My body automatically woke me up at 7am, which was a bit annoying since I wanted to sleep in. Hohyun slept in for a bit and when it was close to 9am, I woke him up. We packed our stuff quickly, loaded our stuff into the car, then headed out.

The receptionist had advised us to tank up fully before getting on the parkway, so we went to get gas first. He said that there was only one gas station on the parkway which was super expensive, so tanking up fully beforehand would be the most cost-efficient option. He also advised us not to have a rigid schedule since the parkway was so gorgeous. He told us that there would be many points where we could just pull off to the side of the road and take pictures, and he almost guaranteed us that we would do that given how pretty it was. He was right because 15 minutes after we had started driving to Lake Louise (where the parkway officially starts), we saw this beautiful viewpoint that we pulled over to take pictures.

We were both speechless while looking at the mountains. Each one looked like it could’ve been in a postcard. We passed through Lake Louise (didn’t stop there though) and headed onto the parkway. Most people would’ve stopped and spent days in Banff/Lake Louise, but since I was living there for the summer, I figured I’d slowly see it all then. We were so mesmerized by the beauty that we pulled over at every possible designated “pull off the road” point and took many pictures.

#1: Bow Lake

At the time, I had no idea what this was called but I knew that it was really pretty and wanted to stop. The mountains were spectacular and it was so interesting seeing so much snow on the mountains. We took so many pictures at this rest stop and stayed a bit longer to admire the ravens that were just cawing around us. It was really hard for us to leave since it was so gorgeous, but we had to in order to see the rest of the parkway.

#2: Waterfowl Lakes

We pulled into here because I had to use the washroom. After doing so, we figured we’d go take a quick walk on the trail to see what was there. While walking through the forest, I noticed mountains peeking at us through the trees which were stunning. We ended up at a creek that flowed into the lake, and we stayed there and took some pictures, then decided it was time to continue on. Right after we left, we noticed a pullover point next to the lake itself and took some more pictures before moving on.

#3: Mistaya Canyon

This was one of the places that we wanted to stop and walk into. We hadn’t really done much research on the parkway prior, so when we saw this sign on the highway we knew we had to pull over. It was a short and easy walk from the parking lot to the canyon and it was pretty heavily visited.

The canyon was stunning and it was one of the most beautiful sights I’ve ever seen. The rushing water was really loud but spectacular. I was mesmerized by it and was speechless. We had to hike off the trail a bit to get to the side of the canyon, and it was totally worth it. We stayed there for a while just taking pictures and taking it all in. We put our hands in the water too and it was freezing. We then realized that we had to leave in order to have enough time for the rest of the parkway.

We kept driving and were just so mesmerized by it all. I was pretty speechless the whole ride. I finally understood why the Icefields Parkway drive was called one of the most scenic drives in the world and I felt so grateful to be able to experience it. There were a few other well-known places we wanted to stop at, but because of covid, some of these places were closed. Peyto Lake was under construction so we couldn’t go in.

#4: Howse Pass

We passed by a rest stop area so I could pee. On the walk to the pit toilet, I saw a really nice lookout point that I wanted to see. After I relieved myself, I went back to the car to tell Hohyun about it and we decided to go take a look since we were here anyway. The views that we were greeted with were fabulous and we were both stunned. That was definitely one of my favourite views from that day. We saw a few picnic tables there,  so we decided to grab some food from the car and eat it while enjoying the view. We spent quite a bit of time there relaxing, then realized that we had to leave in order for us to have enough time to see the rest of the parkway (we were told the views would be even better). We then passed by Saskatchewan Crossing but didn’t stop since we had a full tank of gas already. The views were just marvellous the whole drive and we were both literally left speechless.

#5: Parker Ridge

We stopped here to take pictures since it was gorgeous. The drive leading up to this “pull over” point was spectacular, with the highway curving through a couple of mountain ranges. This part of the parkway was the snowiest part (next to the Icefields Centre), which fascinated me since I wasn’t used to seeing that much snow at that time of year.

We crossed into Jasper National Park shortly afterwards.

#6: Columbia Icefields Centre

This was the second building we had seen on the parkway (the first one being Saskatchewan Crossing). Hohyun saw this really nice Canada flag in their parking lot, so he pulled in and parked just to take a video of the flag flying in the wind. We didn’t go into the building though, since we didn’t need to eat or use the washrooms.

#7: Toe of the Athabasca Glacier

We saw the Glacier from the Columbia Icefields Centre and knew we had to stop there. At first, we were considering not going (since it wasn’t a “pull over and park” kind of spot). However, both of us decided to go for it anyway since we had driven all this way to get here. We drove in and parked and just marvelled at all the beauty. For whatever reason, we didn’t do the short hike (walk) up to the Toe of the Athabasca Glacier, which now, looking back, was kind of dumb. (We ended up going back and doing it a month later). We took pictures at Sunwapta Lake (right next to the parking lot)  then ran back into the car since it was pretty cold. We then decided to leave and keep going.

We drove by the Glacier Skywalk afterwards and tried to figure out parking there since we wanted to see it. We realized afterwards that the Skywalk was by online booking only and that there was no on-site parking (there were shuttles from the Icefields Centre included in the ticket). Looking back, I would’ve booked a tour for the Skywalk beforehand if I had done some research/planned properly (or at all). We kept going instead of spending time trying to figure it out since we were getting a bit tired and wanted to make it into Jasper before dark.

#7: Sunwapta Falls

I needed to go to the washroom, so we pulled into Sunwapta Falls. Since we were there anyway, we decide to go check out the falls. We figured it wouldn’t be a long walk to get there, and we were right. We were greeted with the sound of rushing water and I was surprised at how big these falls were. We took some pictures and videos, then left since we were getting cold and wanted to get to Jasper.

#8: Athabasca Falls

We really did not want to stop anymore but knew we had to see Athabasca Falls since it was so famous. The walk to the falls itself was pretty short, and the views of the mountain behind were incredible. We clearly heard the water rushing as we approached it and it was majestic. The viewing platform we were at had a few people on it, and we had to let them leave the platform before we could go and have it to ourselves. After we took some pictures, we left and immediately headed towards Jasper since we were exhausted.

The hotel that Hohyun had booked for us that night was the Athabasca Hotel. It took us a while to find parking since it wasn’t clearly marked, but we ended up finding parking at the back of the building. We went to check-in and was instantly greeted by all of this:

We moved our stuff in and realized that there was no elevator. Unfortunately, our room was on the top floor, which meant we had to haul all our luggage up 3 flights of stairs. This was something neither of us wanted to do given how tired we were already. The room we got looked really old-style and was a lot smaller than expected.

We were both a bit hungry, so we went downstairs to ask the receptionist what she recommended. She gave us a few suggestions and we ended up going to a family restaurant called L&W Restaurant for some pizza. It was about a 10-15 min walk from the hotel, so we decided to take the time to see Jasper on the way. We ordered the pizza when we got there, and there was a 20 min wait for it to be made, so we went to a nearby souvenir store to buy postcards to mail.

The pizza looked and smelled delicious, but we realized that we probably should eat some vegetables and went to the grocery store to buy a couple of salads. We also bought a bag of Cheetos (just because), then went to the back of the hotel where there was a picnic table and ate.

Afterwards, we went back upstairs to shower, get ready for bed, and sleep since we were both so exhausted. We agreed to leave by check-out time and that was our planning for the next day.