Sunday with the Sun and the Mountains

Last week with the heat of the weekend and the threat of smoke, if the wind chose to change directions, we decided it was time to escape Calgary and head for the mountains. With only one kid for the weekend we packed the car, and after a quick breakfast for the road, we made our way to Banff. After being in Calgary for almost a year it still blows my mind how close we are to the mountains and how easy it is to get there. After an hour and a half in the car listening to Podcasts and enjoying the scenery we entered Banff, but we quickly changed our plans and decided that maybe it was time to go see what Lake Louise was like.

Lake Louise is about another half an hour drive and home of the very stunning Fairmont Chateau with incredible view of Lake Louise. I was in awe of the beautiful turquoise water which is thanks to the glaciers feeding the lake. There was still a thin layer of ice on the water but was open enough to watch a Paddle Boarder head into the distance. The surrounding mountains were still heavily layered with snow and the temperature was fantastically warm.

We had arrived at Lake Louise around ten o’clock, so there weren’t a lot of other tourists around. We got our map of the hiking trails, and I made the mistake of letting Chris chose our destination. Chris enjoys hiking and has no problem with inclined trails, and he loves nothing more then having fantastic views. I also enjoy these things, but I know my body and I also know I can struggle with a lot of an up hill climbs, but because I was used to the flatter hikes and trails we have been doing in Calgary I agreed to his plan of going up to Mirror Lake and then heading up to The Little Beehive.

The hike started off great. The temperature was warm, so we didn’t feel like we were getting over heated. Oscar was chatting and giggling in his backpack carrier, and we were enjoying the scents of the forest that were very reminiscent of Ontario, with the moist air that carried the smell of moss and pine. After a while it became obvious that the trail was going to be an uphill battle for me, both literally and figuratively, but I pushed on and enjoyed seeing Lake Louise peeking out from the trees. We finally arrived at Mirror Lake and the coolness that blew off the icy lake was refreshing. Chris still wanted to push on to Little Beehive so after a break and a little snack for Oscar we headed up the next part of the trail. If I thought the first half of the hike was difficult I was in for a rude awakening. The second half of the hike was shaded and there were still areas where there was snow and ice on the trail making it muddy and slippery, and there was an increase to the incline as we made our way up the mountain to the lookout. It wasn’t long before I started cursing Chris for choosing the trail, (this is pretty typical for some of our mountain hikes, we have hiked up a few of them) pretty sure I used a couple obscene gestures when ever he gave me some extremely cheerful words of encouragement. I wasn’t the only one that was getting sore and tired because when we hit the second trail break where we could either head to Lake Agnes or continue on we had to think about it, but we are stubborn people and there was only 700m left before we hit our goal, so on we marched sweating and cursing under our breaths. The only person unaffected by the hike was Oscar who seemed to be enjoying the trek.

Reaching the top of The Little Beehive and seeing the view made the whole hike so very worth it. Oscar was able to get out of his pack and walk around, he seemed quite interested in the fact that there was still snow in some areas, but I think he was just happy to stretch his legs and do some climbing. I do have to admit that the elevation made me feel a little light headed, so I just sat and relaxed.

After our little break we made our way down by way of the Lake Agnes trail. It was beautiful and it was a lot easier going since it was downhill and we ended up at the Lake Agnes Tea House. The lake was still mainly frozen, but the waterfall was flowing and the weather was fine. It was getting busy and the Tea house was packed so we took the opportunity to look around, but we were starting to feel tired and started to make our way back down to Lake Louise. The trails were starting to get busier as we got closer to the bottom, making us glad we had the early start that we did. We left Lake Louise exhausted but happy, we look forward to trying some of the other trails and maybe checking out Moraine Lake sometime soon.

We have some other pictures of our journey on our Gallery page.

What are your favourite hiking trails?

Photo Gallery: The views from the top of the Little Beehive