Banff National Park Part 2: Lake Louise & Moraine Lake

WHERE: Banff National Park (Lake Louise area), Alberta, Canda

WHEN: June 2016

HOW LONG FOR: 3 days

As I mentioned in my last post, we drove to Banff from Jasper via the Icefields Parkway. Because we spent a little longer here, I decided to split my travel diary into two blog posts. Without a doubt, my favourite part of our Banff adventure was our day around Lake Louise.

When we arrived at the lakeshore, at the hotel Chateau (oooh) Lake Louise, we realised that this lake was a bit of a tourist hotspot. We took a couple of snaps by the lake, and then started hiking what turned out to be the most challenging and rewarding hike of the trip.

We first hiked up to the Lake Agnes Teahouse past beautiful mirror lake. The Lake Agnes trail is steep, but the path is pretty clear. It was far less busy than at the lakeshore, but this was the busiest part of the hike.

When we arrived at the Teahouse, Lake Agnes was submerged in a cloud, and the heavens opened. We all crammed under the little hut and warmed up with hot cups of cocoa (which I’m pretty sure they made with the water from the lake) and a cheeky scone. There’s something really lovely about talking to strangers who have all come from different parts of the world. The rain made us table-sharing socialites, pausing from our hikes to discuss our holiday experiences, how good hot drinks felt in the rain, and (because we are British) people were keen to know our thoughts on Brexit.

After about half an hour, the rain cleared, and we continued our hike up the big beehive mountain. This part of the hike felt more … risky. We walked along pretty sheer cliff edges and even through snow! Even thought it was pretty difficult it ended up being SO worth it. The first part of the trail gave us the most adorable view of the Teahouse and Lake Agnes.
The view of of Lake Louise from the summit of the Big Beehive was spectacular. My photos really don’t do it justice.

Instead of turning back on ourselves, we decided to head back to Lake Louise via the trail for the plain of six glaciers (without actually visiting the glaciers). This trail was a lot easier, largely through a forest. It was, however, much quieter. It was the one time during our trip that I was thinking “hmmm maybe we should have bought that bear spray“. Luckily we did not have a grizzly encounter. I’d also like to point out that they wanted $45 for bear spray!! Which is basically chilli powder. I figured if it was that much of a necessity, they wouldn’t make it so expensive! All in all the hike was around 11km and took us 4-5 hours.

From the Lake Louise parking lot, we drove to Moraine Lake, which was so beautiful. Because we were pretty tired from our Lake Louise hike, we just walked around the shore of Moraine and appreciated its beauty from ground level.

Food

The Silver Dragon This was honestly one of the best Chinese restaurants I’ve ever eaten at. We had dinner there twice. The beef ho fun and the ma po tofu were scrummy.
The Balkan Without a doubt the best Greek food I’ve eaten. The moussakka and crispy pork pitta (they make all their pitta bread fresh) were amazing. The service was also brilliant.
Evelyn’s Coffee Bar was a great spot for an afternoon cuppa and a sweet treat
Mary’s Popcorn MAPLE PECAN POPCORN? *drools*