Lake Louise, Canada
Alberta/Lake Louise is my favorite of all the places we’ve been to. When describing it to people, I like to call it the UP on steroids.
Johnston Creek
It is a nature lovers dream. My work was celebrating their 10 year anniversary and they were celebrating in Lake Louise which is how we got to go there. We decided to go up a few days early for some extra vacation time and it was well worth it. We stayed in a cabin in Johnston Canyon. The cabins were cute and they were all nestled in a wooded hill. The cabin had direct access to the Johnston Canyon boardwalk. The boardwalk was a nice structure that walked and twisted between the mountain and the actual Johnston Creek. It was so pretty and there were hardly any people. The walk had a few different waterfalls that we passed and some you could go right up to.
The next day we drove on the Icefield Parkway which is one of the most scenic drives in all of North America. It winds along the Bow River (and other rivers and tributaries) and everywhere you look you see a beautiful mountain. Once we
Peyto Lake
entered the parkway, we were lucky to see a grizzly bear. I guess grizzly sightings are not super common. The grizzly was coming down onto the road toward our car and when it started getting closer we quickly left. It was amazing to see a bear like that so close. Along the parkway we stopped at various different lakes. Our favorite by far was Peyto Lake which is a brilliant blue that I can’t even begin to describe. Seeing it in person and then trying to capture it on camera is nearly impossible. We were so fascinated with the color of the lake that we wanted to hike down to see it. Of course there was a sign warning people like us that the trail was not maintained. To call it a trail would be a big overstatement. We were basically hiking down the side of a wooded mountain through ice, snow, cliffs, rocks and trees. The trail at points was hardly even a trail and only one person wide. It was a very stupid decision. Then we thought, what would happen if we saw a bear. We probably hiked for a good 45 minutes to an hour and didn’t even get half way down when we decided to go back. We still talk about it to this day. After Peyto Lake we went to the Glacier Skywalk which is a big walkway protruding out over the canyon below. It has a glass bottom and is a little freaky to walk out on it especially since it had just rained. We headed back to our cabin after that to call it a day.
The next day we headed to Kicking Horse, BC to go whitewater rafting. On our way, we stopped in Field to eat breakfast. Field is a VERY small, quaint town at the base of a mountain. We ate at a place called Truffle Pigs and we both had banana French toast which was awesome. I’d love to have it again and I don’t even like bananas. The place had hand crafted flying pigs hanging from the ceiling which I wish were for sale. They were all different and awesome. The whitewater rafting was our first time and was very fun and COLD. The water was 42F and when you crashed into water and it went down your wet suit and settled in a special area it did not feel nice. Kyle was crazy and decided to
Cave and Basin
jump in for fun. Nut. When we got back they had a nice lunch for us, we bought a couple souvenir shirts and then left. We would love to go again sometime. On our way back we stopped in Banff. It was our second time in Banff as my company had a companywide convergence event in 2007 so it was nice to visit again. We loved how at the busy intersections they would make all the lights red and turn the cross walks on so people could walk diagonal across. Every time I get to an intersection and have to cross twice I think of the diagonal cross walks of Banff and how they are such a good idea. There we ate, got some chocolate and called it a day.
The next day we waited for the train to come around the river bend. We waited and waited and finally thought we were just wasting our time so we left. As we were driving we passed the train and so hurried back and luckily we were able to catch it so I could get my photo op. It’s one of my favorite photos because it’s so pretty and the Sheldon Cooper in me
Freight Train on Bow River
loves trains. We drove then to a place called Cave and Basin which is in Banff. There you can walk in a cave that smells horrible from the sulfur and get to see a natural hot mineral spring. There is a spring in the cave and one outside in the basin. They tell you about the endangered Banff Springs Snail and how it’s the only thing that lives in the water that can stand the temperature. They have a faucet and fountain that you can actually drink the mountain water which was neat. This was the last part of our vacation as the rest of the trip was part of the MEGlobal celebration.
When we arrived to the Fairmont Lake Louise, we were greeted by a bagpiper which was awesome. Lake Louise itself is such a beautiful and picturesque lake that when you look at the photos they don’t even look real. MEGlobal had different things for us to do and Kyle and a few other husbands actually
Glacier
got to kayak on the lake. They bought us an excursion to the Columbia Icefield where a glacier is. On our trip there driving on the Icefield Parkway we got to see a black bear this time which was super cool. We took a big Ice Explorer truck that costs a quarter of a million dollars up the mountain to get to the glacier. Each truck tire cost $75,000. It was warm on the glacier actually and a rarity. There was some water that melted and a flowing stream that everybody wanted to climb down to touch. Poor Kyle slipped and his foot got all wet. We learned that there are expeditions were people actually go out and walk more of the glacier but you have to be very careful because it is possible to fall through a hole without knowing it’s there and be gone forever. Kind of scary.
In the end Lake Louis/Alberta is still my favorite of all the trips. I loved the Canadian Rockies, the rivers and waterfalls, the wildlife – though we did not see a moose, and everything about it. It was neat to see the animal overpasses on the roads to allow the animals to cross from one side to the other without walking through the roads. I would definitely love to go back one day. I only have good memories from this trip.
