This last week, I decided to squeeze in one last "summer hike" before the snow flies in the mountains. This time, accompanied by my daughter, we visited the Plain of Six Glaciers in Banff National Park. The weather forecast was iffy with mostly cloud and afternoon chance of rain with temperatures of 13 degrees C and 7 degrees higher up. We left the house at 6:30am for the two hour drive to Lake Louise in order to ensure that we got a parking spot at this extremely popular venue.
After gearing up, we hit the trail at 9am with the cloud tops hiding the peak of Mount Victoria at the end of the always-beautiful Lake Louise. The hike will take us around the north side of the lake (the right side of the below pic) and through the valley that you see at the end, then climbing some 450 meters pretty much straight to the cliff with the overhanging glacier in the centre of the picture.
Looking back toward the lake after starting the climb up the valley:
A shot of me from my best side on the way up. That's Mount Lefroy in the middle.
After about 7km of walking and a 335 meter height gain, we reach the Plain of Six Glaciers Teahouse and have a nice cup of tea before pressing on. The teahouse was built in 1924. At this point, we started to get some drizzle.
After our tea break at 10:30am, we set out for a further 1.4 km hike and 120m climb toward the end of the trail. Looking back part way up, we see Lake Louise with the Chateau at the far east end. The teahouse that we left is located at the far left centre of the photo near the tiny white dot among the trees. The valley at centre and right was formed by glaciers and you can see the moraine on either side.
We've hit the end of the trail and had our picture taken for posterity by some fellow hikers . The pass with the visible glacier running up it is known as the "Death Trap" for good reasons. At the top of the pass in the saddle, you can just make out the tiny bump of
Abbot Pass Hut.
Here's a panorama of the Plain of Six Glaciers. Lake Louise can once again be seen at the far left. Mount Lefroy is at centre and the cliff face of Mount Victoria forms the right fringe of the picture. All of the debris at the bottom of the valley is actually sitting on top of glacial ice, the melt water of which runs down to the lake.
We then headed back down to the teahouse, had our lunch and trekked back down to our vehicle in steady rain.
Thanks for your interest!