Canadian Rockies National Parks, What a Week

We arrived on a Sunday, and we leave on a Sunday.  What we have seen leaves us in awe…and tomorrow when we depart Banff, we have one of the most gorgeous drives there is, from Banff to Jasper.  What will it be like?  Well, it might be raining when we leave Banff…we “might” wake up to some snow, but it is too warm to stick around long…and the further north we go, the better the weather is suppose to be.  But I think we all have experienced the weather person’s “suppose to be” before.  Either way, we should make it to Hinton without problems, and we will enjoy the drive even if every mountain is shrouded in clouds.

We came to the area without any expectations.  We leave with many memories. Memories of Black Bears.  Memories of glacier waters which display the most extraordinary colors of blue and green – like turquoise and emeralds.  Memories of mountains that reach out all around, of forests full of wildlife, and some forests ravaged by fires fighting to regain their glory and life.  Memories of people from all over the world, most very polite, a few how are ignorant to those around them, most who are tourist as ourselves, in awe of that which abounds, busy taking pictures to share with those back home.

We will always have kind reflections of this place…even though something is telling us that we have many more memories that lay before us as we travel north to Alaska.  In two days this trip hits a new plateau…if all goes well, we will be at Mile Zero of the Alaska Highway in Dawson Creek.  There we will stay for a few days to savor the moment, to further plan our trip northward, and explore the town.  It has been 22 days since we left Sacramento…we have seen so much, and there is so much more that is before us.  As many others who have made this journey before us, we feel honored, we appreciate all that we have seen, we anticipate that which is ahead of us, and we have a gratitude to the almighty which neither words nor pictures can fully describe.

Lake Louise

We said we wanted to be out the door by 7 am, well, we were in the car by 6:30.  I knew that Lake Louise is a very popular spot, and the more people there, the worse your picture opportunities are.  We had very little problems as there were only 20 people around when we arrived, about 30 as we left. 

In this reflection you can see the greenness in the water, which is increased by the reflection of the green trees.

This straight shot shows the Victoria Glacier that helps to feed the lake.  Glacial sediment is what gives the glacier lakes their different colors.

Here is the right side of the lake, and again you can see the greenish color of the lake.

The lake feeds Louise Creek, which runs down to the Bow River.  This area of the lake is very accessible with fine paved walkways, areas to sit, and numerous locations to take pictures from.

Here you can see Marcia in her scooter.  Other than temperatures of 38 degrees, she got around fine on her own, taking pictures, some of which are used above.  She does have a blanket over her legs to help keep warm.  The dogs stayed in the car.

This shows the handful of the people around the lake.  The folks on the left were taking lots and lots of pictures, each one with one or more of them in the pictures.  They did not seem to mind that others might not want them in their pictures…but I was just happy that it was one small group doing this and not a huge crowd.

I was also glad that the canoes were all locked up for future use during the day.  I have seen many pictures of Lake Louise with many of these canoes out on the water.  I am sure glad we beat the crowds, it made the morning very special.

The Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise butts right up to the lake.

Look at all these rooms which look out onto the lake!  The cost is around $900 (Canadian) per night during September…not sure you could even book a room right now looking over the lake.  After we left we headed to the small town of Lake Louise to get a coffee.  As we were there, we saw no fewer than six tour buses pull in, and we saw many more headed that way when we traveled back to Banff later. 

      

The trip up to Lake Louise was full of many mountains, and the early morning sun made for some very interesting images.  Beyond Lake Louise it just seemed to get better.  We only traveled a short distance up the Icefields Parkway, perhaps 30 miles or so.  Fatigue was starting to set in on both of us, and I wanted to take the Bow Valley Parkway back from Lake Louise to Banff, which would take much longer than Canada Highway 1 took coming up to Lake Louise.  Below are some of the pictures we took north of Lake Louise.

    

    

    

    

I think one could spend years up here taking pictures…there is so much beauty everywhere you look.  How lucky we are to be able to enjoy even a few days of our lives here.   Later in the early evening we went for a drive around the outskirts of Banff, which perhaps I will post pictures of another day.