John prepares a final breakfast for us and we part company planning to meet up again at Moraine Lake. From Jasper we drive the Ice Fields Parkway southeast towards Lake Louise and Banff. Described by National Geographic as one of the world's top scenic drives, it would indeed be hard not to be blown away by the awe-inspiring scenery and vistas that unfold along almost every one of the roughly 150 miles of the route. Of course the impact of the scenery is not exactly diminished by the near perfect weather. The week before had been cold with the first snow of the season. The forecast for the week after is similar. The week of our visit though, we have cold nights and mornings (even a brief glimpse of the Northern Lights) and days of brilliant warm sunshine and crystal clear blue skies. 

The Parkway starts in the Jasper National Park and crosses into Banff National Park. It was built exclusively for tourism, starting in the early years of the 20th century, extended as a depression-era project and then extensively widened and upgraded when vehicle-based tourism took off in the '70's & '80's. 

Thanks to a tip-off from Joyce, we're guided the entire length of the Parkway by a knowledgeable and easy-to-listen-to commentary from a GPS-linked app. As well as interesting background, the guide indicates the best places along the route for photo stops and hikes. We bump in to John and Joyce at the impressive Athabasca Falls and then don't see them again until we reach .... after which we head off in convoy. Just as well, as I'd forgotten to download directions to the Moraine Lake Lodge and this area of Canada has no cell reception....

The first half of the Parkway from Jasper to the Ice Fields Visitor Center is the most scenically impressive - or perhaps after we leave the Center at the foot of the Athabasca Glacier close to the giant Columbia Ice Field, we're just a bit jaded!

The Visitor Center is enormous - a giant tourist factory, primarily offering the opportunity to visit the Glacier Skywalk and the Athabasca Glacier. Park your car in the vast parking lot and then buy tickets for the shuttle buses to the attractions. We're close to the end of the tourist season, but the visitor center is heaving with tourists mostly east Asian (read: Chinese) tour groups (it's easy to say all "Chinese" but presumably many from other east Asian countries). We're not really interested in taking the "specially adapted" bus to the glacier - just as well as the wait when we arrive is at least three hours - but the Glacier Skywalk which we'd passed on the way to the Visitor Center looked quite tempting....and the wait was just 15 minutes

The Glacier Skywalk is a massive cantilevered glass-floored walkway, suspended some 1000 feet above the floor of the canyon affording magnificent views of the valley leading up to the foot of the Athabasca Glacier. Not an experience enjoyed by everyone particularly if standing on a platform 1000 feet up with nothing but a sheet of glass between you and oblivion isn't your cup of tea (John & Joyce passed). But we (and a large number of Chinese tourists) found it a very worthwhile experience. 

Accessing Moraine Lake is an interesting experience! Leave the Trans Canada Highway at the Lake Louise exit and follow the signs to Moraine Lake. Simple enough, except that the turn-off to Moraine Lake is blocked by some orange cones and very officious arm wavers. Even this late in the season, the parking lot close to the lake some 15 km up a steep windy road is full before 8 am. We're only allowed through when we wave our Moraine Lake Lodge parking permits - the lodge itself has a small parking lot for guests. 

The lodge is a series of cabins mostly hidden amongst the pines on the side of a stunningly beautiful blue lake surrounded by jagged peaks, the higher ones covered in snow. It's hard to describe (or exaggerate) the beauty of this place. Is it any wonder that the parking lot is already full by 8 am every day! To add to the crowds, there's a shuttle bus that brings visitors up from an overflow car park and an endless stream of Chinese tourist-laden tour buses. 

As everywhere, wonder more than 100 yards from the parking lot (gift shop and cafe) and the crowds mysteriously vanish. We take advantage of this and for a good part of the day, we hike trails around and above the lake. Quite a relief as closer to the parking lot you're forever getting in the way of somebody (again mostly Chinese) using their smartphone to snap their posing companions or a selfie against a stunning backdrop. 

(Question: why is it that tourists from east Asia (and not just Chinese) particularly younger ones, feel the need to strike such bizarre poses in front of scenic vistas? The pose often includes index and middle fingers held up in a "V". I have to admit to finding it strangely fascinating and occasionally even snap the poser myself! We even try sometimes to copy the pose ourselves for photos, but don't seem to have the panache to carry it off.....)

So impressed are we though by one group of Chinese posers (visiting from Beijing they tell me) on top of the "Rock Pile" (a famous look-out at the head of Moraine Lake which offers a scenic backdrop for which the descriptor "stunning" is somehow inadequate) that we get them to help pose and snap us. 

It was indeed a clear day and even if we couldn't quite see China itself, we could indeed see a good number of its citizens....