Lake Louise and Moraine Hikes 2012

Day 14

Lake Louise and Moraine Trail Map

 

Lake Louise and 6th-Glacier Tea House

We went with the Greyhound bus to Lake Louise Village. We hiked up the tramway to the hotel and to the lake. The lake without the hotel is gorgeous (no doubt). There are also an awful lot of people.

Lake Louise and Mt. Victoria

Lake Louise

We decided to hike towards the end of the lake and go up to the 6-Glacier tea house. The path took longer then thought but nothing compared to the Assiniboine area.

Lake Louise, view towards the (ugly) Chateau

Even at the tea house there were relatively speaking lots of people. We had a good view towards Mount Lefroy and Mount Victoria and their respective glaciers. We also had a good meal at the tea house.

 Margaret went all the way up to the 6-Glacier view point.

Mt. Lefroy

Mt. Lefroy

Death Trap between Mt. Lefroy and Mt. Victoria

Afterwards we returned the same way. In the Lake Louise Village we had a meal and then waited very long for the return bus (it was running very late). Elevation: 700m and about 6h of hiking.

Day 15

Lake Moraine

We went again with the Greyhound bus to Lake Louise Village and then took a local shuttle to Lake Moraine. Lake Moraine and the 10 peaks are gorgeous as well.

Wenkchema Peaks and Lake Moraine

Lake Moraine

Again there were a lot of people. We decided to simply hike towards the end of the lake (going up to Larch Valley and the Sentinel pass was not possible because the Grizzly risk required parties of minimum 4 people). The hike to the end of the lake was easy. On the way back we considered briefly renting a canoe but the folks wanted an arm and a leg for 1h of paddling. It wasn't worth it. We had again a very good meal in Lake Louise Village because the bus was running late (the 4pm bus had a mechanical breakdown). Once we arrived in Banff we decided to have a 2nd meal of the day in Seoul Country House. The cold noodle soup was worth it. Elevation: 0m and about 2h of hiking.

Day 16

Margaret spend most of the day in Banff looking at various shops.

Banff, Banff Avenue

I spent most of the day reading at the train station after lunch (again cold noodle soup). Before lunch I visited the Vermillon rapids and the Cascade gardens. At 5pm we took the bus to Calgary starting our way back. We had another good meal in a Calgary "Milestone" restaurant.

Day 17 and Day 18

All of the time was spend in the bus and various Hamburger and/or Tim Horten places. I greatly enjoyed again the Lake Superior area. It is now on my list of future places to go.