Icefields Parkway Self-Guided Driving Audio Tour

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1. Welcome to the Icefields Parkway! Get ready to experience Canada’s glorious stretch of road between two of its most famous National Parks: Jasper and Banff. You can reach the parkway from different locations, so make sure you’ve selected the correct starting point. This version of the tour begins in Jasper. To start from Lake Louise, which is near Banff, go back to Home and switch to the Lake Louise version Note: The tour is over 140 miles long, with more than 76 audio stories, and takes about 3-4 hours to complete. New, Lifetime access, no expiry. Use it anytime, on any trip, as many times as you want.

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2. Coming up soon is the Jasper SkyTram, the highest and longest aerial tramway in Canada. The views from the top are simply unbeatable. In the 1940s, Whistler Mountain had already become a major magnet for skiers. Fans of the winter sport congregated on the perfect slopes every year to race each other down. But once at the bottom, they only had a limp tow rope to usher them up the mountain again. Because of the difficulty of the ascent, they never went all the way up the mountain!

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3. Up ahead is the Valley of the Five Lakes Trailhead. The 3-mile moderately challenging hike takes about an hour and a half to complete and rewards hikers with some amazing scenery. The trail weaves past five pristine lakes. The lakes and ponds in Jasper and Banff are unlike those found anywhere else. That’s because of their unbelievable turquoise and blue hues that seem like something out of a heavily photoshopped postcard. But it’s real! And we have glaciers to thank.

   5 min

4. Right around the bend is the Athabasca Pass Lookout, one of the best viewpoints at this part of the Parkway. From here, you’ll get a great look at the South Jasper Mountain Range. The most prominent peak, which will be dead ahead from the perspective of the lookout, is Mount Edith Cavell, standing 11,033 feet in height.

   5 min

5. Coming up ahead is Athabasca Falls, a 75-foot waterfall plunging into a canyon. During the last Ice Age over 100,000 years ago, a glacier in this region receded enough to allow the Athabasca River to flow freely through the pass. The pass eventually deepened and widened, becoming the canyon it is today.

   5 min

6. That towering peak off to our left is Mount Kerkeslin, which stands at 9,790 feet. This is the highest peak in the Maligne Range, and posed a real challenge for early explorers of this region.

   5 min

7. This vista overlooks the Athabasca River and Fryatt Mountain Range. Glaciers can be seen high up on those mountains, but where do the goats come in? Well, the cliff on which this overlook is perched is dense in all kinds of minerals, including salt. And mountain goats just can’t get enough of the stuff! Visitors often see them wandering up here, licking away at the rocks!

   5 min

8. The peak directly to our right, just before that mountain pass, is Mount Christie. It stands just over 10,180 feet tall. The peak gets its name from James Hector, the explorer who also named Mount Kerkeslin. Hector named the mountain after a man who hosted him during his expedition across the Rockies: William Joseph Christie.

   5 min

9. This romantically-titled body of water offers a lovely view of reflected mountains in the Maligne Range. You might even see some folks paddling canoes on the water.

   10 min

10. The trail for Sunwapta Falls is coming up soon. This easy 2-mile trail takes just over an hour and features a great view of a wilderness waterfall. Fed by the Athabasca Glacier, Sunwapta Falls plummets 60 feet over the cliff edge. Sunwapta is the Stoney-Nakoda word for “turbulent water,” which makes sense when you see the falls!

    5 min

11. That ridge up ahead and slightly to our left is the Endless Chain Ridge. Spanning more than 9,000 feet, this ridge is a collection of craggy peaks forged in the Jurassic period, about 200 million years ago. Volcanic pressure beneath the earth’s crust forced this rock upward about 75 million years ago, forming the ridge we see today.

    5 min

12. In a moment, we’ll see parking for the Poboktan Creek Trail, though we probably won’t want to hike it ourselves. Why’s that, you ask? Because it’s 24 miles long and takes an average of four days to complete!

    5 min

Cancelamento

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Avaliações

As classificações vêm de 20 avaliações recolhidas pelo nosso parceiro de reservas. São as palavras dos viajantes, pela ordem em que foram escritas — nunca reordenadas para favorecer a experiência.

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How it compares in Jasper

• Its from-price is 79% below the median of the 64 experiences we list in Jasper.
• Its length is typical for the group.
• By number of reviews it ranks 33 of 64.
• The operator lists free cancellation on it.

About Jasper

Jasper is a mountain town on the Athabasca River in Alberta, inside the largest national park in the Canadian Rockies, among glaciers, lakes and wildlife.

Jasper sits at about 1,060 metres on the Athabasca River, ringed by peaks, in the largest national park of the Canadian Rockies. The town grew around the railway in the early twentieth century, and elk graze on its lawns and wander its streets. The park, together with its neighbours, forms the Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks World Heritage site, and it is one of the largest dark-sky preserves in the world.

Top-ranked sights in Jasper: Maligne Lake, Medicine Lake, Spirit Island.

See all 64 experiences in Jasper