LAKE LOUISE, BANFF

 

On the way to Lake Louise we came upon several motorists pulled over on the side of the road. Now, when you see cars stopped on the side of the road you stop, too. That means some kind of wildlife has been spotted. Sure enough there was a very large bull elk resting in the grass. What a splendid sight! He got up and began to graze. . . . a truly regal animal. His antlers were in velvet with several points. What a beauty he was. I hated to leave him.

It is a fairly short drive from Banff to Lake Louise so we went straight to the campground to set up. The sites were set up so that the electrical outlet was on the wrong side. I had an extension cord but Carol couldn't reach so we had to go back to the village and locate an extension cord for her rig. After that chore was done we went on to see Lake Louise. So beautiful. These glacier lakes are breathtaking. The color of the water ranges from various green hues to blue and turquoise and changes every minute. The color of the water is due to pulverized rock being washed down from the glaciers. It mixes in the water and reflects a blue color. Lovely. We hiked around half of the lake shooting photos. The closer we got to the glacier the colder it got. We were both ready for a hot drink afterwards.

 

Back at the camp that night I took s'more fixings down to Ginny and Nancy's. They had a fire so we enjoyed roasting marshmallows and chatting. The fire felt good and it was nice to get together.

The next day Carol and I visited Moraine Lake. This lake was the highlight for me. It must have been the intermittent sunlight that made it so spectacular. The colors were simply mesmerizing. I couldn't take enough photos. We hiked up to the top of rock pilings to have a better view of the lake, wow! The stillness of the water showed off the glacier reflections, just drop dead gorgeous. We then hiked around the lake for ground level views. We crossed small bridges over rivulets of water falling down the hill emptying into the lake. Dead logs were everywhere casting their reflections on the slow ripples in the water. The photo ops were endless. I think Moraine Lake will go down in my memory as one of my favorite experiences.

That night we prepared to leave early in the morning. That meant I had to hook up, dump grey and black water and fill with fresh water. We weren't sure we could find a campsite in Jasper so we were prepared to go to Grand Prairie 198 miles down the road. Our departure time was 7:00 am. A final note. . . Any misspellings on the blog are due to the iPad automatic word insertion app (:)