Banff-Lake Louise-Columbia Ice Fields Adventure

Before starting the MTB trip we wanted to take a day to explore the Banff area. While Mildred was still making her way to Banff with Greg, Val, Laura and Heidi; Lindsey was in town and getting information on adventures for us. The weather forecast was for storms around noon, so we were looking for alternatives to day hiking. By the time Mildred arrived in Banff Lindsey had reserved spots for us on a tour to Lake Louise and the Columbia Icefields.

Being a Canadian long weekend, accommodations in Banff were already booked by the time I thought to make reservations back in April. The only availability I found for 6 people was at the Trailer Court Campground... for large trailers only. ‎With a gentle reprimand at the check-in office for not camping in a trailer, we found nice"tent spots" in the treed area by our reserved trailer site. Our luxury camping site came with a front row view of Mount Rundle. Our first night sleeping in a tent was accompanied by a rain and thunderstorm, foreshadowing the forecasted weather.

We were picked up by a shuttle bus at 8:10 am at a hotel just a short walk from our campground. The tour bus was scheduled to leave the terminal at 8:30 am which gave us just enough time to pick up coffee and bagels at Tim Hortons. Lindsey was so thoughtful, she picked up a black coffee for the bus driver too.

Lake Louise was our first stop. We learned from our driver the original name was Lake of the Little Fishes, which I think is a much better name! The first European to visit the lake renamed it to Emerald Lake, for obvious reasons. Lake Louise was the name given to honour the daughter of Queen Victoria (or Louise Temple, depending on which story you prefer). We enjoyed warm sunshine, views, and a short walk along the lake. Val spotted white birds on the lake, but we weren't able to identify them.

We enjoyed warm sunshine and even more spectacular views at Peyto Lake and Glacier, our second stop.‎ 

Before our final stop we drove by Bow Lake, Crowfoot Glacier, Waterfowl Lake, Mistaya Lake, Mosquito Creek, Mt Saskatchewan bringing back great memories of my trip with my sister, Leone, in my cousin's, Richard's‎, pick-up truck decades ago. Unlike that trip, on today's relative short trip we were lucky to see quite a bit of wild life including: a cute chipmunk at Peyto Lake, a black bear eating buffalo berries from bushes along the side of the road, a flock (?) of Mountain sheep with several females and their ever so cute lambs, a black wolf along the shore of the Saskatchewan River, and (my favourite) a raven pair in the parking lot of the Crowfoot Glacier. I tried to get the raven to talk to me... but he just cocked his head, opened his beak without talking, puffed his feathers out, and walked away (he kinda reminded me of Greg).

We arrived at Columbia Icefields in the sunshine, but dark skies were threatening our day's itinerary. We watched the blue skies disappear as the clouds poured into the glacial valleys. We could hear thunder, and soon rain was falling on the glaciers in our view. As the rain reached our viewing platform, we started to head back to out warm bus, jogging a little as we approached the bus to get out of the rain as it started to get heavier. After 3 of us got in the bus , the rain storm turned into a hail storm! Val and Lindsey came in the bus a little later and a little wetter! The young boy sitting near us was very excited to see and experience his first hail/snow storm. While we watched from the warm, dry bus he played outside in the rain and hail, making snowballs, sliding with his feet on the hail,‎ and laughing. It was fun to see him enjoying the "bad" weather.

Although our plans to stand on a glacier and walk on the Glacier Skywalk were cancelled because of the hail storm, lightning and thunder, we had a great day and fun adventure‎. Val and I weren't that keen on walking on a see-through platform high above the glacier anyway!