The route this day took us from Canmore to Lake Louise and back. A day filled with lots of beautiful scenery, varied weather and some really awesome caches.

Approximate time on road/out caching:  13 hours, 30 minutes
Total miles driven: 139.3 mi / 224,2 km
Total caches found: 17
Total DNF: 0
States/provinces visited: Alberta
Famous places visited: Lake Louise, Banff
Most memorable cache: GC9BCF Tip of the Lake
Biggest surprise: How easy both traffic and parking was
Weather: Cloudy, rain, some sun
Highest temperature: 62°F / 16,7°C
Lowest temperature: 48°F / 8,9°C

Early up, very early

Since we decided to go to Moraine Lake yesterday, we didn’t have to think about figuring out how to make the shuttle work for us today (very confusing shuttle system). But we still had to get up early, to make it to Lake Louise before the crowd. So we left the hotel 5am.

We made it to the parking before sunrise, so it was almost empty!

A very colorful lake

We’ve seen pictures, and read the horror stories, so we expected a lot of people here. It was only us and a handful other people there – awesome! We started with the two caches on this side of the lake, and took lots of pictures. Lots of pictures!

All the way to the end

The weather was a lot better than we had feared, at least for now. So we started walking out towards the other side of the lake. Not much people on the trail either, so getting up early was definitely worth it!

The view along the trail was breathtaking, and we had to stop to take photos several times. We stopped at GC32H6Y The Talus Slopes of Mt. Fairview along the way out, before continuing to GC9BCF Tip of the Lake.

A lot more people along the way back

We went a bit further out, but turned around when the water started to rise above the trail.

We got some rain along the way back, but also some sunshine, so it wasn’t too bad. Once we got back, there was a lot more people there – and a lot more cars. And seeing the line for the shuttle, we’re glad we didn’t have to deal with that.

A few stops along the way

We had a couple stops along the way to Banff, including the bonus virtual GC7B7Q3 Goat’s Eye. We also made sure to stop at the Banff sign, and GC88Z5A Banff Sign Virtual 🍁.

A walk around Banff

Getting up early had another benefit, we had no trouble finding parking in Banff. We did a short walk around, finding some of the caches around the main street. We also enjoyed some pizza with a view.

Surprise!

After the stop in Banff, we continued to another virtual, GC7B9BW Surprise!. Maybe not that big a surprise when we already know it, but the view was still amazing!

Lake Minnewanka

Since we didn’t do Lake Minnewanka when we had originally planned to do it, we decided to go there now instead. We stopped at a couple earthcaches along the way, before driving the outer road to Lake Minnewanka. We had to stop a couple times along the road, before arriving at the parking lot at the end of the road.

Another bonus

After spending some time at the lake, we went to find the nearby caches, which we had planned to find yesterday. We also found GC7C5B Cascade Ghosts, which was the second bonus virtual of the day.

Ooops

While finding GC16HAZ Limestone Hoodoos in Banff earlier, we made sure to not spoil any answers when taking the photo. The only problem with that, was that the photo requirement required that the hoodoo was visible in the photo. Ooops. So we had to go back, and get the required photo.

After getting the required photo, we decided to head back to Canmore, get some food and maybe some sleep. A long and very interesting day was over, and we had another very long day ahead of us.

Pictures