Great Canadian Loop 3 - Lake Louise & More Banff + Yoho National Park

The two main attractions for Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada are Lake Moraine and Lake Louise.  While I'm partial to Lake Moraine, I think that Lake Louise draws more tourists.  It helps when you have a 5 Star hotel right next to the incredible Lake.  

We did not arrive in the Lake Louise area our second day until the early afternoon.  There is a ski resort on the other side of the valley with a chair lift that provides an incredible view of Lake Louise and Mount Victoria, and we opted to see it from that perspective before actually going to the lake proper.  We decided to escape some of the tourist onslaught by taking an hour hike that would provide a beautiful view of the lake and the hotel and surrounding mountains.  Some of the pictures show the haze that was pervasive that day.

Earlier in the day, we had taken a mile and a half hike to Wapta Falls in Yoho National Park that abuts Banff, again, to escape tourists.  As with much of what we saw during our time in Canada and Montana, there was ample water, especially at this time of year, and Wapta Falls was flowing mightily.  And the glacial colored river (green) was ample.

We had stayed the previous night in Golden B.C., but after our Lake Louise day, we stayed in Yoho National Park at an inn in the small community of Field, B.C.  I don't know that we will ever stay in quite so majestic surroundings as we did that night.  And for the record, the inn had a terrific restaurant where I enjoyed the best meal of the trip.  The name of the restaurant?  Truffle Pigs!

1&2 - Wapta Falls, powerful green glacial water

3 - A river, which centuries ago flowed over these rocks, undercut the rocks through powerful erosion and now flows under them

4 - Calm, lovely, scenic Emerald Lake, with lots of canoes

5 - Taken from the other side of the valley opposite Lake Louise, Mt. Temple, at 11,627 ft one of the highest in Banff

6&7 - From across the valley looking at Lake Louise and Mt. Victoria which is behind it

8 - Mt. Victoria, covered with glaciers

9 to 11 - The various hues or shades of Lake Louise, with the 5 Star Fairmont Hotel on its shore (notice the boats)

12 - Beautiful Lake Louise and Mt. Victoria from ground level

13 - Majestic Castle Mountain

14 - Looking out the front of our Inn in Field, B.C., home of Truffle Pigs!

Great Canadian Loop 2 - Lake Moraine and Peyto Lake

The reason I wanted to come to see Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada was primarily to see a lake which I had only seen in online pictures -- Lake Moraine.  This is a lake that was formed when a rock landslide blocked a glacial river and the river became a lake. What adds to the extreme beauty of this lake is that it is surrounded by ten peaks, all over 10,000 feet above sea level.  As I took pictures of it, I felt I was on sacred ground; that what I was viewing was not only  breathtaking, but holy.

I couldn't stop shooting.  You will see only a few of the shots.  I felt enveloped in extreme beauty.

To me, it was amazing to see what I saw and which I have recorded photographically below, in ONE DAY.  The photos are sequential as I experienced them throughout this singular day. The exquisite beauty just kept coming, as you will see below.  The day far exceeded my expectations. 

We first visited Lake Moraine.  We then headed about 25 miles north on the Icefields Parkway, which ultimately ends at Jasper National Park some 100 miles further north, to Peyto Lake, another magnificent natural spectacle.  While going to Peyto Lake and returning from there, our eyes feasted on even more beauty, as you will see. 

The colors of Lake Moraine and Peyto Lake are the result of glaciers literally scraping rocks as they move and melt, and those particles, called glacial flour, end up in rivers and lakes and create the other worldly colors of the water.  Most rivers in Banff, Yoho, and Kootenay National Parks that we saw were these incredible colors. 

An integral part of nature photography is the lighting.  I would have liked to have been at Lake Moraine at sunrise to see the special glow that the sun casts on landscapes, but that wasn't to be. However, we got there fairly early in the morning, before the throngs of worldwide tourists arrived at 10am or so and were there for most of the day.  I was pleased with the lighting, although white puffy cumulus clouds can obscure and cast shadows on the scene. The master photographers will wait hours or days for just the right lighting.  I couldn't do that, but what I shot was good enough.

These photos are not photoshopped (obviously).  The colors are as they appeared, recorded as best they could be recorded by my Nikon 1, high-end point-and-shoot.  I likely will have some photoshopped and then be printed to hang in my office.  I am just grateful that I had a camera with two lenses that could record this miraculous day!

Lastly, I must acknowledge the Creator of this what I saw on this day and throughout the journey.  He did a masterful job at Banff.

