Canada Trip Report, Day 1: Calgary; Day 2: Banff: Bow falls, Lake Louise

Day 1, Aug 25, Friday, 2017:

Here are some pics of the Calgary airport. It’s cool with a nice waterfall, sculpture.

We rang up for our shuttle and got dropped at the hotel. This is where we stayed: Hampton inn.

We rang our car rental and they sent us a van to pick us up. Then we picked up some groceries at Safeway. We had tried Costco first but they catered only to their members.

We had an early night.

 
Day 2, Saturday, Aug 26, 2017:

We had the breakfast included in our room rate. The TV was full of news on hurricane Harvey, a little disconcerting.

We started off on our drive to Banff around 9am and reached our hotel Red carpet Inn.

Our room was not ready. We kept our bags in their store and they even stored our grocery bag in their fridge. We had some home made paratas for lunch and drove in search of a nice place. 

Bow Falls:

We found parking right in front of Bow Falls. Parking lot is at the base of the falls which seem to be about 10 to 15 feet high. You can hear the roar of the falls and the view is excellent. "The Falls" are more of a rapids. All the same the lookout is very lovely. The river looks a lovely teal color, the spruce trees are dense and the mountain towers over all. 

We loved the whole town as the roofs mimic peaks and colorful flowers hang in baskets in all buildings.

After our meal, we drove to Johnston canyon, about 25 kms west of

Banff and reached there around 11.45. no parking available any where. We were not too disappointed as the drive is lovely. We turned back. We had read that Lake Louise gondola plies a free shuttle to Lake Louise. We decided to drive up there and take that gondola. However, on the drive we saw electronic signs flashing availability in the overflow parking of Lake Louise. 

Lake Louise:

We turned into that lot and caught their shuttle around 2 pm. They said their last shuttle from Lake Louise will be at 6 pm and we should be careful not to miss it and we should look out for overflow parking. We got down at Lake Louise, surprisingly it was not that crowded.

 

Named for Queen Victoria’s fourth daughter, Lake Louise is a lovely sight. The lake was previously known as Ho-Run-Num-Nay (the Lake of Lake of Little Fishes) by the Stoney Nakoda First Nations people. The hanging Victoria Glacier and an amphitheatre of rugged peaks provide an imposing backdrop to the lake, which is about 2.5 kilometres (1.5 miles) long and 90 metres (295 feet) deep. 

 

During the summer the lake is an intense shade of turquoise, the result of light refracting off the rock flour (glacier silt) deposited in the lake by glacier run off. The color of the lake is most vibrant in July and August when the flow of the melt water is at its highest. It is at an elevation of 1,750 metres (5,740 feet).

We walked along the shore, visited the Fairmont chateau at the shore, drew some money from the ATM there. 

We hiked a bit on the Plain of 6 glaciers trail and came down around 4pm. We reached the shuttle stop and got into the shuttle. Just minutes later there was a huge line forming for the next shuttle. We were happy we had been lucky. The no show at Johnston canyon had been surprising but at a more popular spot we had had better luck!

We wanted to drive to lake moraine but from the overflow parking it meant a drive back to Lake Louise. We decided to do lake moraine the next day first thing in the morning.

We returned back to our hotel. Our room was ready, quite a big suite with a balcony affording mountain views. 

Red Carpet Inn, Banff:

We settled down, went to the IGR mall close by, stocked up and slept off happy with our day.

Day 3, day 4 report continues here:
http://adventuretrav.blogspot.com/2017/09/canada-trip-report-day-3-moraine-lake.html

VIDEO LINK:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/elpZjuz1aqHRajP42

has Bow falls, lake Louise, Moraine lake, Yoho NP, Spiral tunnels, Takakkaw falls, Natural bridge over Kicking horse river, Johnston canyon hikes, Lake Louise Gondola

https://photos.app.goo.gl/xhAz06yYygk4hvRk2

Alberta drives