A few hundred meters above one of Canada's most famous vistas is Lake Agnes. It's a relatively easy and popular hike from the Chateau Lake Louise Hotel in Banff National park. The hike is three and a half kilometers long and up four hundred meters of a forested path.
Lake Louise is famous for it's stunning colours and the glaciers lining the peaks surrounding it. This is at the height of the Canadian rockies and the air only gets fresher as one ascends the peaks. The trail takes us up to 7000 feet above sea level so the views just get better and better.
Here's the famous hotel and the lake, you can see the Bow valley in the background. This is all protected so there is no private land ownership, industry or farming. Just some tourism if you wish to stay in the hotel, it is about $1000 per night during the peak season for a lake view room.
There are activities here year round, this time of year is the 'off' season. Across the valley from the hotel, there is the Lake Louise Ski resort with 145 world class runs. It's the first stop on the annual FIS Alpine Ski World Cup and is an incredible hill. During the winter, Lake Louise is at least a 2 hour drive from Calgary, so if you want to make the most of your day, the hotel is a preferred option.
Winter comes early here and the fall season is short. There is already snow up in the mountains and we have had a very warm fall season. Watching the fog roll in from the glaciers to the valley is a sight to behold.
There are two popular hikes to two tea houses near Lake Louise. One is up the valley of the six glaciers pictured above and the other is the Lake Agnes Tea house. We decided to go to Lake Agnes this time and will save the valley of the six glaciers for warmer weather.
This is the river that feeds Lake Louise from the melting glaciers, it's not even much of a stream this time of year. In the spring it would be much bigger as the snow melts from the many peaks in the region.
This is something called the Beehive with Mirror Lake in front of it. It's a classic waypoint on the way up to Agnes lake and an easy hike for those who don't want to go all the way up to the Tea House. There are thousands of miles of trails in the area and one can always choose their own adventure.
A small waterfall flows down from Lake Agnes, we are almost there and just have to climb the last few meters up to our destination. People leave their horses here as the trail is too steep above and they don't want horses mucking up the lake.
This is from the deck of the teahouse looking over the small and serene lake. Since no one canoes or kayaks here the water is still, mountains block the wind. We are at the top of the continent in Alberta, on the other side of those peaks is British Columbia. It's amazing that the water here flows all the way across North America and into Hudson's bay.
Towards the end of the season, the tea house isn't too busy. Sometimes the lineups are crazy and they run out of tea, hot chocolate and biscotti. We were lucky and got to enjoy a warm beverage on the shore of the lake.
The descent is always prettier than the ascent. To be honest, I mixed the pictures here, going up was not as exciting because you're staring at a hill and trees while watching your feet. We also followed the most direct path up and went towards the valley of the six glaciers and took the long way back.
The yellow from the bushes and the golden colour from the larch trees never fail to impress. Fall is perfect hiking weather as the sun isn't so strong that you need to carry litres of water while hiking up here. Because the Summer crowds are gone, it's mostly just locals from Alberta and British Columbia here with the odd smattering of tourists.
If you're going to pay the big bucks to visit Banff, best not do it after the second week of September as the weather is really hit or miss. It's 20 today and on Monday it will be negative 6 and snowing. Most of the campgrounds are closed and the ones that are open are for masochists or trailer camping.
The chalky colour of Lake Louise near where the river enters the lake was fascinating. Trout were noticeable swimming here and there were mud flats looking the other way. The lake would be slowly filling up with silt and minerals from the peaks above and one day it will disappear.
This would have all been lake a few thousand years ago, it's amazing how the landscape is constantly evolving. Whenever there is a nice day, we love to get out and enjoy the fine things nature has to offer and hope you enjoyed the pictures.
All photos were taken with an iphone 14 pro and are unfiltered.
[//]:# ([//]:# (!worldmappin 51.41611 lat -116.24411 long Lake Agnes d3scr))