The beautiful Athabasca River
Actually, this is the Sunwapta River, a major tributary of the Athabasca, which flows along the Icefields Parkway (Highway 93) between Jasper and the Athabasca Glacier. Here we are about a third of the way between Jasper and Banff, quite near the Athabasca Glacier, which is the main source of water for the river. The gorgeous mountain to the left of the road is called Tangle Ridge.
The Athabasca River including the Sunwapta has its headwaters in the Columbia ice field located just behind the mountains in front and to the right in this photograph. I will show photos and talk about the Columbia ice field later in this set, but now I would like to say something about the river itself. The Athabasca is one of Canada's most beautiful rivers, especially in its upper reaches, because it flows through one of the country's most scenic regions, the Rocky Mountains. It is also one of the most threatened of the entire world. This is the same Athabasca River that flows pass Fort McMurray and through the oil sand region of Alberta, about 1,000 km downstream from here, before it empties into Lake Athabasca in the far north of the province. All Canadians are well aware of the mega controversy surrounding the oil sands. Because of the oil sands, Canada can claim to have the second largest proven oil reserves in the world (at 179 bbl of which 170 bbl are in the oil sands). But exploiting those reserves is proving to be extremely detrimental to the ecology, most notably to the lower Athabasca River basin.
The beautiful Athabasca River
Actually, this is the Sunwapta River, a major tributary of the Athabasca, which flows along the Icefields Parkway (Highway 93) between Jasper and the Athabasca Glacier. Here we are about a third of the way between Jasper and Banff, quite near the Athabasca Glacier, which is the main source of water for the river. The gorgeous mountain to the left of the road is called Tangle Ridge.
The Athabasca River including the Sunwapta has its headwaters in the Columbia ice field located just behind the mountains in front and to the right in this photograph. I will show photos and talk about the Columbia ice field later in this set, but now I would like to say something about the river itself. The Athabasca is one of Canada's most beautiful rivers, especially in its upper reaches, because it flows through one of the country's most scenic regions, the Rocky Mountains. It is also one of the most threatened of the entire world. This is the same Athabasca River that flows pass Fort McMurray and through the oil sand region of Alberta, about 1,000 km downstream from here, before it empties into Lake Athabasca in the far north of the province. All Canadians are well aware of the mega controversy surrounding the oil sands. Because of the oil sands, Canada can claim to have the second largest proven oil reserves in the world (at 179 bbl of which 170 bbl are in the oil sands). But exploiting those reserves is proving to be extremely detrimental to the ecology, most notably to the lower Athabasca River basin.