We just got home from a trip to Banff and Jasper National Parks in Alberta, Canada.
I live in Colorado where the mountains are grand, but the northern Rockies are more than grand, they are majestic! I couldn't stop admiring them and was in awe the entire time. Strange thing is that the Colorado mountains are much higher, we have 58 mountains above 14,000 feet, but the Canadian Rockies looks much taller although they're a couple thousand feet shorter. The difference is that our mountains start at 6,000 feet while the Canadian Rockies start closer to sea level.
For Skywatch Friday I thought I'd start with the most famous place in Banff--Lake Louise. For the past couple months I've been watching the live webcam at Lake Louise. The lake was frozen when we left for our trip. I was afraid we'd miss the beautiful turquoise water.
Lake Louise Live Webcam
Much to our surprise when we pulled into Lake Louse three days later it was thawed! My pictures do not do the lake justice. The turquoise water is so beautiful! We stayed for a little while, but didn't do any hiking because we knew we'd be back the next day.
The next day we decided to do a little hiking to the other end of the lake. Not long after we started the wind started coming up and we could tell there was a storm brewing.
Even though the Lake Louise area is very crowded, once you get out on the trails the crowds disappear (just like everywhere).
We kept going forth because we thought we had time, we were almost to our destination. Then the thunder started and it was time for a quick retreat.
We started back towards the lovely Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise. We originally had booked a room there, but after doing research we learned it's the only thing in the area. You're dependent on their restaurants, the only activity is canoeing, it's ultra expensive, the rooms are tiny, and it's a drive to get anywhere. We cancelled our reservation and stayed in a beautiful hotel in Canmore which was a great decision.
By now it was raining hard, but I took one last look at the glacier end of the lake.
We were soaked by the time we made it to shelter, but only on our backsides, and it was cold! I waited in the foyer of the bathroom to warm up until the rain stopped. That fancy hotel doesn't allow non-guests to enter anywhere except the Starbucks. The sad thing is that our rain gear was left behind in the vehicle. I should have followed the Leave No Trace principle of checking the weather ahead of time and taking the appropriate gear along.
Comments
Beautiful shots. I always wondered about the hotel. It seems like the grand hotels are often not quite up to par with more modern places.