Lake Louise and Moraine Lake
We arrived at Lake Louise, in Canada’s Banff National Park, at around 9:00pm, after a very long day of train travel on the Rocky Mountaineer. The bus dropped us off at the historic Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise hotel. After a bit of difficulty finding the stairs (to avoid the long line for the elevator), we entered our room and were greeted by this stupendous view! Lake Louise was even more beautiful than I had expected! We were energized, and we walked outside to take photos and enjoy the view until the sun finally set at 10:00pm.
Steve woke up at 5:30am to see the lake at sunrise. Gorgeous! At the far end of the lake, we could see the Victoria Glacier, whose meltwater fed the lake. The rock flour in the water gave the lake its distinctive milky turquoise color. That color changed throughout the day, as the sun and clouds moved. The hotel was grand, despite some ongoing renovations, but the real star of the show was Lake Louise. I couldn’t stop looking at that marvelous lake!
Moraine Lake, another famous spot in Banff National Park, was just a twenty-minute drive from Lake Louise. We were fortunate to get the last two seats on a van from the hotel to Moraine Lake. This lake was even more brilliantly blue than Lake Louise! It may even be more famous; you’ve probably seen it on your computer’s screen saver. (I recognized it from jigsaw puzzles!) We hiked to the top of the Rockpile to view the lake from up high. We were in the Valley of the Ten Peaks, and they made a splendid backdrop for Moraine Lake. We hiked around (half of) the lake, noting that the blue was especially intense where the sun’s rays hit the water. We ate our picnic lunch on a flat rock next to the lake, watching boaters paddle their vivid red and orange canoes, before heading back to our hotel.
A light rain started just as we arrived back at the Fairmont Chateau. We rested for a while, then ventured out under gray skies for a short hike by Lake Louise. The trail up to the Fairview Lookout was steep, and I longed for some switchbacks. But we made it to the lookout point, where a small crowd took turns taking photos of the view.
After our weekly FaceTime with the kids, we had dinner at one of the hotel restaurants, on a terrace overlooking the lake. It looked different with rain clouds hovering, but it was still a beautiful end to a lovely day.
The second night at Lake Louise marked the official end of our Rocky Mountaineer itinerary. But it wasn’t the end of our vacation in Western Canada! There was more fun to come!
