Lake Louise

The next morning Monday July 2^nd – the day after Canada Day which is like their Fourth of July - we left Wabasso Campground in Jasper and moved to Banff National Park Lake Louise Hardsided campground.  On the way driving we stopped by the side of the road where dad got a couple of great picture of a black bear along the side of the road.

Seems funny a creature as big as a bear enjoys eating dandelions but it seems to be one of their favorites!

All of the campsites at Lake Louise are this weird Canadian design where they put two trailers side by side right next to each other and then the trees in between those double sites.  So you have REALLY CLOSE neighbors.  We were lucky when we got there the people were leaving to return home after the long Canada Day weekend so the first couple of days we had our double spot with no neighbors. The other really annoying part of this campground is the Canadian Northern train track running right along side it with trains going by at all hours blowing their whistles VERY LOUDLY!  At least twice each night we were there we were awakened!  They didn't tell you that part in the descriptions when you register! 
The last night we were sitting getting ready for dinner about 8:30 or 9 pm and a guy came in driving into our shated campsite in one of those RentCanada about 24 ft. Motorhomes – always a bad sign of an inexperienced driver - and when he put out his pop out he was about 18” from our dining table.  Dad pulled our pop out in and we just stayed tight and cozy for that last night.  The poor guy was from France and had his wife & kids with him touring Canada.  We are constantly amazed by how many people from foreign countries and just take off driving a rented motorhome – on the wrong side of the road for them not having a clue where you would be going or what you would be seeing.  We do not plan to try that anytime soon.  

We met a couple older than us at the hike to the Glacier who had flown from New Zealand to San Francisco and rented a car and driven up the coast and got on the Alaska Ferry and took it to Haines – with a lay-over in Juneau and a side cruise to Glacier Bay- and then drove to Valdez & Seward and Anchorage and Fairbanks and then back down the Alcan Highway and were in the Canadian Rockies and were going to Glacier & Yellowstone.  They were staying in hostels where it was inexpensive or hotels.  At least they spoke English.  I am just not sure I am that brave.

Again Tuesday morning when we woke up early to shoot the sunrise - NO SUNSHINE.  After half an hour or so laying in bed not being able to go back to sleep I finally said well lets go see what we can get.  We went to Lake Louise and got a couple of nice reflection photos even though the light was not great.  On the way up we let a couple of young men from France who were hitching a ride along side of the road ride in the back of the pickup to the turn off to Moraine Lake.  There was too much camera gear in the back seat for them to fit in there!  It was a steep 2 or 3 miles up the road so they were glad for the lift.

Lake Louise is spectacularly beautiful there with the fancy big hotel right by the lake’s edge with the mountains surrounding it.

 We moved on to Moraine Lake and low & behold the sun was finally peeking through the clouds.  We walked out along the edge of the lake – we were the only people even up yet at about 7:15 am but could not get the view Dad was wanting so headed back to the parking lot.

We saw a sign we had missed before so Dad climbed up a big rock pile at the end of the lake and got a spectacular shot of the lake and mountains which matched the picture that used to be on the Canadian $20 bill

He also got an exceptional shot of a Pika.  He has waited hours at Sheepeaters Cliffs in Yellowstone trying to get a shot of a Pika like this and this little guy just poked his head out and posed.

The rain started again so we went back to the trailer and cleaned up and napped until later in the afternoon when we drove into Banff town along the side road where you are supposed to see more wild life than on the main highway and were rewarded with these good mountain sheep photos right next to the road. 

The one is funny where the one guy is trying to chase the other one off what he thinks is the best spot.  Just like kids always fighting over who gets to sit in the “best spot” – all nature is the same I guess.

Also I could not resist taking this shot of Steve taking pictures standing in the middle of the road and using his big lens even though he is only 12 to 15 yards away from them at the most!

 When we got to Banff we thought we were in Hong Kong or Tokyo.  It made Jackson look like a country bumpkin joint.  Fancy, fancy stores and people elbow to elbow everywhere.  We went to an interesting museum that had displays about history in the Canadian Rockies.  It was also an art museum with a display of art work trying to raise awareness for the need for a continuous corridor from Yellowstone to the Yukon to preserve wildlife habitat.  The Canadians are quite environmentally aware.  This exhibit has been a collaborative effort of the Museum of Wildlife art in Jackson and was shown there for a while and now is being shown in Jasper.  That was about all of the “in town” stuff we could take.  The only shopping we could tolerate was the Safeway where there were so many people we waited about 30 minutes in line.  The good part turned out to be the isle we were waiting in was the snacks and cookies so we could stock up as we waited and moved along.  The best find were Canadian maple leaf shaped cookies with maple frosting.  They have been a good find.  YUM YUM!  I think we have discovered we are much more at home out in the wild than in the fancy tourist havens!