Lake Louise & Moraine Lake

WOW.....

We left Banff late in the morning for Lake Louise....it is approximately 68 km away. The drive along the Trans Canada Hwy #1 is difficult to describe....right from the start you are surrounded by mountains on both sides. The Hwy follows the bow river...the river is torquise in color....and moving.

Around every corner it seems the peaks are higher and steeper than the next set.... And snow...middle of July...the on board is indicating 23 Celsius and every peak is covered. Simply beautiful.

We arrive in Lake Louise and look for a parking spot.....along with 3,000 other vehicles...... A small SUV pulls out in front of us and we squeeze ATONOFUN in.

A short walk and we are standing in front of Lake Louise..... 

Again breathtaking. The water mirrors the bow river but with a deeper shade of turquoise. The lake is surrounded by trees and mountains.... Breath taking. 

We decide to walk around the lake....you can actually only walk half of the lake and back...the other side rips into the lake at approximately 80 degrees.   The lake has a depth of 70 meters and I suspect it is on that side. The walk is unobstructed with an 8 foot wide path. 

Again the view is breathtaking.

We break for lunch and then it is off to Lake Moraine.... I thought and still do think that Louise was spectacular..... Lake Moraine takes it hand down.

The drive is approximately 14 km from Lake Louise...along the same road....one difference...the whole way is at a 75 degree advance. From Hwy 1 you climb to 7'481 feet and then down to Lake Moraine....Moraine Lake sits at 6181 feet. As we dropped to the lake the traffic came to a complete stop.....I was waved around by a fag man into the oncoming traffic....We had to negotiate with several vehicles leaving....the whole right side of the roadway was with parked vehicles.....the drivers and passengers walking down to the lake.....this all started 2 1/2 kilometers from the lake....good thing we were waved through. At the bottom is a small parking lot which only holds about a hundred vehicles...we get spot number 8 from the lake.

Moraine Lake is absolutely spectacular....the water is a deep...but clear blue....the lake is approximately 2 kilometers wide and approximately 5 kilometers long. The difference between Moraine and Louise is that Moraine is surrounded all around by massive peaks.....

We spent around an hour taking photos and just taking in the sights.....the peaks held pockets of snow....these each looked 20 meters thick and at least a kilometre long.....I kept wondering....if they
come down.....it's all over.

We were all bushed from the walking...returned to the truck and back to Banff.....I could go back in a minute.... Just beautiful.

Tomorrow will be special.....someone turns 11