Lake Louise to Sunwapta Falls

We woke to the most beautiful day - bright sun & blue sky. A quick walk up to Lake Louise - we had it nearly to ourselves - just beautiful. We had breakfast, packed & checked out & drove to Moraine Lake just down the road. Hardly anybody here either - frozen lake, beautiful with snow-capped peaks soaring behind.

Drove down to the village to get some petrol, sandwiches for lunch on the road, water - & a sensational coffee. Then we were on our way along the Icefields Parkway. Stopped at Bow Lake (frozen); Peyto Lake (frozen); walked to Mistaya Canyon; passed over Saskatchewan Crossing (where there were some cyclists setting off; sun was out but temperature still only about 12 deg C & there was some mighty climbing to do up to the Columbia Icefields. We took the Glacier Lake trail to the footbridge crossing the North Saskatchewan River - a really nice walk.

At the Columbia Icefields Centre we spent some time looking at the very informative displays & we travelled a little further on to view the Athabasca Glacier. Just after this were the Tangle River Falls & we saw a Bighorn sheep on the road - a huge fellow! We passed over Sunwapta Pass and at about the 176 km mark we arrived at Sunwapta Falls to stay at the Mountain Lodge & had a great walk to the Falls.

7.5 kms walking today. Lots of great scenery, pines, snow, mountains, lakes, waterfalls. No bears.

Sat in the sun having a drink before a very nice dinner (I had elk ragout); then set off about 9 p.m. for a fast-paced walk to Lake Buck where the setting sun made for some fetching shots of the lake & the surrounding peaks.

Total walk for the day = 13 kms. Took a stick for bear protection but used it only to beat off the mosquitoes: big as marsh flies!