Sentinel Pass & Eiffel Lake

We started at 8:30am and headed towards Sentinel Pass. The start of the trail walked through a forest and contained a lot of switchbacks as we zigzagged our way to the top. As we exited the forest we put on our cleats as it was quite icy on the track. We walked towards Larch Valley and we could see the Larch trees that were a beautiful golden colour.

We found a spot for breakfast off the track and quickly ate as it was still freezing. We walked past two lakes and could see the next switchbacks up ahead that we had to walk up in the snow. We continued onwards and started the climb to the top of sentinel pass. We definitely were very happy we had our ice cleats as due to how cold it was it was very icy in sections. We made it to the top and the views were beautiful looking at the mountains surrounding us.

As we rested and had a snack we watched a golden squirrel running around us. I was quite surprised that the squirrel would be this active in the cold weather. After a short break we continued back towards Larch Valley before turning off the track towards Eiffel Lake. The track towards Eiffel Lake walked in the valley of the 10 peaks. It was a relatively flat walk and we didn’t require our ice cleats.

We walked to the end of the trail with a wonderful view of the valley, and glaciers at the top of the peaks. We had our lunch, before continuing back along the trail towards Lake Moraine. As we walked towards Lake Moraine we got a glimpse of the lake and it was a beautiful Emerald colour.

We returned to Lake Moraine and caught the shuttle back to our car. It was close to 5pm so we got in the car and headed back to Banff. As we were getting close to Banff we made sure we stopped at a lookout that had views of Sulfur Mountain, and Vermilion Lakes which we had driven past everyday!

We got back to the accommodation and headed to the hot tub to relax. We then ordered a takeaway pizza before relaxing and having an early night.Read more