bears! oh my!

Today we drove up highway 93 towards Jasper. that stretch of highway has been called the most beautiful in the world and its easy to see why. you drive along the side of one mountain line and there are peaks and glaciers everywhere. I think we drove by something like 6 glaciers in a matter of minutes. then you drive up over mountains up back the Columbia icefield which is where we stopped.

on the way up we saw a black bear cub bounding into the trees above the road. then, on the way back, we saw a full grown black bear about the same place. he sniffed around on the bank above the road, then ambled across the road, looked at the cars and tourist bus stopped there because of him, and disappeared in the woods.

I had this one transcendent moment during the drive. we'd just gone past Crowfoot glacier, Bow lake (brilliant blue), and the lake's glaciers, some punk rock song was on sirius, and I was like "wow, this is absolutely amazing"

we only went as far up as the Athabasca glacier, which I remember visiting as a kid. the glacier was a Lot shorter than I remember though. it was a good 300 meters away from where I remembered it being. but we got to walk on it, and i drank some melt water running down the side. the amount of water spewing out from under the glacier was absolutely incredible. if you know what to look for, you can see where the glacier ground its way down the valley. like you can see bedrock with gouges ripped in it from the glacier going over it.
the Columbia ice field which feeds the Athabasca glacier and 7 other major glaciers, drains into three oceans- Atlantic, Pacific, and Arctic. just looking at even the Athabasca, its hard to imagine how much ice is in it, but when you look at the path it gouged out of the mountainside, you cant help but be in awe of the whole process.

as awesome as the day was though, it depressed me too. My family went up to the Athabasca glacier, and further to Jasper I think, when I was about 9. I remember driving up 93. As I drove up there today, I could not believe how little snow there was on the mountains compared to when I was up there 19-20 years ago. All the glaciers were smaller. I could see where they had been. The Athabasca glacier still had the same profile, but it was much shorter, and somewhat smaller than I remember.
There is a picture of me at 9 years old standing by a sign that marked the glacier's location at 1982. You can see the glacier in the background. Not anymore. Now it is half a kilometer away, and behind a hill.
If I had any doubts about global warming before today, they are gone, rushing away with millions of tons of melted ice. Global warming is real. There is no denying it. Look at pictures of receding glaciers and I dare anyone to try. Do people play a role in it? I can not see how we do not. Our impact is debatable, but there IS an impact. the hundreds of RVs I passed today are evidence of that. It is humbling to stand beside a phenomenon that levels mountains, and it is sobering to realize that in another 20 years it may not be there for my kids to marvel at.