Lake Louise

Fri 19th Aug. I do not recommend the Lake Louise campground, the train track runs right alongside it, and there is a couple of road crossings so they give nice long blows on the horn. After the 11pm train I gave up and got my earplugs in. Then it was an early start, first time using the alarm, got up at 5.50am so we could get a park at Lake Louise, These fill up really fast, then they close the road - when we drove past about 6.10 the Moraine Lake road was already closed. But it was nice to see the sun rise on Lake Louise, and again some great reflection photos. We then headed of for the Plain of Six Glaciers hike, this started along side the lake then headed up the valley where you're surround by peaks and Glaciers, and a Swiss build tea house (build in 1920). When returning back along the same path we heard two avalanches. We then took a turning to head to "Big Beehive" which gave a nice view over Lake Louise. While there we discovered "The Devil's Thumb", a large rock plinth towering above the summit of the beehive, and could just make out people on top. We talked to some people about going up, some had tried but turned around with the narrow steep track, we ummed and ahhed but always up for a challenge thought we would check it out. It wasn't too bad, a bit of scrambling up a very steep dusty section was the worst, but had a track for most of it, and the views were worth it. After getting down it was onwards to Lake Agnes. It was interesting how the two lakes were such different colors. Louise was a cloudy pale blue, whereas Agnes was clearer and a darker turquoise - both very pretty Lakes. Then it was downhill, back to the start by the Château Louise, a very large grand hotel on the lake front. As we were passing, a wedding was about to begin, so along with hundreds of other tourists we watched over the fence for the bride to arrive - very beautiful, although I wouldn't had liked to been the men sweltering in their suits. Stats for hike: 19.21 km, 5:27, elevation gain 1053 m. We then headed back to village to the shop to get a few supplies because decided it made more sense to go to Yoho N.P before Banff. The first two campgrounds in the park were full, and on the map there was another one up the valley by Takakkaw Falls, which was also where the hike we wanted to do started from, so we carried on hoping they had a site, however when we got there found out it was only for tents, so we are taking a risk and staying in the carpark for the night. After dinner we went for a small walk to check out the 254 m Takakkaw Falls. Steps Dougs 39850.Läs mer