We headed into Canada into the Banff and Lake Louise area for a week stay.  We are staying at the Lake Louise Trailer Campground, right near the small town of Lake Louise and about 30 miles north of Banff.  The actual lake is just up the road but be warned, it is crowded in the summer and the amount of people trying to park gets parking lots so full they bus people in from a huge parking lot a few miles away.  The Campground only has electric 30A at each site, water is only available at the dump station.  Since with just simple water management ( ie Navy Showers, no laundry) we should last the week.  The best thing is it is close to the access road to Lake Louise and Lake Moraine, and remember, sometimes it is all about the location, and the location to get where you want to go…so sure we can stay in a primitive campground when needed…

On the first day we made an evening trip to the lake and had a nice dinner in the lounge overlooking the lake.

Here is our view at dinner….

We also drove to Banff to check out the grocery store and had this scenery on the drive back….

Since we did not get up early the next day and I did not want to fight the crowds, we headed to the ski resort to get some lunch and ride the chair lift up the mountain…

As you ride up you are awarded with a great view across the valley to Lake Louise….

You can see Lake Louise in the background…

The other nearby mountains had a great perspective from this higher elevation….

The glaciers are more massive in this range than even in Glacier National Park….

So we did set the alarm to get up at 0600 so we could get to the lake and find plenty of parking before crowds had to get bussed in.  The objective was a short two mile hike to Lake Agnes and the cute tea house located on its shore.  But I have a question, when does a hike become a climb?  Is it when you hike up enough to be above the clouds when you started, or does it take the equivalent of say 150 flights of stairs, or when you Hike to the top of the Sears Tower in Chicago?  All I know is this “hike” started at about 5,500 ft and steadily climbed 1500 feet up to reach 7,000 foot elevation in 2 miles of trail. But the end result was certainly worth it!

Even the rabbit thinks it’s too early to be out for a hike….

We made it gasping and wheezing to this slice of heaven called Lake Agnes…

After a pot of expensive black tea, since everything is brought here by hiking up the trail, we just sat for an hour taking in the splendor as more and more crowds arrived…

Mirror lake being feed by the falls from Lake Agnes

Lake Louise in the morning sunshine, after our hike back….

Well,  I have gone over 500 words (someone’s bad influence I think) and this post is getting a little long so I think we will just break up our trip into a few parts.  As you can see, this place is just beautiful and is jaw dropping as you try to take it all in.  With planning you can beat the crowds, hike early and get back in the afternoon when the parking lot reminds you of Disneyland.

Stay tuned for part 2 of our Canadian Adventure…