Part Six

Lake Louise
We stayed for two nights at the municipal RV camp Site in Lake Louise. Not a bad set up, although we did have quite a way to walk to make use of the "Facilities". 

We were very tired after all the travelling, so after a quick bite to eat, we got a "relatively" early night. That night, was the coldest night so far and we didn't get much sleep as it was colder than we had experienced so far.... as was obvious, the next morning we woke to find our windscreens frozen over!

As forecast, the weather was sunny, with clear blue skies and once the sun was up over the mountains, it warmed up quite nicely. We were told that parking was always a problem at Lake Louise. So we decided to walk in up the valley trail.

The trail starts off nice and flat but shortly after the slope begins, and the slope turns into a steep incline for several hundred metres in places!

A very pretty walk, albeit a bit taxing on the legs and the lungs as the surface of Lake Louise itself is 5740 ft above sea level.

Is that a glass igloo on the mountain or the moon! Just before entering the Lake area, Gavin noticed that the moon was just going down behind the mountain.

This is the view that greets you when you arrive at the side of Lake Louise at the top of the trail from the village.

These Jays are ever-present at the lakeside, flying in to be fed tit bits from the hands of the thousands of visitors to the Lake.  

The colour of the water is derived from the "Rock Flour" that is brought into the lake from the Glacial meltwater. The "Rock Flour" is generated by the glacier as it very slowly passes over the valley floor. The tremendous pressures involved, pulverises boulders and rocks into dust and as the ice melts, the water carries it into the lake.

This is where the Lefroy Glacial waters enter the lake, although the Lefroy Glacier itself is a good walk further up the valley.

The lake supports two species of trout and the small Mountain Whitefish. The Stoney Nakota First Nation People named the lake "The Lake of the Little Fishes"

We didn't have time to walk any further as we needed to return to the hotel for lunch before going on the lake in a canoe!..... the thing was, was Stef going in the canoe?..... and, do we take all the camera gear in the canoe?..... 

After lunch in the hotel,  we went for the Canoe.... Unfortunately, they didn't have lockers. So, after much deliberation, I decided that I would take the camera gear on the canoe, with more than a little feeling of trepidation.

Oh......and Stef decided to go in the canoe as well!:))

Straight down the middle of the lake and back - roughly 1 hour. Over the four kilometre (or so) canoe trip, It hardly entered my mind (much) that the lake is around 230 feet deep. Replacing the kit we had on board would be quite expensive, so you can imagine that I was very interested in not "rocking the boat". We would float... but the camera gear wouldn't!!!

Seldom much above freezing, the lake is used for Canoeing, Kayaking, in summer and Ice fishing and Ice Skating in winter when the Lake freezes over.

An easier walk back down the trail, brought us into the village of Lake Louise where we had a drink and some very nice chicken wings..... we had earned it. According to our pedometers in our phones we had walked over 12 miles covering some fairly steep ground. We would sleep well tonight. We needed to as we had another early start and drive to Banff (although only 30 - 40 km or so away) and another day of walking the rainforest planned, on the lookout for Bears and whatever other wildlife we could find.