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Published: September 19th 2013
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Outside the hotel Last night Rain fell for the majority of the night. It always sounds louder on the roof of the RV then it really is. The pitter patter of the rain is very relaxing and makes it hard to get out of the warm bed in the morning.
Woke up to the sound of the train tooting as it went through the village. The sound echoed loudly through the woods. Wouldn't mind if we had to wake up to this every day.
Since it was raining we put on our wet weather gear ready for our hike to the Trail of The six glacier tea house - a 5.5km hike one way from Lake Louise. First up was photos of the iconic Lake Louise although the Victoria Glacier that hangs over the lake was not visible today due to the rain and low cloud. Never mind the Lake still looked picture perfect.
In 1892 the lake was preserved as a forest and then in 1902 it became Canada's first national park. Banff National Park is now part of the Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks World Heritage Site. The upper Victoria Glacier is about 7km from Lake Louise and is 80m thick.
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The boathouse at the lake Ice breaks off from the front of the glacier and crashes into the valley below. The sound of the crashing ice takes 20 seconds to reach the lake front.
The average daily temperature here is only around 13 degrees C in Summer and -14 degrees C in winter. At 1731 m above sea level, Lake Louise lies in the subalpine zone. The plants and animals that live here are well adapted to the harsh climates. Lake Louise is a glacial lake and the meltwaters from six glaciers feed the lake. The lake can be frozen from November to June and is 70 m in depth.
The first 2km of our walk to the tea house was around the lake - nice and flat and very picturesque. After that the trail changed to a mostly uphill steady climb over rocks, gravel and huge tree roots. The view we had hoped for was non-existent today but nothing we could do about that . Had Geoff not been there to encourage me to keep going I probably would have tuned around and gone back down as it certainly was no easy feat.
Had to stop halfway and take off one
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The gardens at the Fairmont Chateau layer of clothing - even though it was cold and drizzling with rain we both got really warm. Glad I took the walking stick but even that wasn't enough to help me up some of the steep terraces. The walk up to the tea house took us 2 hours 10 minutes up to an elevation of 2100m. We were ecstatic when we finally got a glimpse of the tea house - we both thought the hike would never end.
Once at the tea house we grabbed a table and ordered some hot soup, coffee and a slice of their famous chocolate cake. The vegetable soup was so delicious - just what we needed as once we sat for a few minutes we became really cold. Our jackets were dripping wet and cold from the rain and we were hoping the tea house would have a fire going but no such luck with that one!
The tea house was originally built in 1927 and there is no electricity up here. All the raw supplies are helicoptered in on only one day of the entire season. Fresh supplies are either pack horsed up the trail or carried in by staff
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The Fairmont Chateau every day.
The staff live up at the tea house for five days at a time and stay in a small cabin next to the tea house. Remember there is no electricity and no hot water up here so the working conditions can be very hard for the staff. They get up here by walking the same trail as we did. The story of the tea house was very interesting.
Even though it was freezing cold and dark inside the tea house it was interesting to hear about the history of the place. The view from the tea house is magnificent on a fine day but today it was clouded in and no view to speak of. There were only a few people up there today but staff said the tea house can be packed on a fine day. We stayed at the tea house for an hour or so in order to regain some energy to make it back down the trail.
The 5.5km hike back down was a breeze compared to to the treacherous uphill hike. We were totally exhausted by the time we got back to the RV. The hike down took just over
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At Lake Louise 1.5 hours and we were both happy we had completed the tea house challenge. Certainly a once in a life time hike! Glad we didn't leave anything up there as Geoff said there was no way we were going back up!
Next was an 11km drive up to Lake Moraine. Some people say this lake is even more spectacular than Lake Louise. It certainly is impressive and is a darker blue colour than Lake Louise. We took a short walk and grabbed some good photos. No more long hikes today!
Headed off to Banff - stopping at a few viewpoints to admire Bow River and the amazing Rockies that surrounded us during the drive. Fresh snow on top of the mountains made them even more inspiring to view. Spending the night at Tunnel Mountain Campground in Banff. $32 for an electric site.
I'm sure we will both sleep well tonight.
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