The drive from Banff to Lake Louise is a short one, but the day trip parking lot for the famous lake was quite daunting. The park has hired a private company to coordinate traffic in the area, and the parking lot was packed to the brim. We were actually trying to find our campsite and ended up there by mistake because once you miss the turn for the campsite, you are unable to turn around.
Though having mistakenly ended up there, we figured we might as well take a look at the lake before leaving if we didn't have to pay much for parking. I asked one of the company employees--a parking coordinator, mind you--how much the parking fee was and he shrugged and said, "I don't know." It was hard to imagine in what capacity the man could be of any use, so we kept walking.
Having delved deeper into the mystery, we determined it was a flat rate of $12 per day. This was unacceptable for a short visit, so we took a quick peak at the lake through the crowd, noted it to be legitimately stunning and drove out to find our campsite.
The site itself was quite nice, with more space than in Banff. It was somewhat intriguing to start with because tent camping is not allowed there due to grizzly bear activity in the area (We didn't have the misfortune of seeing one during our two-night stay, I'm happy to report).
(Quick note: the pictures I have uploaded are apparently out of sequence here and I can't risk the data consumption of uploading them again, so this post will be haphazard from here.)
Below is the Bow River that runs along the campsite and on to Calgary. The largest mountain in the area, Temple Mountain, is to the left here. It is snowcapped year-round and looms over the scenery impressively.
Here is Moraine Lake, which is another lake nearby Lake Louise. It is smaller but arguably even more beautiful than Louise, though much harder to access. The parking lot is always full and the same company that manages Lake Louise traffic restricts access to the road (about a 20min drive from Lake Louise) almost permanently as a result. People apparently go to the parking lot as early as 3:30AM to claim a parking spot. We visited it on Day 2, but had to take a shuttle bus there and leave Kenting in the RV for the visit. My summary of the experience is that it was well worth the shuttle trip, but definitely not worth arriving at 3:30AM (it is hard to imagine what would be, honestly).
The lake really was quite a sight though. Some people consider it the most beautiful place in the world. I can see it at least being in the top ten, for sure. Unfortunately, the visibility of the mountains wasn't as good as it could have been on that day for whatever reason.
Earlier that day we visited Lake Louise properly, and were happy to pay the parking fee as we intended to stay several hours. It's definitely worth checking out, and the crowd wasn't extreme when we arrived around noon. Most people try to see the sunrise there too, apparently.
We spent the afternoon hiking the trail along and above Lake Louise. It was quite a steep climb and filled with fellow travelers, but well worth the journey.
This is Lake Agnes, about 2 hours up the trail.
There is a tea house operating next to Lake Agnes, the original form of which opened way back in 1910 (or around then). It's certainly neat to imagine a tea house set up in the mountains like that way back then.
There is also the option to rent a horse on this trail. Kenting is familiar with horses from his time with my parents, and was naturally intrigued to see them in the mountains.
There is another lake on the trail called Mirror Lake, but the water was quite low, so it was less impressive than usual, it seemed.
This is another look at Lake Louise from the trail.
A raven greeted us in front of the undoubtedly madly expensive hotel by the water. Maybe it was trying to warn us to save our hard-earned money.
The lakes were about as nice as advertised and we enjoyed the campsite next to the Bow River as well. It was cool to have a fire with Temple Mountain as a backdrop.
Kenting enjoyed having a lot more space at the campsite compared to Banff as well. Finally some room to stretch out!
On the whole, camping at Lake Louise was a really positive experience and well worth it. I might feel differently though if we were there during peak tourism season, rather than just after. The shot below suggests how bad it can get.
The next morning we decided to check out one more place in Alberta before heading west into the final province and ultimate destination of our journey.
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