On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
frosty
This is one of the must-see sites in Banff National Park. Both lakes are an intense turquoise color because they are fed by glacial meltwater. The “rock flour” ground out at the bottom of the glacier gives the water completely different refraction properties.
We almost didn’t make it. You can’t drive there – parking is limited and it’s all taken by hikers at dawn. There are two possible buses – a shuttle from a park and ride at a close ski area and the Banff Town transit system. Both have to be reserved in advance and I waited too long. I ended up booking a group tour to make sure we’d see it but then got lucky. The Park also releases 60% of the shuttle seats for reservation 48 hours in advance if you call at 8:00 AM. I called at 8:00:05, got connected, and got two seats for a 3:00 PM departure. Whew!! Then I cancelled the group tour.
I asked two people at visitor centers about the best thing to do with limited time: spend a little time at both lakes or concentrate on Lake Louise. I got two different answers: “It’s up to you.” and “Spend more time at Moraine Lake, it’s less crowded.” My answer after being there? If you’re not planning a long hike, an hour each is plenty, but be sure to do both.
First view of the lake. You can see it in the picture – it’s just beyond the crowd.
Visitors waiting their turn to take a picture of the lake.
My turn for the lake picture. The canoes can be rented at lakeside, I assume with a reservation like everything else. Because of the overcast, the brilliant color of the water was muted.
We had at least three hours to visit both lakes, so we decided on a hike. We picked the Fairview Lookout Trail, which promised the best views of the lake. It was labeled as Easy, 1.8km, moderate incline. Ha! This is looking uphill; lots of roots and some rocks. Round trip 2×1.8km or 2.2 miles. Inclines up to 8%. We should have taken our trekking poles for the downhill return!
The hike was worth it though! This is the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise Hotel and the lake from the overlook. The sun came out and lit up the turquoise color.
A zoomed in view of the hotel and the crowd at the lakefront. Just to the left it’s empty, there’s no crowd, and you can get the same view!
Moraine Lake. As promised, a little less crowded.
Some of the crowd decided to take a break from looking at turquoise water and try something different.
Looking toward the headwaters after a short walk by the lakeside
There were two birds I was really hoping to see on this trip because they’re only found at high elevations in the West: Clark’s Nutcracker and Canada Jay. Both live in conifer forests which I figured would make them hard to find. I’d tried three other times on earlier trips for Clark’s Nutcracker without success. There were a lot of reports on eBird at various places around Banff, Lake Louise and Moraine Lake where they’d been seen. Imagine my surprise finding both at the Moraine Lake Cafe, scrounging food like common pigeons! This is the Clark’s Nutcracker.
MagdaInBlack
Such sweet friendly little thieves, those Canada Jays. We always loved when they showed up at a campsite. They would just silently appear, waiting to see if you had brought dinner.
Thank you for all these pictures
(yes I know that’s not a Jay)
Anyway
Nice pix — enjoyed the travelogue. Always wanted to visit Banff/LL — had a trip planned for August 2020 but didn’t happen due to Covid.
Winter Wren
Your pictures bring back memories – I did a trip with some of my brothers to Banff and Jasper in my early twenties. I remember crowds in the town of Banff itself, but not so much in the parks – seems like they have become more crowded/visited now. I remember the views along the Icefields Parkway were magnificent. We also did some great hikes to views of Mount Edith Cavell and of the Saskatchewan Glacier.
stinger
Thank you for sharing your photos and stories!
oldster
Beautiful photos.
On a spring bike ride through Bavaria some years ago, the water in the river Lech running through Füssen was just this color, and probably for the same reason— the melt-off from glaciers was bringing down similar fine sediment.
Betty
I am glad you showed us both cloudy and sunny pictures of the lake. The shaded part in the cloudy picture makes it more interesting.
Trivia Man
At moraine lake i got done good looks at a quokka. Just as cute as advertised.
I also contemplated how crowded it would all be without those reservation systems. We had a bus tour which made going in and out a little less stressful. Also maximized sightseeing instead of hiking the length of a parking lot.
Thanks for sharing.
Trivia Man
@Trivia Man: uhh… it was a pika. Also adorable as can be. I was looking at quokka pictures yesterday and my fuzzy brain conflated the two.
eclare
Great photos!
Doug R
We did a day hike around Lake Moraine back in the day, somewhere around 1988. We parked and did some meadow trail and saw that we could take a trail over Sentinel pass (8000 feet) back to the Lake. Not too difficult for each section, but coming out at the lodge meant a few miles walk back down the road to our car and that’s when the rebellion started.
Human trouble aside at least we didn’t see any bears, but lots of meadow flowers and a few pikas popping up their heads among the talus and scree on the slope of Sentinel pass.
arrieve
I’m supposed to go back to Banff this summer–I think my brother is having second thoughts about the border crossings, but we’ll see.
I have actually stayed at the Fairmont at Lake Louise, something I had always wanted to do. And away from the public areas, the hotel is–or was–surprisingly dated and a little rundown. (As in, there was a power strip in my room to make up for the lack of outlets.) But my room had a view of the lake. And oh that lake! I never got tired of looking at it.
Wag
@Trivia Man: Pikas are amazing creatures. They live above timberline in Colorado, and are a treat every time you see them. In the late summer and fall they spend much of their time gathering flowers and dried plants to build subterranean haystacks that will sustain their family through the winter, as unlike marmots, pikas to not hibernate, but instead spend the winter awake in their burrows.
J.
Wow. So many people! When the spouse and I went to Lake Louise, it felt like we had the lake to ourselves. Glad you got to see it though. So beautiful there. Need to go back.
Trivia Man
@Wag: always see them with a mouthful of greens… always storing up for winter
Jacel
Back in college in the 1970s I knew some other students who went to Banff to participate in the Summer music festival. It sounded like a great music experience and an amazing natural setting.
StringOnAStick
In 2005 I was lucky enough to ski out at Moraine Lake as our exit after a week at a backcountry ski lodge just on the other side of the continental divide (Mistaya Lodge). We could do it because it was spring, because the canyon-like exit from the middle higher terrain and onto frozen Moraine Lake has significant avalanche risk under typical winter conditions. We’d been blessed with a sudden overnight cold and storm that dropped 8” of perfect powder on the divide, so we had thousands of feet of perfect powder skiing; it was fabulous. By the time we got down to the elevation of Moraine Lake, the canyon was safe. The looks on the tourist’s faces as we came across the lake and hit the shoreline were interesting, you’d have thought we were from Mars. Long, long day but worth every calorie spent.
Dan B
@Wag: I went with my partner at the time to Hart’s Pass on the Pacific Crest Trail. One hike went south bounded by huge scree slopes with dozens of squeaking Pikas. We had Russel, a Jack Russel. They’re bred for ratting and the Pikas were pretty close. His leash got a stretching as did our arms.