My dad, feeling much better today, made delicious pancakes for breakfast. While he was busy making breakfast, I worked on making sandwiches and packing a lunch for our day. We were headed in to Kootenay National Park and Lake Louise. I have always wanted to visit Lake Louise since hearing a school friend talking about their summer vacation there when I was about 8 or 9. Bucket List check today.
While at Radium Hot Springs on Tuesday evening, Chris noted this cool app that was a GPS triggered guided tour through the National Park. He was able to download the app, and we listened to tidbits of information while driving and were alerted to interesting places to stop that we would have never known about otherwise and would have simply driven on by to our destination.
Our first stop of the day was at Sinclair Falls. We had actually driven through this last night on our way to the hot springs and marveled at how cool it was. We pulled over in to a parking area and got out to check things out. As we did, another family stopped--adults with an aging dad. He was a little confused as he tried to get in our van to continue on. I remarked, "Hey, if he is a good passenger, we'd be happy to have him along for the ride."
Chris, my dad, Misha, and Kristen went to look at the falls. While they were gone, a trailer pulled off the side of the road under the overhang of rocks and soon after we could hear a trumpeteer. A grandfather and his granddaughter had stopped to practice because of the great acoustics of the area.
Many years ago in the same spot.
We were directed by the app to stop at a location that would take us to Dog Lake. We opted not to hike all the way to the lake, but stopped at the Kootenay River after crossing a cool suspension bridge. The girls tried to skip more rocks, but the rushing water mostly just sucked up their rocks. The water was a cool turquoise color which my dad said was because it was glacial water.
As we walked back to the van, the girls and Chris got on the suspension bridge and jumped around a bunch. I waited with my parents until they were finished. Amy turned around to see us and while her hair was wildly flipping around, she yelled, "Why aren't you getting on? Wooooohoooo!" Hmmm, I wonder. They finally stopped jumping and bouncing around as other people wanted to cross as well. Even without all of their jumping around, the bridge rocked around a bit as we walked.
We stopped at a lunch spot along the road. My dad found some tasty little treats.
The app suggested that we would enjoy the Paint Pots. Amy and Misha opted to stay in the car; the rest of us took a short hike through the forest. I thought this sign was kind of funny. It listed all of the places you could go except for the Paint Pots. Someone had scratched it on the sign with an arrow.
Kristen called this a Satan tree.
Our final stop before arriving at Lake Louise was Marble Canyon. Chris, I, Misha, and my dad hiked. Amy was sleeping in the car and my mom and Kristen stayed at the van. Can I just say AH-MAZ-ING! It was somewhat similar to Red Rock Canyon by Waterton National Park, but even my dad, a lifelong lover of the outdoors and Waterton, agreed that it was more beautiful. The rocks were glacial gray, but against the turquoise of the water, the effect was stunning. We hiked the moderate path up to Tokumm Creek Falls following the path which traversed over the gorge and Tokumm Creek far below a number of times. The sound of the falls thundered through the canyon. As we hiked, the sound increased, the gorge deepened. Misha measured the greatest distance to take 5 seconds for a rock to drop to the creek below.
I thought it great that my dad was taking pictures with his phone.
We left Marble Canyon and continued on to Lake Louise, Alberta. The temperature dropped and the skies darkened. We were fortunate though that the rain stopped as we arrived at the crowded parking lot. Lake Louise was teeming with tourists, many with their selfie sticks or simply taking pictures and you had to be careful not to photobomb their pictures. The lake and its turquoise-colored water was beautiful.
We even watched a group of people do a polar bear plunge in to the frigid glacier water. I didn't reach them to take a picture until they had all climbed out and were bundled in towels, but I'm pretty sure this lady had icicles for feet.
We walked along the lake's edge for a bit, but it was still bustling with tourists. You could rent a canoe if you chose to spend some time on the lake.
The Fairmont Hotel loomed above the lake, and we ventured inside to take a look. From Chris' research on TripAdvisor.com, he learned that the common areas look great but the rooms were very dated. My girls had fun looking at the shops. The bear theme was plentiful but we didn't see a single uncaged bear our whole trip.
We drove back to Radium via Golden hoping that it would be a good stop. They had a band playing in a square and though we tried to find a place for dinner, most of the establishments were bars and had age requirements. We found an overpriced A&W and then headed back to Radium. It was a rather scenic route and with the late sunset, enjoyable to view.