Banff day 1

We tried to get away early for our drive to Lake Louise, but it wasn't early enough. Parking was not too much trouble, then after the ubiquitous photo op we headed for the trail that would take us up to Lake Agnes and the tea house.

It was quite hard going but the path was good. The views on the way up were outstanding.  I couldn't resist taking this photo of a Douglas Fir just to show how little soil these massive trees set their roots down in. 

The best view was that at Mirror Lake about 2/3rds of the way up. Simply stunning.

And also the piece de resistance, Lake Agnes itself. It was so worth the effort. The tea house was already packed but we eventually got a table. As we sat enjoying the view, the mirror effect on Lake Agnes disappeared as the wind had picked up. We were very lucky.

Tea House at Lake Agnes

Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise on high zoom from Lake Agnes

A chipmunk or two were scurrying between people’s legs and around between the tables, but do you think I could catch one on camera. They are so quick.

I was able to capture the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise way down in the valley on the shores of Lake Louise, then we were off down the trail again. The journey down is always so much quicker and easier, but I was very glad I had my poles. Lots of people use them here even young fit people. They value their joints too – so I think I am in good company.

Lake Agnes, mirror effect gone

Back down at Lake Louise itself the crowds were pressing so we hijacked it out of there and headed for Moraine Lake. Oh dear we had exchanged one seething mass for another. We fluked a car space and headed for the lake. Once again we did just enough to say we had visited and left. It is July and holiday season after all, so it is to be expected, but all the same there are more pleasant ways to spend our holiday.

One bonus was the fact that there were more chipmunks darting about, ready to pick up after careless humans. This one was sitting conveniently on the roof of a small shed and stayed still long enough for me to take this shot.

I'm sure we would have enjoyed the walk around the shore to take in the full view of the mountains that line the opposite shoreline, but we had other plans.

The bears we saw were nowhere near this big!!

Our hosts had recommended visiting Marble Canyon in the Kootenay National Park which is to the west of Banff NP. Driving along the road the landscape changed dramatically. A wildfire had gone through and wiped out 12%of the park in 2003. The forests here don’t recover like ours do in Australia. It takes years for the scars to disappear. 

The very deep Marble Canyon

As we made our way up the canyon, we could see lots of new growth which stands proud in front of the now dead once dense forest. Crossing the first bridge across the river, we were hit by an upswell of icy cold air from the glacial river below.

Marble Canyon was a place of peace and solitude after the torrid frenetisism of Lake Louise and Moraine Lake, beautiful as they were. That is until we came all the way up to the surging waters feeding into an impossibly narrow canyon. 

The walls of marble lining the canyon

Leaving Marble Canyon we returned towards Highway 1 to visit Johnston Canyon on the Bow Valley Parkway which runs parallel to Hwy1. We stopped at Vermillion Pass on the Great Divide, some 5200+ feet above sea level. It is also the border of Alberta and British Columbia as well as the border of Kootenay and Banff National Parks. We had already passed across Yellowhead Pass on our way in to Jasper and we will be passing over Kicking Horse Pass when we leave Banff, so we are doing quite well really.

On our way down the Bow Valley Parkway we were treated to a group of bull elk grazing beside the road. It is still astonishing how foolish people are, getting out of their cars and approaching as close to the animals as they dare - quite unnecessary and dangerous too.

Time was getting on and when we arrived at Johnston Canyon there were still crowds of people there (presumably as the car park was very full). So we gave it a miss thinking we would return. It was now quite late in the afternoon. We had had a very full day so we were due for a bit of a rest.

After dinner we needed to buy a few supermarket items and were looking at various shops along the street too. As I waited for Ian to catch me up I came upon this young deer buck grazing on the town gardens!!!! Ian arrived just in time before he moved on. They are apparently not very welcome in town.

Banff day 2 to follow another time.