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Banff, AB – Day 2 at Lake Louise (part 1)

At dinner on our first day in Banff we were told that if we want to visit Lake Louise we really need to be in the parking lot by 6:30 a.m. Needless to say, we were not too happy to hear that. So, like any good traveler we did some more research…and found that every local we asked said the same thing. ☹️

The parking lot for Lake Louise was about a 40 minute drive from our hotel in Banff, which meant that we were up at 4:45 and out on the road by 5:45 a.m. to make sure we could get a parking spot.

Sunrise from the road
Sunrise from the road
Ugg! Too early!!
The glacier at Lake Louise seen on the drive to the parking lot.

We had decided that we wanted to hike up to the Lake Agnes Tea House (click on the link for information about this hike). It was really cold early in the morning (41f/5c) so we bundled up in layers and took pictures of the Chateau Fairmont at Lake Louise.

From Lake Louise we started up the trail to the Tea House.

Starting up the trail to Lake Agnes
We caught peeks of Lake Louise through the trees
Lake Louise from the trail

Almost to the top

Mirror Lake
Views from the trail
Views from the trail
A waterfall in the middle
Close-up of the waterfall

Near the top there is a waterfall next to the trail and final steps to the top.

Once you climb the staircase then you are at Lake Agnes. There is a tea house up here which has hot tea (they dipped their kettles right into the lake for our tea!) and some bakery items. It is cash only but they accept both Canadian and US dollars. The exchange rate for USD is horrible so we stopped at an ATM in Banff before this hike.

View from the top of the staircase
Lake Agnes
Lake Agnes runs down to the waterfall we stood next to earlier
The line for the tea house…at 9 a.m.!
My sister-in-law Jen contemplating life
Lake Agnes
Inside the Lake Agnes Tea House
Inside the tea house

The trip down the trail took only an hour compared to almost 2 to get up (though I think most people take only about an hour to get up the hill while we moseyed for almost 2 hours 😂).

View of Lake Louise from the trail
Almost there
Made it to the Chateau!
Very crowded at 10:45 a.m.!
Yay! So much easier going down

We decided to have lunch at the Chateau before heading off on our next adventure. Be aware that they give priority seating to guests staying at the hotel, so if you are not a guest you may not be seated right away. In our case, we were at the restaurant right when they opened at 11 a.m. and were seated immediately.

Lake Lounge
Lake Lounge – views of Lake Louise

Here are pictures of the “horrible” view we had at this restaurant.

We noticed a garden when leaving the chateau. My brother-in-law Dennis made fun of me for getting even more pictures…but I didn’t care.

We went our separate ways after lunch. Joel and I decided to take the Lake Louise Tram (there is another one in Banff which is much busier). More to come in our next post…

jj

Who does what here? Honestly, it’s really a good collaboration. We both decide where to go and plan the trip together. Once at our destination, Jeri takes most of the pictures and edits them for our website, though Joel has a much longer arm and is better at taking our selfies. Once the pictures are done then Jeri writes the posts and Joel edits them before they go live. Joel is also the IT guy when things go wrong (but what could possible go wrong when a computer is involved?)

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