Mon. 14th September ‘26
Our legs ache and our bodies are still tired after those two long uphill hikes at lakes Louise & Moraine. Yesterday, we did less but we’re up at 6:15 for a very successful sunrise photo shoot, and my watch says that I still did 10.8k steps (my rolling average step target is now 13.3k!). So today is all about giving our bodies a chance to recover. We get an early night and the alarm is pushed back to 8 o’clock with the intention of having a gentle start to an easy day.
Whilst a long uphill hike is definitely out of the question, a gentle 5km stroll around the lake shore sounds sensible – enough to keep our legs moving but, by definition, all on the flat. The first part takes us through the grounds of the Lodge and past the Clubhouse where there is a hot-tub and sauna. They are definitely on the agenda for later. But first it is around the woodland shore of the lake.
It’s an easy path, especially given that large sections are either on a wooden boardwalk or on planks in the mud. There are a few other people on the path, though nowhere near as many as you’d think by the crowds that we saw by the bridge yesterday. The path is sufficiently narrow that you need to plan where to step aside to let oncoming hikers past but even that is a chance to look around and enjoy the scenery. We wouldn’t call the lake emerald in colour, but it is in shades of the turquoise/blue we’ve seen at Lakes Louise & Moraine (water grinding rocks to form “rock flour” that is so fine it is suspended in the water).
We’re after pictures of the mountains that preside over the head of the lake (The Presidents Range) and we’d really like a picture of a red canoe prominent against the turquoise of the lake and the mountains behind. Sadly, although there are plenty of canoes out on the water, none of them are considerate enough to come close to us! The other thing that is fascinating is the colour of the woods – old-growth trees (cedar?) draped in moss, with smaller plants and shrubs growing between that give a carpet of green, yellow and brown autumn shades. I think we going to see a lot more of this as the weeks go by.
W
e continue to meander around the lake, enjoying the views, until we start seeing more canoes on the water and more people on the path as get close to the end of the walk and the bridge over to the lodge. Janet described yesterday how the bridge was segregated into a pedestrian and service vehicle partitions which everyone ignored, but it is only now, seeing the views, that we realise that the partitions should be the other way around. Give the tourists the side looking out down the lake and let the service vehicles have the side without the views.
Regardless, it is now lunchtime and, fortunately, there is a café right by the bridge and it is way past time that we tried out Canada’s national dish of Poutine. Chips, gravy and cheese curds. All we can say is that we hope we have a better experience once we are out in Francophone Canada – at the minute Poutine is ranked below chips & gravy, cheesy chips or even just plain chips and ketchup. Still, we did manage to polish off a plate between us so it can’t have been that bad.
With all the hiking, sunrise and sunset photography, we are quite badly behind on both the blog and on the general admin needed as life continues around us. So, it is back to our room to take advantage of the internet and to catch up with ourselves and with the world around us. Chores done, the hot tub is calling us – we really are quite enjoying this very Canadian part of life, though we do make the mistake of not turning on the (adjacent) sauna when we first get to the Clubhouse and even after an extra 10 minutes in the hot tub, the sauna is only lukewarm. Still, a good way to ease tired muscles and not a bad view to contemplate whilst doing so.