ATHABASCA FALLS, JASPER, ALBERTA

This is one of my favourite spots in Jasper National Park. It is Athabasca Falls and is about 30 miles south of the Town of Jasper. The river is the Athabasca River and is fed by the Athabasca Glacier which is part of the Columbia Icefield. Lots of Athabascas there isn't there?

As you can see in the first picture , the water is fast moving and crashes over the rocks. It is so powerful that it has actually cut a channel on either side of the rock at the top of the falls. There is a lookout on the bank to the right of the rock where you can stand and look straight down the falls. The drop is probably 80-9o- feet and the water is boiling so much that the mist comes up and sprays you in the face. There is a barrier at the lookout to keep you from getting too close and going over the falls. You would think this would be common sense but every couple of years, you hear about somebody who has gone past the barrier and not come back alive.

The reason they don't come back can be seen in pictures 2 and 3. These "potholes" have been carved out of solid rock by the scouring action of the water. And scouring it is. The water in the second picture is churning around as if in a washing machine . It rises and falls about 12-16 feet every 20 seconds or so. The crashing against the walls produces a mist thick enough that the sun shining through creates a rainbow. he water doesn't just flow out the other end into the river either. Because of the shapes of these "potholes', the water sloshes around and anything caught up in it just keeps getting tossed around and around. Eventually it gets spits out the end and into the river. The log in the 'pothole" is jammed so tightly that it will not budge from that spot at all. I presume it will be there until it rots away

I remember there was a tourist who went over one year and the search for his body went on for the longest time. Two years later they found a body just downstream, where the river calms. It was the tourist. They identified him by what was left of his shirt. He was so battered and broken by being in the "pothole" for such a long time that he was unrecognizable

The third picture is an old "pothole" that only gets water in it from the very edge of the river. The channel of the river has changed over time and this "pothole" is getting cut off from the source. You can see how round and deep they are. Also notice the strata of the rock. Level upon level of rock squeezing itself together over the millenia. And smooth. It is as if someone has taken a piece of sand paper and spent long hours polishing the stone.


The fourth picture shows the opening where the river exits the rock and calms down. The exit is the black spot almost directly below the small break in the trees. At this point, there is a beautiful sand and rock beach. The water has stopped it roiling and crashing and is now moving fairly calmly. It is such a contrast from just upstream. With the mountain in the background, it is so tranquil that there is a spirituality about it. The magnificence of the place speaks and says what a great power has created such beauty.

I love going to this spot and just sitting or standing quietly while the peace sinks into me.