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Published: September 27th 2012
Jewel in Mother Nature's crown
Posing in front of the magnificent Moraine LakeOf all the natural wonders on earth, the Canadian Rocky Mountains had occupied top spot on my 'places to visit' list ever since I ticked off the fjords of Norway's west coast on my first trip to Europe in 2008. Images of shimmering alpine lakes encircled by majestic mountain peaks had swirled around in my head, beckoning me like a siren's song from afar.
So although I had decided to make Vancouver the focal point of my efforts to find a job in Canada - once my money had run out and my inter-continental holiday had come to an end - there was never any question in my mind that I would first have to get up into the Rocky Mountains to see and explore as much as possible before reality had a chance to intervene.
And so it was that after completing my cycling tour of the Netherlands and taking an overnight ferry back to England (which naturally was followed by one last dinner/drinking session with my mates in Harlow, just north of London) I found myself on an Air Transat flight the very next day (friday 6th July) bound for Vancouver... though the less said about the
Portrait of a mountain landscape
View of Mount Temple, the Saddleback and Fairview Mountain on the way into Lake Louise village logistical nightmare I encountered trying to get my bicycle on the flight, the better!
After spending the weekend in Vancouver - half of which was devoted to sightseeing; the other half to unexpectedly necessary bicycle maintenance - during which there had not been a single cloud in the sky, I was up bright and early (6am to be exact) on monday morning to take a greyhound bus from Vancouver to Lake Louise, 800kms away in the heart of the Canadian Rockies.
And if the seven-hour trip from Oslo to Bergen in Norway had been the most scenic train journey I had ever undertaken, then the thirteen-hour journey from Vancouver to Lake Louise would have to be by far the most scenic bus trip of my life; with first the Cascades and then later the Columbia and finally the Rocky Mountain ranges forming an awesome backdrop that was broken up only be the comparitively plain scenery of the interior plateau.
With the weather closing in as the coach penetrated ever deeper into the mountains - culminating in a short, sharp downpour soon after we crested Rogers Pass - I had been worried about getting my bicycle (packed into
Grand viewpoint
The well-named Fairview Mountain towering above Lake Louise an over-sized cardboard box for the trip) to my hostel in Lake Louise without getting soaking wet; though thankfully due to a combination of good timing and good fortune - in the form of a truck full of labourers who kindly offered to give both myself and my bicycle a ride to the hostel - I managed to arrive with cardboard box intact only minutes before the heavens opened once again. Barely an hour later I was drifting off to sleep, hopeful - if not entirely convinced - that as far as the weather was concerned, tomorrow would be a new day...
Waking the next morning (tuesday 10th July) to the most glorious, cloudless blue sky, I was straight out of bed and on my way into the village of Lake Louise to stock up on supplies ($20 for a box of muesli bars, a packet of trail mix and two litres of water?!?), before setting off along the 4km creekside hiking trail up to the lake itself - where my first sight of the milky blue expanse of water surrounded by rugged mountain peaks and backed by the pure white form of Victoria Glacier was nothing short of
Rocky Mountain classic
The incomparable Lake Louise breathtaking.
While a lot of people may criticize Lake Louise for being so easily accessible (the lake being only a five minute drive from the Trans-Canada Highway) and therefore crowded, it's not hard to see why it would be so popular; and no matter how many pictures of it you may have seen beforehand, or how many tourists you may have to share it with when you get there, only the most jaded of people could possibly fail to be impressed by what is truly a wonder of nature, and rightfully considered to be the scenic centrepiece of the Canadian Rocky Mountains.
But perhaps the best thing about Lake Louise is that there's so much more to see than just the lake itself - the whole area is absolutely stunning; and as with any tourist attraction, the further you're prepared to venture away from the parking lot, the less people you'll have to share the scenery with. If the sight of a thousand other sightseers at Lake Louise is too much, head up the hiking trail to Lake Agnes where there might only be a hundred people. And if that's still too much company, tackle the short climb
up to either the Big Beehive or Little Beehive where there's likely to be no more than ten people around. Want some real peace and quiet?!? Head over into the adjacent Paradise Valley, where you're about as likely to see a bear as another person!
All of which is exactly what I did. Leaving Lake Louise behind and climbing uphill through the forest, I soon arrived at the aptly-named Mirror Lake - where the sight of the Big Beehive rising almost vertically from directly behind the lake was most impressive - before continuing onwards and upwards to Lake Agnes, which with it's steep upper cliffs soaring skywards and lower scree slopes lined with snow stripes probably impressed me even more than Lake Louise. And if the view OF Lake Agnes is impressive, then the view FROM Lake Agnes is just as good, with it's outlet stream plunging almost immediately over a precipice to form a powerful waterfall; from the top of which you can look out over the valley containing Lake Louise and beyond across the Bow Valley.
