We set off today for Lake Louise. We again followed the railway line, the same one that carries the famed Rocky Mountaineer, a trip I'd always thought I'd like to do but now wonder if we've not seen the best of what you'd see on that anyway.
It's about a half hour drive but took us a lot longer, well over 5 hours. We took every side road on offer and did some short walks into the forest.
It was a bit cooler today and the clouds were coming in, the forecasters have been predicting snow and colder days ahead, sure looks like they're right.
At Johnston Creek we did the full two plus hour hike through the cool canyon beside the crystal clear river. About ten months ago Pete sent me a link to a gorgeous waterfall asking if we could please go there when we did this trip. Today he got to go "there" and it certainly was gorgeous.
We stopped at Baker Creek for lunch, tried saskatoonberry ice cream, ok, bit like blueberries but not as good. A cute small squirrel came to see if any of the empty tables would provide any treats, he left out of luck but he had a good look around. We took a walk after around Baker Creek, yet another lovely spot. They have a lot of cabins there, fire pits and BBQ's near the creek. It'd be an awesome place to stay, perhaps when we win lotto :-)
By the time we got to lake Louise it was cool and very overcast, the lake looked a bit gloomy rather than the usual sparkling picture we see on post cards. We walked a way around the lake then drove up to Lake Moraine. It was the same gorgeous colour as Louise but smaller and less people. The wind was well and truly up and very chilly. Pete did his usual mountain goat routine and clambered up the big rock pile to the side of the lake to get some pics from the top.
On the road back down towards Lake Louise we could see the clouds which had lurked, heavy with snow all day, unloading on the mountains. Down low where we were it rained a little but was warmer than it had been at the lakes. We can't complain, we've had such lovely clear blue days up til today.
We took our time heading back to Canmore, checked out a few more short trails, some marked some not so much legit walking trails :-)
The sky began to clear the closer to being out of the park we got, hopefully it augers well for tomorrow being a better day.
We stopped in at Vermillion Lakes on the way out of the park, gorgeous mountain reflections in the lakes before the wind got up. There was a bit much cloud unfortunately for the sunset to work its magic and turn the waters red.
Back to our hotel by 8.30, did some laundry, had a spa with some young ladies from New Brunswick and had another home cooked meal - I'm going to miss the kitchens of the last few nights :-(
Tomorrow we head for Jasper National Park. Like today it's a short drive, four hours, but expect it'll take us a whole lot longer by the time we take a lot of detours.