Guest Post

Hi Readers! This is Christine, Joey’s favorite and coolest sister guest writing for a post! This is my first blog experience so hang in there.  

The morning dawned cloudy, drizzly and chilly and all 7 of us piled into the trusty Suburban to head up the Ice Roads Parkway. The drive up was mostly uneventful; Joey, Adrianne, Elizabeth, and Margaret all fell asleep while I took in the beautiful mountain landscape whipping past the windows. 

Sleeping through the scenery.

We reached the Ice Field Center and educated ourselves about the glaciers then took a short hike up to the toe of the Athabaska glacier. It was a pretty impressive sight, but had the sun been shining and the mountains visible behind the glacier it would have been even more spectacular.

Getting to Panther Falls

We piled into the car and headed further up the parkway until Sunwupta Falls where we enjoyed an in car picnic (it was pretty drizzly and cold). We checked out the falls and then started back down the Parkway. We took in the views in some of the pullouts along the way and eventually ended up at the Bridal Veil Falls. A local gave us a tip about the best kept secret in Banff-a trail that took you behind the Panther Falls. He made it sound easy so we eagerly set off through the forest. Joey scouted out the trail and after his description of a narrow, tricky trail that involved clinging to cliffs Margaret, Adianne, Joey and I set out. The worst part was crouching under a rock coming around a cliff corner but after that we were on a ledge directly behind the Panther Falls. Margaret and I were a little skeptical but it was all worth it! It was breathtaking! 

We joined up with the rest of the family on a more formed trail-still steep, wet, and narrow and came out on a lower view of the falls.  All in all it was a great tip and a fun adventure!

Then it was back in the car, down the Bow Valley Parkway, our 5th and 6th black bear sightings and then we were back at our condo.