Village at Lake Louise Banff National Park, Alberta Canada

After spending four beautiful days at Glacier National Park, we leave the morning of July 31st for what is about a two hour drive to Lake Louise in Banff National Park. To get there, we go thru four notable "things": 1) Quite a bit of smoke in the valley between Glacier and Banff, 2) Yoho National Park, 3) the border between British Columbia and Alberta, and 4) a time zone. Unbeknownst to us, at least at the time, (-see what I did there... at the time) we crossed into Mountain Daylight Time.

In this area of Canada, there are four contiguous national parks: Yoho on the west, Jasper on the north, Banff on the east, and Kootenay on the southwest. You can't go wrong with any of the four.

CAUTION anecdote alert just ahead. If you want real content, just keep moving, nothing to see here.

After we get to Lake Louise and settle into our campsite, it is now early evening. We head over to the visitor center to get some information and whatever handouts they might have that should be helpful during our visit. We are greeted at the door by a nice lady who informs us the visitor center will be closing at 7 pm. ODD! These Canadians are a pretty polite and easy going people but to start telling people an hour and ten minutes before closing is just a little off... OHHHH or maybe OWWW, I should say, as the obvious smacks me hard on the head and penetrates that hard matter just inside my skull... better change my watch.

Sooo, after we were rudely kicked out of the visitor center (an hour before closing time no less), we decide to head up from the village to Lake Louise proper.

The Chateau at Lake Louise

On the way back to camp, we saw this guy or gal. 

In retrospect, it was a good thing that we did, because we got some nice views of the lake, which, as it turns out, we weren't going to get a better chance at... but more on that later.

In the biz we call that dramatic foreshadowing...

We get up the next morning with the intent to drive up to Moraine Lake. By the time we get to the road that leads to it (around 9 am), the road was closed due to high traffic and a small parking lot at the Lake. HARUMPH! So plan B is to go back up to Lake Louise, which we did.

We get to Lake Louise and do a nice easy hike around the lake. Unfortunately, as the morning fog is clearing, smoke from the B.C. wildfires is settling into the area, and the sky just becomes an ugly haze.


I know I'm being a bit petulant here because lives and property is in danger, and we are lucky enough to be out of harms way and otherwise unaffected.

Still, I am depressed that things look so hazy and can't bring myself to take any more pictures of Lake Louise. We will just have to go back again.

Once we get back to the campground, a young buck is waiting for us, which lightens my mood.

Wendy decides to use some of the afternoon to do some souvenir shopping while Tank and I go for a walk along the Bow river.