Storyline: Westward Ho!
Jun 18 – Jun 21
We approached the foothills of the mountains shortly after we merged with TransCanada Highway 1 at Seebe.
From Airdrie had driven through Cochrane, then taken Hwy 1A, and crossed the Bow River to Hwy 1.
Heavy clouds were covering the mountains. As soon as we joined the TransCanada Highway the thunderstorms joined us too.
Clouds would reveal a bit of the mountains, just enough to know that we were heading that direction.
The rain stopped before we reached our campground at Lake Louise.
Check-in, park, hook up to electricity and we had some dry time to walk around, hike along the shore of the Bow to the village and take a peek at the cloud-covered mountains above us.
The next 2 days would be all rain.
A young couple from England joined us at the next campsite. They had quit their corporate day jobs to travel for a year. Bought an old truck camper and had already driven over 4,000km in Canada. Really old truck.
Truck 1991 and camper 1987! Electrical cord ran through the window. Inside there was a wood stove to keep them warm. They hadn’t had any issue so far they said. In the morning before leaving though they couldn’t start the engine. Alex offered to help and that’s how we knew their story. Eventually a service truck arrived and gave them a boost. And off they went for their adventures.
Knowing that the weather can be iffy in the mountains in June I had booked 4 nights for Lake Louise.
Given the fact that it had been nice and sunny just before our time having 4 straight days of rain wasn’t the best experience.
We almost gave up on visiting the lake. Definitely, hiking to it was off the table. In the end we did have our five seconds fame at the mountain lake.
After 3 days of heavy rain in the morning of our last day at around 5 am I didn’t hear the rain. We got up and rushed up the 4 km road to the Lake Louise parking lot. They say that the lot is usually full by 7am. There is a shuttle, which as everything else, had to be booked well in advance, no matter the weather conditions.
Aside:
For those of you who have been there a few years ago, things have changed. Booking for both Lake Louise and Jasper National Parks was a competition on the day that online booking was opened. We managed to book spots for our desired days. About 15 min to half an hour into the opening everything was booked. It is a new system they just implemented for this season for all National Parks. One had to register and login and at opening time they give everyone a random number. This is worldwide. Then you are in the queue. When your number comes on the top of the queue if there is still availability for your days you can book. Seems complicated, but half an hour before the opening time Alex and I logged in, each one with their profile. I remember that for Jasper, which opened for registration a couple of days earlier than Lake Louise, I was around 800th in the queue and Alex was over 20,000th! My turn came faster (wonder how that happened – A) and I grabbed the spot for my dates. I don’t think Alex’s turn would have come in any reasonable time.
In a few days we were lucky enough to grab a spot for Lake Louise in the same manner. Using 2 computers and multiple sessions. We needed these specific days, and in this specific order (Lake Louise then Jasper) for our planned itinerary to materialise. There were 44 stops on our full trip plan and although somewhat flexible, once you book the first or second campground, you are already trapped in the schedule.
We were at Lake Louise parking lot before 6am and it was already busy. Definitely it was full by 6am. For the visitors after, they had to be lucky enough to take a spot of a departing car. After 8am there would be a dispatcher at the crossroad between the campground, the road up to the lake and Lake Louise village. The dispatcher would let cars up only if there was empty spot.
The weather held long enough for us to take a few photos and wander a bit around the lake. It was spectacular even with all the fog, and clouds.
Then clouds descended and obscured the mountains;
then the lake disappeared in mist.
The story of our road-trip westward: extreme weather; too cold, too rainy, too hot or too buggy. Are we getting old or has the weather gone awry? Perhaps both.
It was dryish in the evening of our last day. We walked to the old train station restaurant named “The Station Restaurant”.
As far as I remember this was the second repurposed train station that we’ve visited. The other one was in Tatamagouche, NS last year. We’ve been to many old train stations, some converted to museums, but I think a restaurant makes them more useable.
Of course, there is no lack of clientele in Lake Louise. It wasn’t cheap, but nothing in the area is. The small log station was built in 1910 to serve the tourists.
It has 360° views of the mountains. Now a restaurant, it was nicely decorated using old photos and bits of train equipment. An old train outside was converted into a museum. The station was featured in the 1965 Oscar-wining film Doctor Zhivago.
So why is Lake Louise so famous? This turquoise blue glacial lake, framed by mountains is said to be an eight wonder of the world (There seem to be over 100 “eighth wonders of the world” scattered around – A). At 1,731m (5,680 feet) elevation it is about 2.4km long and 70m deep. Named after Princess Louise Caroline Alberta in 1884 after for a short time being known as Emerald Lake, it also had the original Stoney name Ho-run-num-nay meaning “lake of the little fishes”. It is one of the most famous vistas on the continent.
No wonder it’s hard to book accommodation there, be it a campground for ordinary people like us, or be it at a minimum $600 to over $2000 a night room at the Chateau standing on the shore of the lake for those with deep pockets.
The village of Lake Louise is Canada’s highest community at about the 1,540m elevation.
Before dinner at the train station, we filled Doranya with gas, which like everything else around Lake Louise, was quite expensive, and she was ready to take us north through the mountains the next morning.
See you in Jasper tomorrow.
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