1 to 3 Lake Moraine in all its glory and beautyin Banff National Park
4- One beauty in front of the background beauty!
5- The little white speck in the middle of the picture is a drone with a camera (I suppose)
6- More Lake Moraine beauty
7&8- Close ups of some of the ten peaks that surround Lake Moraine
9 to13- More incredible scenery at the end of a 1 1/2 hour hike near Lake Moraine
14- On the Icefields Parkway
15- More glacial beauty on the Parkway
16 to 18- Gorgeous Peyto Lake, with different hues based upon the sun and clouds, after a short hike
19- One of the mountains next to Peyto Lake
20 to 22- Turning around the other way from the perch from which I shot Peyton Lake
23&24- Beautiful Bow Lake
25- Hector Lake with majestic mountains in the background

Great Canadian Loop 1 - From LA to Golden, BC

I have a "bucket list;" a list of places on the planet that I want to experience that I have not had the opportunity to visit so far.  I just returned from crossing one of them off the list:  Banff National Park in Canada.  It is west of Calgary, Alberta.  It did not disappoint!

We made a sixteen day trip of it.  To begin, we went north to visit Adam & Emily and their four children (including the triplets) in Northern California (Concord).  Continuing north, we paid a visit to my cousin Scott who lives and works at a hospital in the town at the base of Mt. Shasta. We continued north to the Seattle area and visited our daughter Rebecca and grandson Isaac.  

It was time to start viewing nature and we spent a little over a day at North Cascades National Park near the Canadian border, northeast of Seattle.  We then went into British Columbia, Canada, and driving northeast we journeyed through the Glacier National Park of Canada to the west border of Banff National Park.  Actually, the first park you encounter as you head east from Golden, BC, toward Banff is Yoho National Park.  There are four national parks that abut one another and we saw three of them (we didn't have time for Jasper--next time!)  Leaving Banff to go south to Glacier National Park in Montana, we went through Kootenay National Park.

This first posting of pictures from the trip are those I took on the way to Banff.  For better or worse, it was either overcast or raining for most of these pictures.  Nonetheless, I hope you enjoy the beauty half as much as we did.  As time permits, I will winnow through the rest of the 200+ pictures I took, and post more of the best pictures from this extraordinary experience.  

1- Majestic Mt. Shasta in Northern California on an overcast day

2- Falls near a dam-created lake in North Cascades National Park--probably about 150 feet

3- Woods near the dam-created lake, called Gorge Lake 

4- A random mountain in North Cascades National Park while hiking

5- Diablo Lake while hiking in NCNP--notice the green color of the water--it's caused by glacial runoff

6- Cloud covered mountains in NCNP while hiking

7&8- A beautifully rewarding waterfall at the end of a tiring hike in NCNP

9- A California quail in a Canadian conifer

10- Beauty on the road through Glacier National Park BC to Revelstoke, BC--notice the glaciers and the falls and how green the foilage is

11- Rain covered dogwood blossoms in Kelowna, BC

12- Rushing, voluminous falls on the road through Glacier National Park, BC

13- Rain covered red maple leaves in Kelowna

14&15- Simply beautiful mountain in Glacier National Park, BC--two different views.  The was the beginning of sun drenched blue skies that lasted for pretty much the rest of the trip

As Time Goes By

Regarding the passage of time in his life, a Southern California talk show host, Dennis Prager, mused that "days can go by very slowly, months and years take a long time, but weeks seem to fly by."  I have found that to be true for me as well, especially recently.

The following is what has occurred since my last posting, making the weeks fly speedily by:

1) I am spending more time trying to keep existing rag clients, find new ones, and spending consulting time with Jeremy
2) I am regularly meeting with over 20 clients each week in my psychotherapy
3) Up until two weeks ago, I was fulfilling my calling as the Ward Mission Leader, and all that it entails
4) Ann and I spent a weekend in Northern California scoping out neighborhoods for Emily in preparation for their move there for Adam's new job in Berkeley
5) I spent time being a father and grandfather while Emily and Adam went to look for a home to rent, while the kids were staying at our home
6) Ann and I drove the triplets (and Doug) to Northern California and helped Emily's gang to settle in to their new home in Concord on the following Saturday, then drove home the following day
7) Doug was in town (in the US) for a visit, and while here, broke up with his fiance in the Philippines, and is now staying with us
8) Ann's sister Jill arrived last night in So Cal and is staying a couple of days with us also before she and Ann go camping in the Redwoods for the second straight year

I usually write in my office which doubles as a guest bedroom, and with Emily, Doug, and now Jill spending mornings and evenings in there, I have had precious little time to write. And since I have been extra busy doing therapy, I have had precious little time to write in my Pasadena office as well.

Ann and I will be going on what I consider to be THE vacation this year in 12 days.  She is finished with school, and I have been wanting to do this road trip for a couple of years.  I am finally making it happen.  I figured that I need to get some blogging time in before we leave.

So taking time to write this brief missive right now, ironically as I am about to clean the kitchen floor and put a leaf in the dining room table before our niece Lindsay and her little family arrive for dinner with Aunt Jill, goes to show that you make time to do what is most important to you, regardless of how busy you are.  When people say "I've just been too busy to do..." I roll my inward eyes and think, "If ... was really important to you, you would have gotten it done.  And so it is.