Lake Louise - Thought I'd died and gone to mountain heaven. Good job we are not fed up of seeing mountains, lakes & glaciers. The glaciers will be coming to an end soon though but we have lost count of how many we have gazed upon from Ushaiua to Alaska. Lake Louise is at the southern end of the Icefields Parkway and what a stunning place it is. It's beauty is it's problem, everyone wants to stay or visit here. In the summer it's full of tourists and hikers, in the winter the skiers and snowboarders flock here. There is a grand hotel 'The Fairmont' that has prime position overlooking the lake. We were told it costs 600 Canadian Dollars a night to stop there! We settled for the RV park which we were lucky to get a cancellation spot on. Most of the hiking trails start from the lake which is 4km uphill from the village and campground. Even though there are 2 large carparks at the lake, by 8am in the summer they are full. It's the end of the summer season now but they are still full by 9am. We set our alarm earlier than normal and drove up to the lake to secure a spot then had breakfast. As we sat there in our camper eating our frosties the cars and campervans just kept coming and coming looking for spaces. It gets so busy here that they have people directing traffic at crossroads in the village and parking attendants in the carparks. When the lake carparks are full they close the road so you can't even drive up there waiting for someone to leave. There is an overflow carpark several miles away with a free shuttle bus to the lake but in peak season even that gets filled up early in the day! The weather matched the scenery - stunning. With limited time before we must head south into the USA we combined 2 walking trails to make a long walk and then I added a bit extra on top. First we hiked up to the plain of six glaciers, then the highline trail to connect to the Lake Agnes trail with the summit of the Big Beehive thrown in for good measure. We clocked up 13 miles with 4000 feet of ascent. The day was filled with incredible views of hanging glaciers, snow-capped mountains and vertical walls of rock accompanied with the roar of distant avalanches. Not forgetting lake Louise and lake Agnes reflecting the skyline in their turquoise waters. Columbian ground squirrels whizzed to a fro around us whilst we tried to have a snack and suddenly Donna was startled as one appeared sitting on our lunch box looking for food! One good day of weather followed another, although they both started with an icy covering on our tailboard - tricky getting out and onto the ground first thing. The fridge is working better with a much lower night temperature - the apple juice and milk partially froze! Another early start and breakfast in the Lake carpark again. It's a dangerous time of year regarding bears. They are busy trying to eat as much as possible before winter hibernation. They are driven to consume 35,000 calories per day. They can consume 250,000 berries a day so hikers disturbing their food intake are most unwelcome and are prone to defensive attacks by the bears. We had decided to walk up Fairview mountain. Parks Canada very much control things here and close of areas and trails if there is high bear activity. Our trail for the day bordered a large area where trails are often closed. We had an early start and unlike yesterday we seemed to be alone and possibly the first up this route for the day. Bear bells are not recommended here as they can actually attract Grizzlies not scare them off. We made quite a bit of noise to announce our presence to any bears in the area. We met a lady today who had her own noise maker - two saucepan lids hanging of her rucksack. Donna reckoned it sounded like the potato pan boiling over. In the end we weren't alone but the numbers on this trail was tiny compared with other walks here. Upon reaching saddleback pass which was 60% of the climb done, Donna decided the final section to the top was too steep with too much scree for her liking. A lady from Ottawa was stopping here whilst her husband and son continued to the top. Then 4 more hikers arrived. Donna stayed at the pass with the Canadian lady whilst I ascended with the group of four. No one was left on their own in this active bear area. The peak was called Fairview, but the view from the top was fantastic not fair. Re-united we both had lunch and continued back down to the lake. We would love to stay here longer but we really must move onto Banff tomorrow.