The road less traveled...

"Two roads diverged in a wood, 

and I – I took the one less traveled by, 

and that has made all the difference.” 

                          — Robert Frost

It was in the 40s this morning and partly sunny. This was the view from our driveway. We already knew it would be another great day!

We headed south to Athabasca Falls. From Highway 16, we went south on Highway 93. When we had the choice between Highway 93 and Highway 93a, we decided to take Highway 93a, the less traveled road. Image our surprise when the road climbed and we had even more gorgeous views! We stopped at Portal river. There was lots of water moving.

The second stop was at Whirlpool River.

It was so pretty with the mountains.

We made a quick stop at Leech Lake. The clouds were moving in.

We arrived at Athabasca Falls.

The sound of the water was VERY loud.The falls is just to the left in the following picture; water was funneling down via a different route.

We went down to the river.

The following photos were taken from the river level. 

When we got down all of the steps, we found a beach covered with rocks. Many cairns appeared among the larger rocks. A cairn is a small man-made pile of rocks that is used to show the way on a trail. However these cairns are just decorative.  The water was flowing into the river from the falls on the right.

Beyond the rocks is the Athabasca River.

The river flowed to the right when looking from the falls. So we were able to hike over and around the rocks to the other side of the river. We noticed this frog cairn around a little bend.

This is the view looking back at the cliffs. We were up on those cliffs before we headed down the steps to the river. The falls are just to the right in this photo. 

The falls are back in-between the cliffs.

On the other side of the river, we found this huge dead tree that had fallen.

We hiked back up towards the falls and we met some people from Illinois! Jan and daughter Ashley are from a Chicago suburb. Ashley is a food scientist now living in Michigan and leaving soon to study in England. Ashley wanted a selfie so she took one with my phone too. 

We decided to head home on the same road we came on because there was almost no traffic. It was definitely the road less traveled.

Before we got back to Whirlpool Lake, Ray spotted a bear in the woods! We finally were able to turn around and go back to the area. I was out on the far side of the jeep for this photo. Ray was in the jeep taking pictures out of the window.

The bear began moving parallel along the highway in the opposite direction so we drove on until we could turn around once again. Then I stayed in the jeep and shot out of the window while Ray was out on the far side. 

I hope I didn't sound flippant about the bear yesterday. We really take wildlife seriously. That's why the person that was closet to the bear today had to stay in the jeep. We were far enough away that we were comfortable having the window down.

We stopped at Whirlpool River and the clouds were rolling in followed very shortly by rain. 

It was time to head home. After a little down time, the rain stopped and we decided to go downtown. We walked - we live about 1/2 block from the downtown area. We visited many shops and enjoyed ice cream. The scenery is great.

It's been another fantastic day. I'm so glad we took the road less traveled. Seeing the bear was a highlight today!