Once our time in Jasper came to an end it was time to move onto the most anticipated point of our road trip which involved driving to Banff via Lake Louise. A large part of our travelling fever had arisen out of all the beautiful pictures we had seen of Lake Louise both in summer when the lake is bright blue and sparkling and in winter when the entire lake freezes over.
Due to happy coincidence we found out whilst in Jasper that my auntie and uncle; Denise & Richard Morphett were in Banff and would be staying at the Fairmont Chateau at Lake Louise the same day that we would be driving through. So of course we arranged to meet with them at the Lake Louise ski resort for lunch and a long overdue catch up.
To get from Jasper to Lake Louise we had to take the Icefields Parkway which is a massive stretch of road which winds past multiple lakes, mountains and even glaciers and was my undisputed favourite driving stretch of the entire holiday. It amazed both of us just how much ice and snow there could be on this drive considering that Jasper had been so nice and warm with no sign of ice or snow at all. On our drive we even saw a bear on the side of the road as well as a mountain goat which walked along the road towards us which meant we had to slow to a stop until he passed us.
Once we arrived at the Lake Louise ski resort we met up with my aunt and uncle and proceeded to split a few pizzas, a few drinks and many engaging stories of our adventures since we had left Australia. For Jess and I who had been away from home for about 7 months at this point, it was so refreshing to see someone from home and catch up on all the news and gossip that we had missed while away.
We then moved from the resort back to their room at the Fairmont Chateau. The Fairmont at Lake Louise is one of the most opulent hotels that either of us had ever seen and the upgraded room that they were staying in was the most amazing hotel room ever witnessed. We were sure that the bathroom alone was probably bigger than most of the rooms we had stayed in on our road trip so far. After some photos in front of the frozen lake and a lovely cup of coffee in their room it was time for us to leave and head to our accommodation in Canmore.
We did return to Lake Louise a few days later to fully explore the area and walk around the lake. We are so glad that we took the time to return as the view and experience of walking around the lake is something we will always treasure. Some more photos are below.
Once settled in Canmore, we went to the information centre in Banff the next day to see what hikes they would recommend us to do and which ones were open at that time of year. We gave the parks attendant the instruction that we were looking for some easy hikes to do and she recommended a few that were "family friendly" and "very easy".
The first of these was the twin lakes trail. I am unsure what fitness level the park attendant thought we had but there was no way I would classify this as an easy walk. The hike consisted of a half hour trek straight up the side of a mountain where the terrain didn't level out at all until you reached the top. At the top of the trail were two amazingly clear and beautiful lakes that we stopped at to take plenty of photos and catch our breathe before the half hour trek back. Before we trekked back down we did attempt to climb some large stairs which would take us to a different part of the trail however they were covered in ice and almost led to some serious injury so we decided to cut our losses and head back. The second hike we did took us up tunnel mountain. Whilst not an easy hike by any stretch of the imagination, it at least had a few switchbacks so we weren't constantly climbing.
Once we had done all the hiking our bodies could handle we decided to venture to the Banff Upper Hot Springs to rest our weary bodies. These hot springs are heated geothermically and flow to the surface along the Sulfur Mountain Thrust Fault. As such the temperature of the water usually sits around 47 degrees celcius which was perfect for our tired and aching bodies to recuperate. As the hot springs were open til 10pm each night we came here a few times to truly enjoy the experience.
After a few days our time in Banff and Canmore came to an end and it was time to move on to Dead Mans Flats.
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