Up early, wet tents down and we’re off to lake
Louise. Blue skies this morning.
This handsome elk was waiting for us alongside the road.
It’s a beautiful drive.
We took the 1 until we got to the Promonade
valley de la bow (Bow Valley Parkway – all the signs are in English and French)
where we had left it yesterday and headed north. Did cross our bridge of the osprey and there
was one peeking out of the nest but no one else in sight.
Stopped by the Camp Castle Monument for the
Internment Camp that was here during WWI.
They built about 10 m of the highway.
Mostly Ukrainians and Germans and Italians. Sound like many were just destitute due to
the depression they were having in Canada at the time. Interesting…
on we went past wonderful glaciers
Morants Curve
and hiding behind that sign one of my favorite sights....
an endless Canadian Train. This one had
an engine in the middle too.
an engine in the middle too.
On to the Lake Louise
Campground – Tent where we found a nice site and set up the tents to dry out
and then headed toward the Village.
Bought a few necessities and looked a little and then headed into the Visitor’s
Center. Got some questions answered and
then watched the movie…very ecology focused particularly on the situation of
wildlife with all the human trails that go through the area – roads, railroads etc all in the traditional animal
corridors. Drove on to Fairview Picnic
area for lunch and then on to Lake Louise and the Chateau.
Wandered that area and took the trail past
the lake to where the white silty stream comes into the lake. Chilly to begin with!
Mount Victoria (11350 feet) is at the end of the lake. This glacier was the main reason the Chateau was built here but it has recessed many miles back. It used to cover the area almost to the lake edge.
This Lesser Chipmunk was having a little lunch as we neared the end of the trail.
The gray silty water at the bottom of the picture runs into the lake. The gray is caused by small particles of ground rocks caused by the glaciers called Rock Flour. These light filtration of these small particles cause the blue color of the lake.
Gretchen found some great photo ops here!
Some wonderful views. Passed by our German lady we met walking to
the lake yesterday. Back to a short wander
through the Chateau and then back to the campground. Gretchen had a shower and then we had dinner
and headed up to Lake Moraine to see if we could catch some evening light.
Nothing very spectacular as the sun was already off the mountains but some fun
wandering though cold….
Moraine Lake is located 13 km up a winding road from Lake Louise.
It is nestled in the Valley of the Ten Peaks among the
towering mountains of the main ranges.
On our way down the steps along the huge rock fall some cute Pika (peeka around here) were running around. Back to
the campground…the RVs are still lined up but we’re about to settle into out
tents for a good nights sleep. Incredible day--almost more than the eye could handle!
