After a lovely late start for me (10:30am) I grabbed a nice bit of brekky form the hotel restaurant and asked a couple of people how to get to the lake. After getting funny looks (apparently everyone knows where it is and why don't I?) I found out that there was no shuttle or bus service up to the lake. That was puzzling, there was a shuttle to the ski area in the other direction, but nothing up to the lake.... weird.
So I went for a walk over to the area where the mall/shops were and found the Visitor Information Centre and asked the chap in there how to get up to the lake. He said as I was on foot, I could either walk, or hitch hike. It was only 4kms by road, or 3km by walking track. "3kms?" I thought? I could do that in my sleep.. hahahahah!!! (Manic laugh aka Dr. Evil) I asked him about the track and he said that the track would be sweet as lots of people used it all the time. I felt good about this and off I set, just before 12pm.
How wrong I was...
I found the start of the track easily enough about 400metres outside the township. But the signpost didn't really indicate "Lake Louise", and it looked a bit snowed over. But I have good tramping shoes, they are waterproof and I was confident that I could do it. Well, I'm sorry, but the track was not well used and I found myself soon walking in 8-10 inches of snow. I walked about a kilometre when I reached a big camping area. I was looking at my map but I could not find any kind of marked to figure out where I was. There was just knee deep snow everywhere I went off the track and those good old 8-10 inches on the track that I would sink into... I walk around the camp zone area a bit but couldn't easily find anything, and decided that I would not become Canada's next stupid tourist victim and regretfully headed back to the township.
As I got back to the start of the track I saw the signpost again, but only this time, from a different angle, did I notic the OTHER sign off to the side of it, that mentioned Lake Louise... grrr.. I had already walked 1km in both directions (2km all up so far) and I hadn't even started...
The signpost as I first saw it, so, ok, I headed to the left...
But as I came back after the first walk in the wrong direction I saw this... note the third signage - I didn't see that before arggh!!
So I decided that I would take the track and head off in the right direction. This track looked a little more used but I soon found out that it must have been used by Basketballers or some yeti, because the footprints had rather large spaces in between them and I could not keep up with the steps, so I was soon back to walking in 8-10 inches of snow again... grr. Too makes matters a bit worse Lake Louise is up a bloody mountain, so I was climbing up hill in this crazy snow in this crazy track. After about 1 kilometre of this the track went under the road. I took a breather (I was buggered) and decided, that even if the road was longer by another kilometer, it would still be easier than walking through the snow like a twit. So I started up the road, and I was correct. I got up to the lake with no further problems. Probably only took me another hour to get up there from making that decision, and I have a few photos of the frozen over lake in my albums. Very cool. Very very cool indeed. For some reason the temperature was about an extra 10 degrees colder than when I was walking up the road. I think it was something to do with all the ice and the lake being frozen over, because I defintely noticed it being a lot warmer as I descended down the hill a little later.
But while I was at the lake, I walked around and had a bit of a look. The place is really a bit lacking. Just a few basic signs about the area, nothing really interesting. To be honest the Fairmont hotel, which is the giant hotel that was built on the lake's foreshore is actually a bit more impressive (when the lake is frozen over in the winter that is) and inside are some very interesting photos' of the lake and the hotel's history). Unfortunately, the pub, the restaurant and the cafe where all closed when I got there at 1:30pm on a Saturday afternoon... pretty crazy really, but luckily all 4 of the damn gift shops where open (sarcasm). There wasn't really a historic info place or anything, so I grabbed a few appropriate photos and set off back down the hell. A bit of an anticlimax to the whole place really.
Lake Louise
The Fairmont Lake Louise Chateau
The walk back down the hill only took 40 mins, a nice quick walk and there got back to the hotel in about 1 hour flat. So here I sit at the computer typing all of this up for you all. It's almost 4pm here now and the day is coming to a close. The sun has been down behind the mountains for a little while now and the light is starting to draw to a close. But the pub doesn't open for another hour. What are these Canadians thinking... no light = pub. Sort it out Canada! haha
Anyhow, tomorrow afternoon I am off to Jasper. I've already been there and accidentally done the tour I was supposed to do in a day or two. So I will have to find something else to do for the fews days I am supposed to be there. I have scouted most of that town already and know some of the key areas. I think I will be relaxing before I trip back to Vancouver and see the boys for the final few days I am in this country.
Cheers
Matt
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