We drove into BanffNational Park and towards LakeLouise and felt the beginning of Labor Day weekend. We stopped atseveral beautiful overlooks and noted the increase in traffic. We stoppedand did a short hike to PeytoLake, a beautiful turquoise blue and milky with glacial flour. Wefound the overlook so crowded with tourists we could barely see it. I’mnot sure which is worse, the isolation or the crowds.
We went into Lake Louise, named in honor of Princess Louise Caroline Alberta,fourth daughter of Queen Victoria. The lake is a beautiful milky emeraldlake filled with glacial four. We took a very vertical 2 1/2 mile hike toa Teahouseon Lake Agnes. In the late 1800’s, when this area was being discovered(and developed), the had many Swiss guides that lead hikes up the steepmountains and over glaciers. These Swiss guides also lent an air of"civility" to the wilderness by creating teahouses along the trail forone to have a small bite to eat and a pot of tea. A few of these teahousesstill exist and are manned by University students who sleep there (and in 2cabins) without running water or electricity (hummm… sounds like some of ourfriends). They cook the baked goods fresh each morning and serve tea tothose who dare trek up the trail. We quizzed our waitress a bit about thelogistics of such a remote enterprise. They helicopter in 8+ very largetanks of propane and all the bulk supplies they will need for a season. They bake and cook everything fresh daily, from scratch. They may have anadditional supply drop during the season. Sometimes the students don’thike down on their days off, if they don’t need to, preferring to hike trailsfrom here. We had a soup and bread special with a pot of tea and relaxedfor a while. We hiked back down and it was getting late enough, that weneeded to find a camping spot.
We had to find an ATM for cash and then waited in line for a campsite inBanff campground.