Alberta C- Banff to Jasper

Today we walked on the Athabasca Glacier.  It is the most accessible of the five glaciers that form the Colombia Ice Fields.  This array of peaks and glaciers south of Jasper is purported to be one of the very few hydrological Triple-Points on the planet.

When I was in 5th grade, our teacher, Mrs. Astle told us she'd visited THE Continental Divide the past summer.  And that THE Continental Divide was a line thru the entire continent of North America that separated water shed basins that feed the Atlantic ocean from those that feed the Pacific. 

Much later in life, I was surprised to learn that the Appalachians claimed a second Continental Divide: a line that separates water sheds for the Atlantic ocean from those of the Gulf of Mexico. 

This particular Triple-Point is a single point, that simultaneously touches water shed basins that feed the Atlantic, the Pacific, and the Arctic Oceans.  Water running off individual glaciers in the Columbia Ice Fields feed each of these three oceans.  The Triple Point is somewhere beneath one of these three glaciers that lie side-by-side.  

 There must be more of these "Great Divides".  It reminds me of my first reading of the book … "Flatland".

Today's Route: Tour Miles 338-581