Wanderlust: A Stroll Around Lake Louise

A Stroll Around Lake Louise

On this day my dad and brothers were heading off to hike through Paradise Valley with my dad's hiking club. While I would love to explore Paradise Valley it is a demanding hike and I can't keep up with the club so I was going to be spending the day at Lake Louise with my stepmother and the dogs.

It was a fairly relaxing day, I decided to climb up to Fairview Lookout and then stroll around the lake.

The climb up to Fairview Lookout is not terribly long but it is demanding for those who are not used to climbing. We saw several people on the trail that had to take a few breaks on the way to the lookout. One couple that was on the trail with us gave us nasty looks for having the dogs with us. I was put out by that, the dogs were not bothering anybody and they were leashed.

The lookout is a nice place to go if you don't have a great deal of time to spend at Lake Louise but you want to get a different view than the one at the shoreline.

Fairview Lookout

The weather that day was mixed, sunny, cloudy, rainy, sunny again, then rain, repeat. My stepmother was fretting over the weather conditions for my dad and brothers on their 10 hour hike.

After Fairview Lookout we went down to the shore of Lake Louise and strolled around to the end of the lake. We got rained on a bit and then the sun came out again. We also ran into a lady that we know from the hiking club who also had not gone to Paradise Valley that day. Instead she was spending the day sketching by Lake Louise.

The dogs were not put off by the cold water. They wanted to jump right in.

At the start of the Lake Louise Shoreline Trail is the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise. Once we were done our stroll I went inside to check out the shops while my stepmother waited outside. I admired the lovely flowers that were planted outside. I would love to stay at this hotel someday, must be a lovely place to have a wedding.

Once I came back outside we still had two hours to kill until we were due to pick up my dad and brothers from their hike so we drove up to Moraine Lake where I explore the Shoreline Trail there.

I always shake my head when I see people climbing the rockpile this way. Do they not realize there is a staircase or are they choosing to live dangerously? I see people wearing flip flops climb this way!

Done with my wandering around we went to collect the boys from the designated meeting spot. They were an hour later showing up than expected, good thing we had reading material in the car!

That night my brothers and I took the dogs for a walk along the Bow River that runs through the campground. It was a lovely evening and the dogs loved it.

Here are a few pictures from the boys hike through Paradise Valley. The hike started at Moraine Lake and proceeded up through Larch Valley to Sentinel Pass and then down into Paradise Valley. The trail then spit them out at a parking lot about halfway down Moraine Lake Road. If you do this hike you need to arrange for somebody to pick you up at the other end otherwise you will have a long walk back to your car.