The Icefield Parkways is billed as the "Most beautiful road in the world"....well it IS beautiful!! A 143 mile road from Lake Louise to Jasper, it parallels the Continental Divide, passing through 7 icefields (large upland glaciers) and about 25 smaller ones. The road goes along the river in the bottom of the meadowy, piney montane valley floor. There are many places to hike on up through the thick spruce and fir forests of the subalpine zone to the treeless alpine zone, which makes up the majority of the view.
Glaciers are everywhere and form where more snow falls in winter than melts each summer. Over time and under pressure, the snow compacts and metamorphoses into dense glacial ice. Glaciers MOVE..however slight.....that is one distinct characteristic from an icefield or snow pact.
Crowfoot Glacier with its 2 talon-shaped extensions of ice.
This photo was taken of Crowfoot Glacier in 1918 when there were 3 toes.
The emerald and turquoise color comes from rock particles (glacial silt) suspended in the water...that is a very short explanation of what it really is...my remote sensing friends can comment!!
The rivers are almost white with the glacial melt.
Num-Ti-Jah Lodge on Bow Lake.
Glaciers are everywhere and form where more snow falls in winter than melts each summer. Over time and under pressure, the snow compacts and metamorphoses into dense glacial ice. Glaciers MOVE..however slight.....that is one distinct characteristic from an icefield or snow pact. 
Crowfoot Glacier with its 2 talon-shaped extensions of ice.
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