MIH - Banff & Lake Louise

Banff & Lake Louise

Welcome to Banff! 

The Canadians sure do love their big letters 😃

Banff National Park and Lake Louise were on our list of places to see.  Banff is the first National Park in Canada.  It was one of the main reasons that we took the house/pet sit in Calgary.  We went to park twice, as it was a relatively short drive from where we were staying.  The drive took us past Olympic Park but we did not stop.  I mention it only because I just watched the movie Cool Runnings, the film about the Jamaican bobsledders.

We were lucky the first day that we visited Lake Louise as the smoke from the wildfires did not affect the visibility, he second day….not so lucky.    Lake Louise is beautiful.  I was surprised by the brilliant color of the water.  My understanding is the that the water is that color due to mineral deposits.  We took a trail up to the Lake Agnus Tea House.  The moderate, 2.2 mile (one-way), trail found us steadily climbing the mountain.  The trail itself was not difficult but it did take a bit of a toll on my thighs…in a good way.  It was well worth the climb, the views of the lake were amazing.  Near the top there is another lake, Mirror Lake.  We took a little breather here and was amused by a squirrel climbing a man who was trying to eat his lunch.  The squirrels here are not afraid of people one bit.

 

 

The second day the visibility was basically nil.  We started a hike up another steep trail and decided to turn back after about a mile.  The trail wasn’t all that difficult really but my thighs were killing me.  I would have soldiered on, I don’t like defeat, but Wilson was ok turning back so we did.  We met a very nice English couple on the trail.  They live in Turkey now and spoke to us about a turtle sanctuary, Dalyan, near where they live.  Apparently a dedicated sanctuary of this type is relatively rare in Turkey.  Istanbul is on my bucket list so at some point in time I can envision myself visiting Dalyan.  Back to hiking…we found another trail that circled Johnson Lake which was lovely and didn’t tax my aching body. 

 

(I tried to capture the elevation on the trail, but it doesn't look nearly as steep as it was)