Lake Louise

After our stay in Banff we made the short trip over to Lake Louise.  It is only 36 miles from Banff to Lake Louise so it was going to be a short driving day.  That was fortunate as it looked like the weather was going to go bad on us at any time.  We decided to take a side trip to Lake Moraine.  It is a small lake very close to Lake Louise.  This is the scenery on the way.

Lake Moraine is a beautiful little mountain lake among all the high peaks.  It was quite a drive up there and I found it difficult to park as there were so many RV’s.  But with the help of John I was able to finagle into a spot and then we made the short hike down to the lake.  There were a lot of people visiting there including several bus tours.

It was still partially frozen although I would not think it wise to walk on it.

Then it was on to Lake Louise.  We drove to the Lake Louise Chateau where I had stayed many years ago on a ski trip.  It was just like I remembered.  Unfortunately it was very cold and raining so took these pics from inside the hotel to keep the camera dry.  When I was there last I couldn’t see the peak of the mountains surrounding the lake and it wasn’t any different this time.

Here is a pic of yours truly standing where the river meets the lake.

And here is the camp site where I spent the night.  Our entire group was parked further back in the campgrounds, but the ranger made us move because it was a pathway for the bears in the area.

On to Jasper

The next day it was off on a 144 mile trip to Jasper.  It rained the entire time we were driving.  What a bummer as I know we missed some great scenery of the mountains as we drove.  We did stop at this pullout to take a few pics and this pretty much shows what we were able to see the entire trip.

Then we stopped at the Bridal Veil Falls to take some more pics.

Linda saw a man coming out of the woods who mentioned some other falls not to far away.  So off we went to get some pics.  The water was roaring down the side of the mountain.

Then the water dropped down the cliff to the river below.  I was able to get this pic from the edge of the cliff.  Too bad I couldn’t get a pic of the water fall going over the cliff.

I took this pic out of the window at about 8,800’ elevation.  There was a huge grade we had to climb to get to this spot.  That is John and Linda in front.

Columbia Icefields

Then we made a quick stop at the Columbia Glacier.  I remember the pics my father took when they visited here many years ago.  This is the bus that can take you onto the glacier.  It had huge tires.  We were able to see a bus way up on the glacier.

Sunwapta Falls

Our last stop before reaching Jasper was at the Sunwapta Falls.  That was really spectacular.  The pics do not really do it justice as you really need to be there to see the power of the river.

I haven’t been able to post as often as I would like, but Wi-Fi up here is either poor or non existent.  The park I stayed at for this post was extremely slow until you walked up to a room next to the office.  So I will do the best I can when WiFi is available.  My other excuse is that I are just busy doing things or sightseeing.  Sorry!