk back took us through the route the glacier has retreated from.  It looks quite barren, almost desert like, with small pine trees beginning to form a new forest where there was once a huge river of ice.

We got to the Edith Cavell youth hostel at 5pm.  It is a "rustic" place - reminded us of Black Sail in the Lake District.  There was a wood burning stove, no electricity and no running water.  Everything is run off gas, including the fridge.  We booked in and then cooked our tea in the half light (the light bulbs are propane too).  We were soon joined by a couple from Belgium and we quickly got chatting about Prince Rupert - one of our future destinations.  Spent the evening in front of the log fire catching up on our journal and chatting.