Unfortunately, we have to leave today. However, because our flight isn’t leaving until later in the afternoon, we have time to take a canoe ride on Lake Louise. The hotel gave us vouchers for some free canoe rentals, and we wouldn’t want to waste them!
We headed outside after breakfast toward the canoe dock. As you can see, the skies are still foggy, but not as bad as yesterday.
Arriving at the canoe dock, we were quickly outfitted with lifejackets, shown to our canoes, and were on our way.
Here are some photos of our leisurely paddle to the end of the lake and back.
The time out on the water seemed to fly by, and it was again time to leave. We returned to the room to get organized, and get loaded up for the ride back to Calgary. It was a nice drive back to Calgary, where we returned to the airport with lots of time to spare. We got checked in for our flight, had some lunch in the lounge, and before we knew it, were we back home in Ontario.
But I guess it’s not all sad, for Nadine and I already have bookings to return for another ski trip here this coming winter!
On our last full day in Lake Louise, we awoke to more… you guessed it… Smoke! We just couldn’t catch a break this trip!
We set out after breakfast toward Lake Agnes, on what has become a very familiar trail to Nadine and I.
The trail headed up through the forest, and we stopped for a rest at the end of the first long switchback.
Eventually, we arrived at Mirror Lake.
Continuing up the trail, we stopped briefly at the falls below Lake Agnes, and then took the stairs up to the teahouse.
And we arrived at Lake Agnes, under a mix of cloud and smoke.
We had packed sandwiches for lunch, because as I figured, the lineup to get a table at the teahouse was crazy.
Given how horrible the visibility is today, there’s not much point continuing up the Beehives, so we descended the stairs on the other side of Lake Agnes, and followed the highline trail out toward the Plain of Six Glaciers.
Here we are skirting the base of the Big Beehive.
Passing a small bunch of lonely larch trees on the edge of the trail.
We arrived at the Highline Trail and followed it to the west.
The views started to open up toward the end of the valley (but still with lots of smoke).
I always like this spot on the trail, with this lovely swath of purple wildflowers.
At the junction between the Highline Trail and the Plain of Six Glaciers Trail, we turned left and headed back to Lake Louise.
As we were getting closer to Lake Louise, the trail entered the forest and we came across these two ground squirrels.
What happened next, we were not expecting! It’s best if you watch this video in full screen mode.
These little squirrels can sure fight!
After being entertained by the squirrels, we continued toward Lake Louise.
I didn’t take a lot of photos along the shore of Lake Louise, as the poor visibility didn’t make for great photography.
Now for some maps of the hike, starting with an overview looking straight down, followed by a few different angles.
Here are the tracks on a topographic map.
For those of you who would like them, I’ve uploaded our GPS track files here for download.
Our total hike distance was 12.0 km, starting from a minimum elevation of 5,690 feet at Lake Louise and reaching a maximum of 6,969 at Lake Agnes, for a net gain of 1,279 feet. Total ascent/descent was 1,505 feet.
Back at the hotel, we rested a little before getting ready for dinner at my favourite restaurant here, the Walliser Stube. With this being our last day here, we wanted to finish with a really nice meal!
We had a day mixed with cloud and smoke, so we were again forced to find some activities that don’t depend too much on clear skies. After breakfast, we headed back over the divide into Yoho National Park in British Columbia, and stopped at the Natural Bridge.
The Natural Bridge, on the Kicking Horse River, is a very unusual natural rock formation. What was once a waterfall, became a bridge when the softer rock layer eroded below the harder rock above, rerouting the waterfall through a hole in the rock.
Here’s Brian and I standing on the bridge.
After admiring the power forces of water at the Natural Bridge, we headed back down to the highway. Passing through Field, we could see that a train was just leaving for the east, so we thought we’d head over to the viewpoint at the lower spiral tunnels.
The train took a while to make it here, but it did arrive. Below is a video of the train passing through. It’s 12 minutes long, so you may need to skip through parts, but essentially you will see the same train in three different places, heading in different directions. It approaches from the left of the video toward the tunnel in the centre of the frame. The train then emerges from the higher tunnel exit on the left side of the screen, before turning back down the valley (while continuing to move upward) which you see at the bottom of the frame.
Getting back to Lake Louise, we had reservations for dinner at the Station Restaurant, which is another of our frequent dinner spots. The restaurant is in the old historic CPR trains station in the Lake Louise village (then called Laggan when the station was first built).
