Friday June 26, 2009 we left Jasper NP and drove to Lake Louise. On the way we stopped at the Athabasca Falls for a view of the falls
and at the Columbia Ice Fields where we parked and walked up to theAthabasca Glacier tongue.
When we were there in 2003 people were allowed to walk onto the tongue on a park designated path, now only guided tongue walks are allowed but we did walk up to the tongue. Unfortunately the last marker was 1992 which is strange since the last marker on our previous visit was 2000. The pictures on my web site show brown markers while the new markers are blue.
Old (2003) --------------------------------------------------------New 2009
Unfortunately I didn't take the 1992 picture because I thought I had it. The new signs are clearer I will have to wait until I get to Susan's to check my original unmodified picture from 2003 as you can hardly read the one here. Maybe that's why they upgraded although looking at the line in the lower right it looks like the older sign was behind a do not cross rope and may have been too far for me to get a good shot with my 2003 camera (As I remember I had no telephoto lens)
Saturday we hung out with friends. Drove up to Moraine Lake and Lake Louise.Went for dinner at the Heritage Train Station Restaurant and then to the first naturalist campground evening program of the season. The program was held in the tenting area campground so we walked the Bow River Trail to get there and back. It was a very entertaining and educational program for both kids and adults about bears, highways and corridors in the national parks.
On Sunday we left Lake Louise and returned to Banff