3rd November, Lake Louise – Banff, AB

I couldn’t find my beanie so the first thing today was to buy a touk (Canadian for beanie). We went into a shop and an aussie served us. This is very common close to the snow fields in Alberta and British Columbia. We got chatting and he came from Yarram (50km from Foster), played for Foster Football Club and knew Boka. It’s a small world! With new beanie in hand we went back up to Lake Louise with one aim – to re-capture a photo that sits pride of place in the Wehrle house hold in Lesmurdie. It’s a great shot of Az, Renae and Lauren with an ice covered Lake Louise and snowy Mount Fairview.
Now they can have matching sets!! It’s hard to believe a few years ago they were standing in the same spot in awe of the mountains and blue from the cold.

We ended up walking along the edge of Lake Louise to the where the glacial fed stream runs into it. One tip – be careful while walking on the ice! The track was somewhat slippery in places. It snowed on us lightly for the entire walk and I am impressed with Tan’s “I’m okay in the cold now” outlook!
The Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise is an uber expensive hotel with great views but it looks a bit out of place sitting on the lake edge. In a way it ruined the view looking back.

We did the drive along the quieter and slow paced route along the Bow Valley parkway. It was one of the roads where you are almost guaranteed to see wildlife. Even at slow speeds were saw only one squirrel. Damn...

On arrival in Banff, we went straight up Mount Norquay and people were already skiing! In Banff town and it was a busy Saturday afternoon, deep with tourists. Something I am not a big fan of. Banff Ave is great as it is set against the backdrop of the snow covered mountains.
We ended up eating at a Japanese restaurant with a Canadian Pacific sushi train. My first pick was a six out of ten with BBQ’ed eel sushi roll. We had a great cheap feed which was filling.
That afternoon we went out to the Cave and Basin area, the first inauguarated National Park with the fledgling country of Canada. We watched some squirrels play, walked around the hot springs and sucked in the sulphurous air. The Basin itself, didn't look too appealing, it may have in the early 1900's though.We did a 3km walk around the Marsh Loop which traverses along the banks of the blue Bow River. We had to piff some yonnies onto the frozen lakes as well. This too was highlighted as the place to see big wildlife. No such luck again.
For a change we had a quiet night in the hotel with a quick dip in the hot tub. No foam – the spa part wasn’t working!

2nd November – Jasper – Lake Louise, AB

A bit of a grey old day this morning though it didn’t matter as we were going to drive the Icefields Parkway from Jasper through to Lake Louise. At the start we thought it was going to like driving the Nullabour as we saw no cars, but that changed with a few cars on the road. Our first spot was the Athabasca Falls. These falls cut through the limestone forming a deep gorge. Snow was on the ground and the path was slippery with ice. We are still getting used to walking on ice. The water in the river was an intense blue. It was the most intense blue colour we had seen on the trip so far.
The Rockies are fantastic as we climbed we could see the Columbia Icefield in the distance. It looked cold!!
On the plain at the foot of the glacier we stopped on the side of the road. We could as there was hardly any traffic, something that would be difficult in peak tourist season! Tan jumped out, with out her down jacket (which hasn’t really left her side for the last two months), and we got some photos of the Columbia Ice Field. It was very impressive and we were about two weeks too late to head up to the Ice Field. The road was covered in ice and when you touched the brakes you slid quite a bit. Even taking off from a stop was hard as the wheels spun with only moderate acceleration. On the way back down we watched a van pull into a siding on the road a bit quick and he was out of control for about 20m!! Dangerous stuff this ice. Funny too think that in the Victorian Alps we would have been driving with chains while here people were ripping past us like it was no tomorrow. The plow had been through days previous and the snow wasn’t too thick.
Coming down some of the hills the views were magical. This one stretch of road had a huge loop in it as you made it to the river valley. We passed Mistaya Lake, once again blu-ish, but not post card material. The snow capped mountains and pine trees weren’t too bad though.
We arrived at Peyto Lake and Bow Pass, the highest road pass in the parks area at 2,088m above sea level, Mt Bogong in Victoria is 1,986m from memory! The snow was thick here, as you could imagine being the highest point! We parked in the snow filled car park and made it up the road to Peyto Lake. We followed the track up in 6 – 8 inches of snow, following footsteps most of the way up. Tan’s ankle socks don’t cut the mustard in deep snow.

As we arrived at Peyto Lake, four people left. We had this priceless view to ourselves!! Peyto Lake is glacially fed and brilliantly turquoise and is touted to be the most blue lake in the world!! Breath taking!! It was a little cloudy but still beautiful. We did a walk the 600m walk around the track above the lake. Powdery snow was blowing off the pines, dusting us with it as we passed. One section was untouched since the last snow fall and snow was deep (for our standards) but so light and fluffy – check the video out. It looks like I haven't got any feet.



Back at Peyto Lake the sun had come out making it more brilliant. As we walked off, an old couple arrived. “You can have it to yourselves!!!” we said. They were the two that beat us to Maligne Lake yesterday and said the same to us as they were leaving!
Locally, the road was very icy coming down off the pass.
We arrived in Lake Louise, a charming little town in the Banff National Park. We booked into to our accommodation. The river here had boulders covered in snow and the edges were sheets of ice. As the weather wasn’t too bad we decided to hit Lake Louise and we were so glad we did. Lake Louise, though not a blue as Peyto Lake, is so accessible and so pretty and picturesque. We took some photos of some Aussies there and they did the same. We think this is the best photo of the trip so far. That night was hung out in the pub and met this somewhat pissed local. He told us about this Aussie bloke who used to hunting and made him laugh a lot especially with his bird call. I responded with “Did it sound like this Kooka-kooka-ka-ka… a dodgy Kookaburra”. We was instantly laughing. I guess it was the one he was chasing. The waitress lit the fire lit but it wasn’t roaring until I gave it some decent amount of wood. (The wood was sitting there and it wanted to be burnt!)
We walked back to our room and it was really chilly, 2cm of snow had fallen during our dinner and it was still snowing! Check out our car.