June 11, 2025 - Driving to Alaska
Lake Louise

Today's destinations are the famous Lake Louise and Lake Morraine.  There is scarce parking at both.  However, they have a bus shuttle service you can use to get to the Lakes.  You park your car in the big parking lot at the Lake Louise Ski Resort -- a short distance from our Inn -- and catch the shuttle there.  It takes you to Lake Louise.  From there, you catch a shuttle to Lake Morraine.  Finally, the shuttle takes you from Lake Morraine back to the Ski Resort parking lot.

There's only one catch.  Even the shuttle service is jammed so you have to have reservations.  I made my reservation exactly 4 months prior and even then, by the time I logged on I was 20,000th in line.  I was only able to get a reservation at 1PM for the day we wanted.  Half the day gone already!  But.  You can also make reservations two days prior at 7pm.  I tried again then and had much better luck.  I was able to get the time I wanted:  9am.

So we caught the shuttle to Lake Louise at 9am.  People who had not done their homework were walking up only to be told, sorry, shuttle is fully booked all day.  You'll have to come back some other day.

Don't be that guy.  Make reservations.
   
Incredibly, we saw a black bear from the shuttle on the way to Lake Louise.
   
Our first look at Lake Louise.  As you can see, it's very popular.
   
A better look.  As soon as I saw it I recognized it.  This is one of the most famous scenery pictures in the world which I had seen before many times.  I knew it was in the Canadian Rockies but but never where.  I just assumed it inaccessible; somewhere out in remote wilderness.  Now I know.
   

You can rent canoes to paddle around on the lake.

In August 1882, while camped in the Bow Valley, Tom Wilson, a horse-packer for the Canadian Pacific Railway survey, heard the roar of a distant avalanche.  Edwin Hunter, a Stoney Indian, told him it came from the "snow mountain above the lake of little fishes".  The next day Edwin led Tom to this lake.  Tom was the first non-native person to see it.  Impressed by its color, he called it Emerald Lake.

In 1884, the lake became known as Lake Louise, in honor of Princess Louise Caroline Alberta, the fourth daughter of Queen Victoria.

The first chalet was built on the shore of Lake Louise in 1890.
   
Now a World Heritage Site.
   
Meltwaters from six glaciers at the head of the valley feed the lake.  The water is cold; less than 50 degrees in summer.  The lake can be frozen from November to June.  In mid-winter the ice can be more than three feet thick.  The lake is 230 feet deep.
   
You can dispense with all the shuttle stuff if you stay at the famous Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise.  View the lake from your room.  Park right at the lake.  I looked into it when planning this trip.  It was $1,000 or more a night.  Out of my price range.  We could see a lot of construction in the hotel area as well.  It would be convenient though.
 
The hotel was first conceived by the railway at the end of the 19th century, as a vacation destination to lure moneyed travellers into taking trains and heading west.  By the time airplanes and automobiles had displaced the trains, it had gained sufficient renown to have a life of its own.
   
We wanted to do some hiking, of course.  But which one.  There is an easy, flat trail on one side of the lake.  But we decided to hike a medium hike to Mirror Lake and Lake Agnes.  We should have looked at the details more closely.  The hike was more strenuous than we realized.
   
Starting the hike.  It was uphill all the way to Lake Agnes.
   
Checking out the mountains through a gap in the trees.   The air was a little hazy, unfortunately.
   
Well, maybe a lot hazy.  There is Lake Louise down below.
   
 
   
We finally arrive at Mirror Lake.  That rock mountain is called the Big Beehive.
   
MMM
   
Now, this is the way to experience the Lake Agnes trail:   ride a horse!
   
Another look at Mirror Lake.
   
And again.
   
A better shot of the Big Beehive.
   
We continued on.
   
Pretty shot of the mountains.
   
 
   
The Big Beehive keeps showing up.
   
The horses are taking a break.
   
We arrive at a waterfall.
   
 
   
 
   
 
   

And then we are at Lake Agnes.  Not bad.  Worth the effort!
 
   
There is a "Tea House" at one end of Lake Agnes.
   
It was jammed, of course.  Given the strenuousness of the hike up here -- it took us two hours -- I was surprised how many people were up here.
   
Another look at the waterfall coming back down.
   
Headed down.  There's a glimpse of Lake Louise.
   
 
   
It only took an hour to get back to Lake Louise.   Now boaters are on the lake.
   
Lots of people.
   
A Grizzily Bear inside the small visitors center.
   
 
   
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