lake louise and yoho national park

wildlife as we drive past

lake moraine

fairmont chateau

bronte at lake agnes tea house

lake agnes

more wildlife...cute

mirror lake

walk to the tea house

lake louise from tea hose walk only half way up

lake louise

spiral tunnels, how they work

the actual tunnels

hamilton falls

emerald lake

natural bridge

view from our room at the juniper

Tuesday 8th June

Today we planned to visit Lake Louise and Yoho National Park. This meant we had to back track about 60kms to Lake Louise and a further 20 to Yoho, there was a water fall called Takakkaw Falls that we wanted to see at Yoho. We got checked out of our room and hit the road so we could get everything thing done that we wanted today.

We stopped at the visitor information centre as we had to buy a permit to enter the national park. While talking to the lady she told us that we could not see the falls as the road was closed due to winter and the avalanche season. But there was a couple of other sites to see. She gave us a map and off we went.

We drove to Natural Bridge which is where water has carved away at rocks over thousands of years, it was very beautiful there. From there we drove to Emerald Lake which was also very pretty to look at. The water is just a beautiful colour to look at with the mountains and snow in the back ground. There was also a short 1.7km walk to a smaller water fall called Hamilton Falls near Lake Emerald which we also did. Even though the falls were small they were very pretty.

From there we made our way towards Lake Louise and stopped off at Spiral Tunnels Viewpoint and Kicking Horse Pass. This is where they have cut spiral tunnels into the mountains so the train can do a figure of 8 through a tunnel and come out further up the mountain. This was to cut the steepness of the track and to make it easier and safer for the train. It was funny as you could see the trains go into one side of the tunnel and then come out further up the mountain with the train still entering below due to their length. Just as we got there a train was going through and I wasn't able to get a photo quick enough and we didn't want to wait for the next train.

From there we drove to Lake Louise. We parked in the car park and walked down to the start of the lake. The lake is awesome, the water is so green in colour set in between two mountains with glaciers at the far end which is over 7kms away. The Fairmont Chateau which sits right on the side of the lake is also impressive. We walked around to the south eastern side first to have a look and then we decided to walk to the Lake Agnes tea house which was on the north western side of the lake. It was a 3.7km walk but was 400 metres above the lake, so it was nice and steep. The walk also passed a small lake called Mirror Lake on the way. The view of Lake Louise on the way up was very nice, the higher you got the better the view became and the brighter blue/green the water became. It took us about 2 hours to make the top as we took our time going up. Once at the tea house and Lake Agnes the view was spectacular, the lake was still partly frozen over. On the way up some of the hiking track was still covered in snow. It was better on the way down as it only took us about 1 hour. We were going to take the alternative route down but it was too snow covered and even steeper, at the start of the track Bronte slipped on the snow and slid down the side of the mountain. Thankfully I was there to grab him before he kept going. He cut his hand a bit and was a bit wet, cold and sore. We decided then we would go back the same way we had come. Also by that time it was getting late and we still had to drive back to Banff. It is weird as it does not get dark here till 10.20 pm. We did take a detour to another lake, Lake Moraine and also the Lake Louise Gondola, but the gondola was shut. We ended up driving back most of the way using back roads which was kind of nice.

Tonight we stayed right in the centre of Banff at the King Edward Motel. It was a really old motel but was right on the main street. We bought a BBQ chicken and salad for dinner at the supermarket and ate it in our room. We had planned to spend Wednesday in Banff checking out the town before we head to Calgary to meet up with our friend Jade.