The Wasserman Times

July 22, 2011

Jasper National Park to Wasa, British Columbia

Columbia Icefields, Athabasca glacier.

I am reminded today of how much chance and split second decisions shape our lives. If it hadn't cost so much to camp in Jasper National Park we might not have left this morning and we would have been stuck in camp while it rained all day. After leaving camp if we hadn't been quite so cold the first couple hours of riding this morning we might not have pulled over at the Columbia Icefields visitor center overlooking the impressive Athabasca glacier. And if that semi-truck driver had been going just a little bit slower or the other cars just a little bit faster, when his trailer jack-knifed coming down the mountains he wouldn't have hit them, blocking the road and most likely killing all the occupants of the two other cars.

According to the news article (http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/canada/Fuel+tanker+crash+explosion+park+claims+multiple+lives/5147610/story.html), the collision happened at just after 3 o'clock, about an hour before we came upon the line of cars backed up behind the accident. After sitting in line for about forty-five minutes we were just about to join the growing numbers of people turning around when we heard from a man walking by that the police were walking motorcycles around the scene. Down the shoulder we went in a last attempt to see if we could find someone actually in charge. As we neared a police officer I just head the end of his conversation with several car drivers telling them that the road might be closed over night when he came over to us and pointed down near the police tape where several other motorcycles were gathered. We learned later that one of the other motorcyclists had convinced the police to lead the bikes through the accident because they didn't have enough gas to take the detour.  Due to our perfect timing and were able to tag along with them as they paddle walked around the back end of the twisted and burnt trailer, still emitting thin whips of smoke, the front end of a truck barely recognizable through carnage.  In the end we made it safely though the scene of the crash and continued on our way to a cute little motel in the town of Wasa, but not without considerable stress, both mental and physical.

Looking down 93A at a peak in the distance.

But with all the excitement late in the day, I feel I've forgotten to talk about the beauty of the early parts. The Icefields Parkway (Hwy 93) is absolutely gorgeous. Words cannot describe the grandeur and sublime beauty of the mountains. There have only been a few times in my life where I have felt truly small in the world and today was one of them. With the weather as cold and rainy as it was today, I only felt like that awe was magnified. I imagined the mountains chuckling as they hurled wind and rain at us, asking rhetorically, “Who are you to think you can pass though us?” But every time I had resigned myself to the cold the clouds would lift, the sun would come out, and suddenly the Rockies didn't seem so threatening anymore. I can't wait for tomorrow and our return to these mountains as we enter Glacier National Park.