To finish up my review of pix not yet posted from our AB Joy adventure, I’m going back 2 posts to get back to it. Next is the day we flew from Spokane to Edmonton with only two stops, the first where Tripp rested briefly in Cranbrook while we waited for Canadian Customs. It turned out all we needed to do is phone them, but at least we all got to rest. 🙂
1969 Rest Stop
Next is a pic I love but didn’t share because it might not look as dramatic to you. It’s a waterfall over 100 feet tall that has carved a path through the solid rock of Canadian Rockies near what I think is Wilcox Peak.
1996 Carved Continental Bones
To me these ancient rocks have the color and texture of the exposed bones protruding from the flesh of the slumbering prairies beyond. They tell how the persistent passage of water melts impermeable stone like butter. Next is a blurry closeup of a giant cave we passed, high on a massive sheer cliff. The opening is over ten feet tall by my guess.
1997 High Cave
Did extinct giant cave bears once winter here? Did ancient humans ever scale the cliff to shelter here in summer? It would take quite an expedition to find out. A few miles away, just past Sherbrooke Lake I liked how this stony shoulder opened to the valley where a glacial torrent has tamed to a trickle.
2002 Stony Shoulder
As you’ll recall from my earlier pix, we saw innumerable dead and dying glaciers like this one. So many signs that before global warming ramped up a few decades ago there were many more and much bigger glaciers in this long valley like the one that used to grace the end of Lake Louise.
2012 Last Gasp
Even without glaciers and with the smoke from rampant fires in the dead and dying forests spread across the region, it was stunningly beautiful all along our flight from Banff to Jasper.
2071 Beautiful Passage
As we passed Jasper a collection of ponds along a river put on a pretty palette so varied it still delights me to look at this pic.
2104 Pond Palette
After another and more brief stop at the Jasper Hinton airport just outside the mountain valley from Jasper, we headed for a sunset landing in Edmonton. Along the way the colors of civilization slowly mingled with and then dominated the ever flatter landscape.
2109 Descending
As the earth fell away and flattened beneath us, I gradually eased back the throttle to descend with the sun into the lights and bustle of the big city. Pulled back by our memories of the day, we watched silently until the glitter eased us back into the slumber of frenetic motion touching down.
John & Anne Wiley 
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