Saskatchewan River Crossing is the one place on the Icefields Parkway where you can buy fuel, a meal and a bed between Lake Louise and Jasper, a distance of about two hundred and thirty kilometres, and so it has a role far bigger than its size. It is a junction more than a settlement, with a service station, a motel and a restaurant, set among the peaks at a meeting of three rivers: the North Saskatchewan, the Mistaya and the Howse. The three streams flow together here, braided over wide gravel flats, and their colours, from milky grey to green, mix in the current.
The Crossing is also the junction with Highway 11, the David Thompson Highway, which runs east through the Kootenay Plains to the foothills near Rocky Mountain House. The road is named after the surveyor and fur trader David Thompson, who in 1807 came this way and crossed the Rockies by Howse Pass, to the west, and later mapped much of the country. The grassy Kootenay Plains, a few miles along the road, were an important meeting place for First Nations travelling between the mountains and the prairies, and it is a place of open sky and soft light.
Riders know the importance of the fuel stop. There is nothing else for a long way, and a traveller who skips the pumps at Lake Louise or the Crossing may find the Parkway very long. The prices are high, as everything has to be trucked in, and the pumps are small, with queues in summer. Plan to fill the tank, and perhaps carry a small reserve if your bike has a short range. The restaurant is a reliable place for a hot meal and a rest from the cold.
The scenery is stern. Mount Murchison, a huge block of limestone, stands over the valley to the north, and on the south side the peaks along the Howse make a jagged wall. Weather moves fast here, and snow can fall in any month, so check the forecast. Bighorn sheep and mountain goats are often seen near the road, and there may be bears. A park pass is needed for the parkway, and the best months are June to September. Arrive early for the best chance of a table, and a quiet look at the river.