The Icefields Parkway is the main road in and out of Jasper National Park. It’s a beautiful road winding in and out of wooded mountain areas, then rising up into glacier country. At its highest point is the Columbia Icefield, the largest icefield in North America’s Rocky Mountains.

One of the experiences recommended to me when I shared that our family would be visiting the Canadian Rockies was a glacier hike. I never pass on a good recommendation!

We met our Ice Walks guide Tamara at the Columbia Icefields visitor center at 2 pm. She outfitted us in appropriate glacier hiking gear which included a waterproof jacket and pants, a hat and gloves, and crampons for walking on the ice. Then we hopped in the van to get closer to the Athabasca Glacier – our winter wonderland for the next few hours.

The weather had been quite rainy and messy on the way up, but luckily cleared right before leaving for our glacier walk. This didn’t stop it from being windy and cold though! Hey, what do you expect when you’re on a glacier?

The hike began with the actual walk to the glacier, which has been shrinking at an incredible rate for decards. Tamara filled us in on all the history and science behind glaciers, which was quite fascinating and also a bit scary since the glacier may not exist in just 30-50 years.

Once there, we put on our crampons and started our glacier hike. We could no longer see the parking lot and had left the other visitors behind. It felt like a different world, breathtaking and immense.

Tamara took us to a spot to try the pure glacial water and ice. It was refreshing – so much better than any bottled water I’ve ever had.

We stayed on the glacier for about 1.5 hours before the rain and sleet moved back in. After snapping a few more photos, we headed to the visitor center to grab a warm beverage from the highest-elevation Starbucks in the world (really!)

We got back on the road about 6:30 pm. Thank goodness for long days in the Canadian Rockies! The sun doesn’t set till 10:30 pm, giving us plenty of daylight to make it to the Miette Hot Springs Bungalows in Jasper well before darkness fell.