We have left Banff and are now at Lake Louise. This is not far up the road and we chose to follow the Bow Valley Parkway, rather than the main drag. This took us past the Vermilion lakes again and up along the valley beside the train line.

Vermilion Lake and Mt Rundle………….again

This is a mountain

Just south of Lake Louise is Morant’s Curve, a famous photo stop. Trains come around a long sweeping curve beside the Bow River, framed by the mountains behind. We pulled up here and selected a spot for the photo (got to edit out that car and foreground in due course!), only problem was…… would a train arrive and when. A couple of intrepid photographers had beat us to the best position and had their tripod and camera set up. They had been waiting there for 3 hours. Within minutes of Allthego taking up position a train could be heard approaching. The excitement was intense. Around the bend it came, a big freight train. Click, click, click….you could go on for ever. Homealone counted 140 carriages. The last carriage went past and off we went.

Morant’s Curve

Lake Louise was not far off and we arrived around lunchtime. People everywhere. Lake Louise Village is about 25 minutes away from the lake. Other than for the famous old Fairmont Hotel (the one that is in all the pictures) beside the lake there is no other accommodation there. It is all down the road and in the Village. The traffic is a nightmare getting to the Lake.

We settled into our room down in the Village and late in the afternoon headed for Moraine Lake. Moraine Lake is about 16 k from Lake Louise and the traffic is also a nightmare. The park people block the road and only let cars through as cars come out, but after about 4 in the afternoon you can get in fairly easily. It is a wonderful place and you here people say it is actually better than Lake Louise. It is certainly less developed than Lake Louise.

Lake Moraine

A walk in the woods

The next morning we went to Lake Louise, it was a Monday so the traffic was a little thinner. Well, what a special place. People everywhere, all taking selfies again. The weather was great, the sky relatively clear of smoke.

The water at Moraine Lake tends to stay blue most of the year whereas at Lake Louise it is now that milky green colour (other times of the year it tends to blue), apparently this is because there is more active glacial action at Louise. The glaciers above the lake grind up the rock into a flour like consistency, this gives rise to the milkiness……….

Lake Louise

A butterfly beside the Lake

We had lunch on the balcony at the Fairmont, a burger for Allthego and a steak sandwich for Homealone. A great view.

Lake Louise from the Fairmont dining balcony

A burger and beer beside the Lake

As to which lake is the best………….all the people, and there were hundreds, crowding around the edge at Lake Louise tended to take away the spectacle of the view. So Allthego votes for Moraine Lake.

Lake Louise Train Station

Back to the hotel for dinner after a short stop at the old Lake Louise Railway Station. There are no train services here anymore, the freight trains still pass by, and the station has been turned into a restaurant. We plan to eat here one night.