A sunny day in the Rockies

Waking to bright blue skies this morning we were finally able to appreciate the size and majesty of the mountains that surround us here in Field. Mount Stephen which dominates the southern side of the town is 3199m and an impressive lump of rock:

Heading north on the TransCanada after an early breakfast, we got to Lake Louise before the worst of the crowds and after a brief stop at the Visitor Centre we managed to find a space in the public car park - the queues were just building as we arrived and headed down to the lakeside.

This is another emerald coloured lake which was named after one Queen Victoria's daughters. It has an enormous monstrosity of a hotel at one end which is thankfully dwarfed by the mountains all around but the lake attracts an enormous number of visitors every year. We had decided to hike the trail to Lake Agnes - about 3.5km each way with an altitude gain of 385m - assuming that many of the other visitors would stick to the lakeshore.

Unfortunately we discovered that this is one of the most popular trails in the whole of the Canadian Rockies and we had to share the trail and the views with a steady flow of people. However it made for some great people watching with representatives of almost every nationality you could imagine - from the very young, both enthusiastic and less so, to the elderly, some of whom were setting a fair pace up the hill side. In addition there was every shape and size from those who could have run the whole way to a few who made you want to look for the nearest defibrillator. 

We made a quick stop at Mirror Lake which sits beneath the Big Beehive

and then walked up to Lake Agnes which was - obviously - named after a lady named Agnes although there is some question about which of two ladies, who claim the honour, was actually the lake's patron. 

We managed to find a table at the teahouse for a coffee which took a while due to the press of business but we were sitting in the sunshine looking over the lake - so not much to complain about.

By this point we had climbed to 2135m above sea level. The journey down to the lakeside was a little easier if no less busy, but by the time we got to the car park it seemed that Armageddon had arrived - hordes of people, competition for car park places, queues of cars in and out of the car park and cars parked all the way along the highway - and this is just the start of the season - definitely time to leave.

We stopped in the village for some essential shopping and an ice cream - by this time it was around 21C in the sunshine and no wine bar to pour us a glass of rose. So back down the highway to our peaceful retreat and a cold beer or two.