After stopping to admire the beauty of Lake Agnes (which at 2100 metres above sea level is a full 400m
Suspended beauty
View from behind Lake Agnes above Lake Louise) I then set off on the short switch-backing climb up to the Little Beehive, where the view included not only Lake Louise and the mountains immediately behind it (Fairview, Aberdeen, Lefroy and Victoria) but also Mirror Lake, the Big Beehive and Lake Agnes - a perfect scenic overview of the whole magnificent area.
From there it was back down to Lake Agnes and then around the other side of the lake to the Big Beehive, which despite it's formidable appearance from below at Mirror Lake is actually reasonably straightforward to get to the top of - provided you don't mind steep, switch-backing hiking trails of course. And while the view from the Big Beehive may not be quite as impressive or far-ranging as that from it's little brother - despite being 30 metres higher - the little hut at the top makes a perfect spot to sit and rest, while being kept amused by the antics of the resident squirrels scrambling around looking for food.
After tackling the steep descent back down the other side of the Big Beehive, I branched off onto another hiking trail that took me up to the Plain of Six
Rocky Mountain valley
Looking back toward Lake Louise from the Plain of Six Glaciers Glaciers, where the trees were soon replaced by loose rocks and lingering snowfields, giving the upper part of the valley a completely different and much more barren and windswept feeling when compared to the lower part of the valley around Lake Louise - to which I eventually returned in the latter hours of the afternoon, slowly easing my way back into humanity following the lakeshore trail alongside the lake from it's inlet stream back to it's outlet stream near the carpark, where I braved the hordes one last time to take a final lingering look at the magnificent panorama of water, rock and ice; before disappearing once again into the thicket of trees and following the peaceful creekside trail back down towards the village. A perfect end to a perfect day.
Day two in the Rockies saw me hopping on my bicycle for the fifteen kilometre ride up to Moraine Lake, which thanks to the 350 metre elevation gain along the way required the odd walking interval - though this was fine by me as it allowed me to take in some of the incredible scenery along the way at a more leisurely pace, with my first views of
As good as it gets
Moraine Lake and the Valley of Ten Peaks both the north-east face of Mount Temple and then later the Valley of Ten Peaks taking my breath away no less effectively than the ride itself. Yet even the most spectacular roadside scenery could only serve as a mere taste of things to come when compared to the object of my exertions, for that very first view of Moraine Lake from the top of the rockpile at it's north-eastern end is something that I will never forget.
With the water in the lake being a perfect torquoise colour (much brighter and less milky than Lake Louise), and with the aforementioned ten peaks - each of them standing over 3000m high - seemingly rearing straight up out of the water and soaring skyward immediately behind the lake, Moraine Lake would have to be the most jaw-droppingly beautiful sight I have ever set eyes upon; and justifiably considered by many to be the jewel in the the Canadian Rockies' crown.
Despite it's name, Moraine Lake is actually one of the few lakes in the Rockies that was not formed by a glacial moraine (when a retreating glacier leaves behind a pile of rubble that forms a dam when the ice
Rock-hopping
Boulder field at the outlet of Consolation Lakes in the glacier melts) but rather by a rockslide that careened down the slopes of the nearest mountain and dammed Moraine Creek - and now serves as the perfect viewpoint from which to view the lake and it's surroundings.
As for the exquisite colour of the water, as with most other lakes and rivers in the Rockies (and from memory in the Swiss Alps as well) this is a result of tiny rock particles - known as 'rock flour' - getting washed into the lake and being left suspended in the water, where they absorb yellow, orange, red and purple-coloured light but reflect blue and green-coloured light. Not quite the magical explanation that you might hope for whilst gazing out over this most magnificent of sights, but it certainly is some of mother nature's finest work.
After spending half-an-hour or more just staring trance-like at the scene before me - whilst trying to block out the multitudes of tourists milling about, which thankfully was less of a challenge than at Lake Louise the previous day - I eventually gathered my wits together and headed off along the lakeshore trail to the inlet stream at the other end of
Towers & Temples
Looking back toward Mount Temple and the Tower of Babel from Consolation Lake the lake; before re-tracing my footsteps back to the base of the rockpile and continuing along the path towards the Consolation Lakes, which despite sitting only three kilometres away were almost completely devoid of tourists, thus providing the perfect spot for a relaxing lunch break.
