Calgary-Canmore-Banff-Lake Moraine-Lake Louise
? Hours - ? km
The shortest daily trek of the trip had the most photos taken. Staring at laptop screens and recording timepoints becomes optional, keeping the eyes peeled for the next snow-capped peek.
Banff
Banff is touristy town in the mountains, meaning overpriced everything and hordes of camera-toting tourists of asia-pacific origin. We stop just long enough to pick up hiking trail map and groceries for camping (and a change of clothes for light packer me).
On the way to the trail just north of Banff, we have our closest animal encounter. The mountain goats don't mind showing off their wool-shedding sides.
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| Mountain goat 1. |
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| (Younger) Mountain goat 2. |
The 180 degree road turns become a familiar sight.
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| Twisty. |
We are all truly in awe of the scenery that the mountainous forest has to offer.
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| Natural ladder. |
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| The colours and textures are unreal. |
Lake Moraine
Lake Moraine is the lesser known glacial lake 10 km away from Lake Louise. Although it is raining, the view is just unbelievable.
We sighted a bear on the way to lake moraine, but it quickly run away as the column of cars approached. Bears are a real danger in these areas, so various precautions are in place. For instance, it is illegal to travel some trails in groups less than four people.
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| Sign warning of unwanted bear encounters. |
Lake Louise
Lake Louise sources its water from the nearby Victoria glacier. The unnatural colour comes from sediment (called silt) shed into the water by the glacier moving over the rocks. The silt emulsion preferentially absorbs all colours except blue and green, resulting in a beautiful turquoise tint visible to us.
Imagine what the first person to see this lake felt.
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| The greens! |
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| No colour-editing. |
Lake Louise is home to a luxurious Fairmont resort built in the early 20th century to accommodate adventurous railway travellers. Rooms go for several hundred dollars a night.
Hiking up to the small Mirror Lake and Lake Agnes will take about 3 hours for the round trip, and your head will be on the swivel the entire time. During the hike we encounter rain, sun, rainbows, colours, frozen lakes, melting streams, reflections. It seems everything nature has was thrown at us.
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| Nadia, like me, can't believe everything she's seeing :-) |
Beauty.
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