Day 214/215: Rafting & Lake Louise

As requested by Susan, we found a white water rafting trip in the Canadian Rockies. Went with company Wild White Water and floated on the Kicking Horse River. The float lasts 2-3 hours and included a BBQ lunch. The camera lady caught Mary’s mini dry bag and took it, which is why we don’t have photos. It’s a shame because the river had long stretches of calm and the other guides were chill with it.

The company used wet suits for the glacial water and boy, was it cold. The first rapid called Alarm Clock literally drenched everyone on the boat. Sadly, didn’t see any wildlife and no one fell out of the boat. Headed back towards Banff National Park for some camping at Johnston Canyon. We had a tent set up competition and obviously we won because our tent is 1 year old while Andy and Susan have a tent older than us…..

Next day, we had to be strategic due to the popularity of Banff and specifically Lake Louise/Lake Moraine. First, you had to book bus tickets two days in advanced at 8am because there aren’t enough parking spots. We chose the 7am bus. Once you are on the shuttle there is a connector to the other lake and back to the parking lot .

We arrived at 8:00am and started the 8.5 km hike up to Lake Agnes and back; we convinced Susan and Andy to push for it, even though it was straight uphill. For extra exercise, Kieran ran ahead and met us back down towards the top.

We let Susan and Andy chill at Lake Agnes while we hiked up to Big Bee Hive which views Lake Louise and Lake Agnes above (3 more km). Below, boaters looked like little ants. We met Susan and Andy back down and took the connector to Lake Morraine. Sadly it started pouring rain. We checked it out, grabbed coffee, and went back to the shuttle bus.

Bad news: Andy sucks at setting up a tent and the rain absolutely flooded their stuff. We drove off with Susan to find accommodation and located a walked distance lodge. Helped Mary’s parents move into the cabin to dry their stuff and ate dinner together.

Spots:
Lake Louise
Lake Moraine
Lake Agnes
Kicking Horse River
Johnston Canyon CampgroundRead more