Heading back to the rockpile once again, I then headed off on the leg-shredding, lung-busting, switch-backing climb towards Larch Valley, before turning off onto the Valley of Ten Peaks trail, which led me up through the valley in the shadow of it's jagged peaks all the way to the solitary Eiffel Lake, where once again I had only mother nature for company. Unable to form a loop of any kind with only the one trail leading through the valley, I once again re-traced my footsteps back to Moraine Lake, where I finally hopped back on my bicycle for the exhilirating thrill ride back down to Lake Louise village - a feat accomplished in less then half-an-hour, and with no great amount of pedalling required at all. Another sublime end to another sublime day.
Having seen everything in the vicinity of Lake Louise on the first day and then everything in the vicinity of
Hanging valley
View from the Larch Valley trail Moraine Lake on the second day, my third day in the Rockies brought my most ambitious challenge yet... to see everything else in between! And so on thursday morning, having once again stocked up on supplies from the one-and-only over-priced grocery store in the village, I took the shuttle back up to Moraine Lake before setting out once again on the steep climb up to Larch Valley.
From there I continued to climb past the Minnestimma Lakes (meaning 'Lake of the Sleeping Water' - which I found quite appropriate given that one of the lakes was still frozen over) before stopping for a break at the base of Sentinal Pass, where a narrow trail - in the unmistakeable shape of a 'Z' carved into the rock - could be clearly seen zig-zagging up the steep slope towards a gap in the ridge between Mount Temple and Pinnacle Peak.
Having negotiated the climb up to Sentinal Pass (which at over 2600 metres above sea level is the highest trail-accessible point in the Rocky Mountain national parks) I stopped for another breather - in the company of about half-a-dozen other hardy hikers and at least as many scurrying squirrels -
Following in the footsteps of giants
Paradise Creek above the Giants' Steps whilst contemplating the wisdom of climbing down the other side of Sentinal Pass towards Paradise Valley, which from my lofty vantage point at the time seemed like a very bad idea indeed. Steep and unrelenting (to quote my trusty Canadian Rockies Trail Guide), the slope I looked down upon was covered in large, loose rocks through which an almost-indiscernible trail led eventually to the relative safety of Paradise Valley.
But as much as my natural instincts of preservation warned me to turn around and head back the way I came, the lure of an almost untouched valley stretched out before me was just too great to resist, and so - having spotted a group of four other hikers in the snow far below, who had clearly just completed the same descent that I was now considering - I eventually managed to gather together the necessary testicular fortitude to lower myself down those first couple of metres, and before too long the feeling of impending doom that had been hanging over me started to clear a little; until finally I was able to step clear of the loose rocks and start planting my feet one after the other into the
Turquoise wonder
First glimpse of Lake Annette shoeprints in the snow left behind by my predecessors.
After making my way down into Paradise Valley, I took a short detour to the Giants' Steps cascade, where Paradise Creek tumbles down over a series of angular slabs of rock into the valley below; before heading down-valley through numerous lingering snow patches until I eventually reached Lake Annette, which again sported a magnificent turquoise hue and was completely devoid of human activity - though unfortunately the mosquito activity was at an all-time high, while my attempt to go for a first ever swim in an alpine lake was thwarted when the sun suddenly disappeared behind a rather large cloud.
Leaving Lake Annette I was soon faced with a dilemma - whether to tackle my second mountain pass for the day over the Saddleback, or simply continue all the way down to the head of the valley and then follow the Moraine Lake Road back to Lake Louise. Again valour got the better part of discretion, as I decided to throw caution to the wind and begin the climb up to Sheol Valley (which like Larch Valley is considered a 'hanging' valley as it sits high up on a
A fitting end to a long day
Lake Louise, late afternoon on day three ridge above the main valley, nestled between the peaks of Fairview Mountain and Saddleback Peak), and then from there all the way up and over Saddleback Pass at over 2300m, from where I had a perfect panorama of the Bow Valley stretched out before me.
Unable to linger too long atop my second alpine pass for the day due to the incessant mosquitos, I slowly but surely followed the trail down the front side of the Saddleback before finally arriving back at Lake Louise; pausing one last time to take in the view before heading back down to the village, having covered over 30 kilometres and gained over 1500 metres in elevation in around ten hours of hiking. And so it was that I eventually wound up back at the hostel that evening, tucking into another plate-full of pasta and sauce washed down with a large bottle or two of potent local beer, while smiling tiredly but contentedly to myself at having spent three glorious days exploring one of the most beautiful places on earth.
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Andrea
Great picture! Almost looks unreal doesn't it. I love Canada.