PART DEUX: BANFF DAYHIKES
TEA TIME
The French word of the day is th’e, which translates to “tea” in English. As in, “we hiked to the th’e house and had cookies”.
We had a lazy start to
Monday, followed by an elaborate breakfast of eggs, bacon, and hashbrowns. We eventually got organized and made the
30-minute drive to Lake Louise. The
park recommends arriving at Lake Louise before 10AM to be certain of getting a
parking space. We were a little later
than that, but plenty of spaces were still available.
We gathered our gear and
walked over to the actual lake. The
lakeshore looked like a Best Buy on the Friday morning after Thanksgiving. There were people everywhere! We escaped the hordes of tourists by walking
a short distance around the lake. At
least we thought we did. This trail
turned out to be one of the busiest we hiked during the entire trip.
An easy 2-mile walk along
the lake led to the far end, where we had a nice view back to the Chateau. The Chateau Lake Louise is world famous, but
I was a little disappointed. It didn’t
look like much from the outside. I
understand it’s more impressive inside, but I never went in.
We left the lake behind,
hiking up along a cascading stream. We
began to climb, but the grade was never unreasonable. As we climbed, views opened up to the rock walls and glaciers
surrounding the cirque above the lake.
It was a nice day, but low clouds were still obscuring the tops of the
highest peaks.
We reached the tea house at
noon, after a 90-minute hike. The
crowds swarming the tea house were nearly as bad as those at the lake. All sorts of people were roaming the area,
from families with young children to elderly hikers with European accents. A group of horseback riders added to the
fun. Any interest we may have had in
visiting the actual tea house quickly evaporated. We moved up the trail a short distance and found a flat rock to
eat our lunch on.
Views are limited in the
area immediately surrounding the tea house by trees. It turns out we should have walked a little farther before
stopping for lunch. 50 yards from our
lunch spot was a rockslide that provided a great view of the surrounding
glaciers. This is a fine example of the
50-yard rule, which states that no matter where you stop for lunch, a better
spot is always 50 yards ahead.
(Incidentally, walking 50 yards from your lunch spot to look for the
better place doesn’t work. If you try
that trick, the better spot will simply be 50 yards beyond where you turned
around).
After lunch, I hiked the
final mile to the Plain of 6 glaciers overlook. Christy decided to stay behind, as she was still tired and sore
from her triathlon. I quickly left the
last trees behind, following the rocky path as it clung to the side of the
mountain. The trail led up into the
cirque, and finally ended at an overlook situated at the base of a sheer rock
wall decorated with glaciers. From this
vantage, I had a great view of peaks and glaciers in every direction. The most impressive is Victoria Glacier,
which spills down the mountain directly across from the overlook. The Victoria Glacier is charmingly named
“The Deathtrap” on my map. It is the
main route for climbers heading to the Abbot Hut, which is a small shelter perched
in the pass at the top of the glacier.
That route certainly looked like a deathtrap, between the numerous
crevasses in the glacier and the frequent avalanches that tumble down its
face.
I had a great view from the
overlook, as well as some entertainment.
A group of college-aged kids was nearby, and one girl was complaining
loudly about a bruise on her butt. The
origination of the bruise was a mystery (I mean to me. Presumably she knows how she got it). Not long after I arrived, the kids decided
to scramble up the steep scree slope above the overlook. I didn’t see any point to it, as the view
would be the same. However, I was
looking forward to their descent, as they were all wearing running shoes.
They eventually came back
down, slipping and sliding the whole way.
They also managed to send the occasional boulder tumbling down towards
the rest of the people at the overlook.
They were almost all the way down when the girl with the bruise lost
control of her speed and actually became airborn. She landed with a dramatic thump in a pile of rocks – right on
her butt. I don’t know how bad the
original bruise was, but I’m sure the new one was quite impressive.
This wasn’t my only
entertainment. It was a warm, sunny
day, and large chunks of ice and snow were calving off the surrounding
glaciers. When a piece broke off, it sounded
like a rumbling freight train echoing through the valley.
Editor’s Note: I’m
sorry, that is a horribly overused simile.
Let’s try again.
When a piece broke off, it
sounded like a tornado ripping through a trailer park. This was followed an avalanche of snow, ice,
and rock tumbling down the side of the mountain. The loudest of the avalanches was hidden from sight by an
intervening mountain. When I rejoined
Christy, I found that she had enjoyed the perfect vantage point for that
avalanche. I was glad that she had
gotten to see it, since she missed out on the great scenery at the overlook.
We took a different trail
back for variety. Less than a mile from
the tea house, we turned off the main path for the Highline Trail. This trail stays high above the valley, but
generally remains in the trees. The
Highline Trail leads to Lake Agnes, but Christy decided to skip it. She took a connecting trail back down to
Lake Louise, where she would wait for me.
I continued ahead to Lake Agnes.
Lake Agnes is pretty, though
not spectacular like Lake Louise. It’s
a much smaller tarn, but has it’s own tea house. This area was busy, but not nearly as crowded as the Plain of 6 Glaciers. I checked out the lake briefly, before
hustling down the wide, smooth trail to Lake Louise. After all, I didn’t want to keep Christy waiting among the hordes
longer than necessary.
I found her near the Chateau
at 4pm, and we drove from there over to Morraine Lake. Morraine is nestled in the Valley of 10
peaks, and may actually be prettier than Lake Louise. However, it is harder to get a good view of the lake. We originally thought we might rent a canoe
and paddle Morraine Lake, before we discovered that the rental rate was $35 an
hour. With rental prices like that, it
makes you wonder how much canoes sell for in Banff. Morraine Lake was nearly as crowded as Lake Louise, and a few
cold sprinkles convinced us it was time to head back to camp.
We returned to the
campground, where we grilled steaks, potatoes, and corn on the cob. The steaks turned out to be huge. This seems like the perfect time to
introduce you to another segment of the trip report, titled “Fun With The
Metric System”. Now, I can handle
kilometers and meters without any trouble, and 4 liters is roughly equal to a
gallon. But temperatures in Celsius
mean nothing to me (unless it’s close to zero), and I couldn’t begin to tell
you what a kilogram equals. So, we
ended up with a pair of huge steaks. Of
course, I had hiked 10 miles or so, and Christy was still recovering from the
triathlon, so that was probably ok.
Unfortunately, a huge thunderstorm came through shortly after we
finished cooking. We ate our steaks and
potatoes and corn in the car, while hail battered the windshield. After eating, we both nodded off, before
waking to find that the storm had ended.
Since we had already fallen asleep, we headed to bed at 8:30, even
though it was still 2 full hours until dark.
Continue reading about our adventures in Canada, as we climb Cirque Peak near Bow Lake, off the Icefields Parkway.
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Please remember to Leave No Trace!