July 15: Lake Louise Re-do

July 15, 2013:  Lake Louise Re-do

I see her do it a lot.  Mom goes to the corner, and puts a stick in her mouth, and moves it around some.  Then some foam forms.  I must supervise on my perch.  I hope she isn't getting rabies.  She spits the rabies out and rinses with water.  I hope it keeps the rabies away.

I wake to rain, and thunder in the distance.  Thunder Paws is not interested in competing with the real thing.  We were considering spending the day in  Calgary for the stampede, but with rain, who needs a rodeo?  So we readied Hannah for departure.  It turns out that was a good decision since the Calgary Stampede ended yesterday!

The rain was intermittent as we headed north on Hwy 1.  We could see that the highest peaks had a fresh dusting of snow.  It smelled fresh and clean.  Since it was early, we thought we would try to stop at Lake Louise.  The parking lot was nearly empty, so we had our spot and headed to the lake.  It is a 3 minute walk from the parking lot.

Chateau Lake Louise is a magnificent hotel that sits at the foot of Lake Louise.  The Victoria Glacier looms over the lake feeding it water with the magnificent silt that makes the color of the lake that stunning aqua.  Surrounded by intense rocky peaks that reflect in the glassy water, the scenery just cannot be captured in pictures.  But we tried!

We started taking the walking trail along the lake.  It is cold outside, maybe 45.  I have my ski jacket on.  Slow and Slower kept a brisk pace and the next thing you know, we are nearly two miles down.  The trail was easy and would continue for more miles to old shacks and lakes and whatnot.  We could spend days just on this trail!  But alas, time to move on.  When we turn around, the views are even more magnificent.  Chateau Lake Louise is reflecting on the water with the ski area on the other side with its fresh dusting of powder.  Breathtaking! 

As we head back, there are people.  Lots of people.  As we got to the parking lot, it was downright crowded.  I am glad we got our early start as we really enjoyed the walk unencumbered by crowds.

We fled the crowd and headed north on highway 1.  We then went on to highway 93 north, heading for the Icefields Parkway.  To get to Jasper, you must traverse the Icefields Parkway.  In the winter, my understanding is that it can be quite formidable.  Not because it is a difficult road, but the weather can wreak havoc.  For us, it is an easy drive.  We are at about 5000 feet.  There glaciers all over the place, with glacier fed lakes and streams.  The scenery is tremendous.  The clouds creep in, it rains, it clears.  We decide to stop early because of the rain.  This is too pretty of a highway to lose it all in the clouds. 

Our first choice was to stop at Waterfowl Lakes as they have full RV hookups.  Oops!  The campground is closed... ferme!  Oh well, about 20 miles further up the road, we came upon Rampart Campground.  No RV hookups, but it is on the Saskatchewan River and we got a site right on the river.  We have a fire ring and it comes with firewood so sometimes when dealt a lemon, you make lemonade.  This site is the king of lemonades! 

The camp host told us that a juvenile black bear comes around on a regular basis.  We never saw him.  Spouse started the fire in the fire ring about 4pm as it was already quite cool.  We kept it going till after 10.  I love the smell of campfire.  I hate when Crew spits.  He calls it 'aggressive drooling'.  I call it spitting.  Nonetheless, I wanted to smack his head into the campfire, but I refrained.  Crew lives for one more day...