Rocky Mountain Road Trip Day 13

 Before leaving Golden on our lucky 13th day, we stopped at the grocery store to replenish our perishables. 

Blasting for road building reminded us of driving through the Canadian shield, but on a much larger scale.

The earliest shuttle time I could book to go to Lake Louise / Lake Moraine was noon. We left with plenty of time to get to the shuttle parking area where we prepared and packed our staple hiking lunch of peanut butter and jam sandwiches with protein bars. We went to check in for our shuttle. The gentleman in the kiosk filled out our information and indicated where to go to board the buses now. I double checked that we didn't have to wait until our allotted time. He shrugged his shoulders and said it didn't really matter. The rule following, lawful good in me objected, but the itinerary, efficiency obsessed part of me rejoiced. Happily, we were on our way to Moraine Lake about an hour earlier than anticipated!

We veered towards the rockpile after leaving the shuttle bus. There was a short little climb and then jaw-dropping beauty! This is only a small selection of the photos we took. I might need more cloud storage space!

Feast your eyes, this is my virtual background for me meetings now!

David lamented that we did not bring the kayak (!)

We then ventured to the west side of the lake and walked along the shoreline. We had our picnic lunch at the south side of the lake before heading back. Our good fortune ran out and we just missed the shuttle bus to get to Lake Louise. 

Once at Lake Louise, there was no rock pile to climb. A short stroll down the path and our jaws were dropping again. 

As I was taking a panorama, a couple decided to walk right in front of me and do a little photo shoot.

This is me exercising restraint in not photobombing all of the above couples photos for the rest of the day.

Chris got the money shot.

I had planned a longer hike here. I had 2 options and decided on the shorter of the two, a hike up to Agnes Lake. As we set off, there was a detour due to bears in the area. So many bear alerts and the only 2 we saw the entire trip were outside a parking lot and from the safety of a gondola! The hike was a pretty constant and steep climb. This time it was David who was feeling like this:

There was a lake mid-way up that was delicious looking. Leaving it we crossed a tour group on horseback (which was how our shuttle bus driver had recommended getting up to Lake Agnes). Near the end was a waterfall. David had been obsessed with being able to touch a waterfall the whole trip. All the waterfalls up to that point were in accessible. This one, however, was just a couple meters off the trail. There was a lot of power in that waterfall!

Lake Louise as we climb over to Lake Agnes

Mirror Lake pit stop

At Lake Agnes is a tearoom. I had already read in reviews that you need to be up pretty early to not have to wait in a very long line. We opted to sit on some rocks, dip our feet in the freezing cold glacier lake and nibble on protein bars. As we took a return loop to Mirror lake, I noticed some definite drag marks and trail of blood across the trail. Yet again, the kids had gotten ahead of us on the hike. We reiterated the need to stick together!

Lake Agnes

The source of David's waterfall

We did not stay long at Lake Agnes. We were cognizant of the fact that we still needed to get back to the shuttle, drive to Banff, register and set up camp before dark! We made it back to the shuttle loading site at a similar time as many other tourists. It was a bit chaotic as the line to the parking area had merged into the line for Moraine Lake. Once the lines had been de-tangled, we managed to get on the second bus back to the parking area. 

Pretty hot and tuckered out

Last hand dip in the lake.

Waiting for the bus

Still smiles while waiting

Smiles dimmed a little after one bus came and left and we were still waiting.

We registered for our campsite in Banff, and got our 2 tents set up in record time considering we didn't have any of our normal camping supplies with us. Next task was to find food. We wound up at a Mexican rooftop patio with a DJ precluding the possibility of dinner conversation. The drinking age in Alberta is 18 and Chris was very disappointed that Lucas hadn't ordered a drink for himself when we had been in Jasper. This time, he ordered a margarita. The waitress asked him if that was a virgin one. As many of us do when faced with not really knowing what the question meant, Lucas said "sure". Chris quickly interjected that he did NOT mean a virgin margarita and Lucas was carded for the first time! So proud.

We had a quick fire before turning in to bed. Not a comfortable night for the two parental units as we were sleeping on a gravel pad and we did not have any extra mats or blankets.