Lake Louise

Lake Louise and Takakkaw Falls

From Golden, we return towards the Kicking Horse Pass and Lake Louise. We hurry along because the guides say it's beautiful in the early morning. It probably is, as it has a lot of charm, there aren't many tourists yet, and you can enjoy the atmosphere. Unfortunately, much of it is still in shadow and you need to wait until mid-morning. The same applies to the Lake Moraine. We return to Lake Louise, which has now "woken up" and emerged from the shadows, to enjoy a majestic landscape, with the ice of Mount Victoria looming over it. Despite the beauty of the place, we find it to be overly commercialized. Looking back, we discover why. The large Fairmont Hotel is right above us and surrounding it. Ignoring any sensitivity towards this unique paradise, they built and expanded this building, which many praise for being perfectly integrated thanks to its chateau-style. It's true that only those with a lot of money can believe it. Perhaps castles are well-integrated in cities. Any structure next to these creations wouldn’t be able to compete. But anyway: the hotel is one of those places where people say "I was there". We take a 20-minute walk towards Mirror Lake to see Lake Louise from above. We return to the Lake Moraine, which he also took while waiting. better features and it turns out to be the most beautiful lake. The good weather does the rest. Everyone who sees it for the first time can only be amazed by such a pearl of nature. This is further enhanced by the glaciers and the famous Wenchemntka Peaks, ten peaks over 3000 meters high. The extraordinary color of the water in this and other lakes in the park is caused by glacial silt deposits, or rock flour, suspended just below the surface. All colors are filtered except for the blue, which is reflected. We agree that this is the highlight of our trip. To fully appreciate the colors, we climb up to the quarry that rises at the bottom of the lake. After such a sight, a walk around the village of Lake Louise is so insignificant that we don't even realize we've been there. There are no shops or anything else except for cold residences. We return towards Golden to visit the YOHO National Park.
From a scenic overlook, we see the Spiral Tunnels, tunnels built to gain altitude on the railway line that connected eastern and western Canada in the second half of the nineteenth century.
We'll need to turn onto a narrow road called Yoho Valley Road shortly after, to reach the... Takakkaw Falls. For another secondary road, you arrive at the Natural Bridge and therefore follow the instructions at Emerald Lake, from the sparkling green waters emerald.

Arrival at Lake Louise

We return to Golden and continue on Highway 95 south towards Radium Hot Springs. The scenery is interesting: on the left, the majestic Rockies stand out, while on the right there's a wide valley full of marshes, as well as more mountains but much flatter ones. We find accommodation at the Siesta Motel. In the late afternoon, we continue with our work by taking the road to... KOOTENAY National Park We visit Olive Lake, enjoying a peaceful atmosphere, and then head to the viewpoint on the Kootenay Valley. Since it was impossible to reverse direction, we continued for a few kilometers and came across several wild deer grazing along the road. But at the end, here is a young elk We eat dinner at Elna's Stube in Radium Hot Springs (run by an Austrian woman from Linz). The food is very good (pork steak with mushrooms) and we get to know two friendly fellow diners: he’s from Dawson City but lives 50 km away, and they give us valuable advice on what else there is to see in the area. Sam, the motel manager, who welcomed us with typical Mediterranean warmth, tells us about the animosity that the indigenous people still harbor towards white people. According to him, it's best not to venture into the reserves late at night to preserve the head.