One Road North Get the Corridor Guide
Icefields Parkway · Alberta, Canada

One road. Lake Louise to Jasper. Nothing else to decide.

Most Rockies planning is about choosing between routes. This corridor doesn't give you that choice — there's one road, 232 km, and the only real decision is how many of the seven stops along it you build time for.

232 kmLake Louise to Jasper
2,088 mHighest point, Bow Summit
7Stops worth building time for
Icefields Parkway road winding through glacier-capped peaks between Lake Louise and Jasper
The corridor, by elevation

You climb twice, and drop the rest of the way

The line below is the actual shape of the drive — not distance on a map, but elevation against distance. Tap a point to jump to that stop.

LAKE LOUISE BOW SUMMIT SASKATCHEWAN RIVER CROSSING COLUMBIA ICEFIELD SUNWAPTA FALLS ATHABASCA FALLS JASPER
All seven, in order

What's actually worth stopping for

Lake Louise turquoise water below Victoria Glacier
Km 0 · 1,731 m

Lake Louise

Where the corridor starts: a turquoise glacial lake under Victoria Glacier, and the last full-service town before 232 km of almost nothing.

Read the full stop →
Peyto Lake viewed from Bow Summit above the Icefields Parkway
Km 40 · 2,088 m

Bow Summit

The highest point the highway reaches — 2,088 m — and the pullout for the Peyto Lake viewpoint, one of the most photographed lakes in the Rockies.

Read the full stop →
Saskatchewan River Crossing valley where mountain rivers meet
Km 78 · 1,500 m

Saskatchewan River Crossing

The only real services on the whole corridor — fuel, a lodge, and a warm meal — sitting at the junction where three river valleys meet.

Read the full stop →
Columbia Icefield and Athabasca Glacier from the parkway viewpoint
Km 127 · 2,050 m

Columbia Icefield

The edge of the largest icefield in the Canadian Rockies, and the corridor's second high point — Athabasca Glacier is close enough to walk toward.

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Sunwapta Falls dropping through a narrow rocky canyon
Km 176 · 1,300 m

Sunwapta Falls

The river makes a hard right turn here and drops into a narrow canyon it carved through ancient bedrock.

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Athabasca Falls forcing whitewater through a quartzite gorge
Km 210 · 1,200 m

Athabasca Falls

Not the tallest waterfall on the route, but the most powerful — the whole Athabasca River forced through a gap in hard quartzite.

Read the full stop →
Jasper townsite nestled in a broad mountain valley
Km 232 · 1,062 m

Jasper

Where the corridor ends: a small mountain town, and one of the largest dark-sky preserves in the world.

Read the full stop →
Only real decision left

How many days should this actually take?

The drive itself is under four hours without stopping. Almost nobody should do it that way — but how much longer you take depends on what you came for.

See the three pacing options →

One fuel stop, the whole way

Saskatchewan River Crossing, at km 78, is the only place to fill a tank between Lake Louise and Jasper.

The road closes some winters

Sections can shut for avalanche control with no warning between November and April.

Wildlife slows things down

Sheep, elk and the occasional bear use the highway shoulders — budget extra time, not just kilometres.

Read the full driving notes →
Take it with you

Get the seven stops as one printable page

Km markers, elevations, and what each stop is for — one page, no account needed, sent straight to your inbox.