Trains and Grizzly Bears, A Canadian Roadtrip - Rocky Mountaineer Day 5

Friday, September 6 - Banff to Lake Louise

My cold took a turn for the worse last night as just before going to bed I got the chills and didn’t feel well.  I took some Tylenol and went to bed, but was worried how I would feel in the morning.  The good news is, I woke up this morning feeling pretty good, I still have a cold of course, but I don’t really feel that sick so I’m good to go.

Today we are taking a bus transfer to Lake Louise where we will stay for two nights at the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise.  It isn’t very far from the town of Banff to Lake Louise, but we will be taking a tour of the adjacent Yoho National Park so we won’t be arriving in Lake Louise until around 12:30 PM.

We caught the bus just after 9:00 and were on our way.  Our first stop was Emerald Lake that was a beautiful blue green color and it truly did look like an emerald.  

From there it was off to a natural bridge which was basically a hole in the rocks that the river rushed through.  It was a beautiful spot, but after spending so much time in Southern Utah, we didn’t think it was much of a natural bridge. 

Our last stop on the tour was a viewing point of the spiral tunnel that we had passed through on the train.  There were interesting displays of how and why it had been built, but we weren’t lucky enough to be there when a train was going through, so there wasn’t really much to see, but a tunnel opening.

From the spiral tunnel, we went directly to Lake Louise and the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise.  The Chateau Lake Louise is another historic Canadian Rockies hotel and set right on the shore of the lake.  I have been here three times before, but have never stayed here before and in fact, have never seen the Lake.  On my previous trips, I have always been passing through and only stopped to see the lake, but it has always been rainy or foggy and I never actually viewed the lake.

That won’t be a problem today as it was a beautiful sunny day with mild temperatures.  Since we arrived in the early afternoon, our room wasn’t ready so we decided to have some lunch while we waited.  There was a restaurant with outdoor seating with a great view of the lake so we went there and were seated at a table near the lake.  We hadn’t ordered yet when I received a text saying our room was ready so while Val ordered, I went and checked in.

Lunch wasn’t exactly spectacular, but the great view and beautiful weather made it a wonderful lunch.  After lunch we went to find our room and found we had scored a great corner room on the fifth floor with a view of the lake from two different sides.  This certainly made up for the disappointment of our Banff room.

We had great views of Lake Louise while we ate lunch.

 

We settled in and waited for our luggage to arrive.  We got our luggage and after resting a while, we decided to explore a bit.  There is a trail that runs up one side of the lake and we decided to do that.  We got about half way and Val decided to go back, but I wanted to make it all the way so I continued on my own which turned out to be a big mistake.

We had some great views of the hotel as we walked along the lake.

 

I finally reached the end of the lake.

 

Several views of the Lake Louise Chateau.

 

It was a relatively easy walk on a level trail of about two and half miles for the full walk.  Not that far, but considering I did have a cold, it was too far for me as when I returned I seemed to have lost all of my energy.  When I got back to the room I laid down exhausted.  When it came time to eat, I really had no appetite so we went down to the deli in the hotel and I got a bowl of fruit and Val got some chili for dinner that we took back up to the room.

Val took this from the hotel window that not only had a screen, but had water spots, but with such a wonderful view, you take what you can get.

That was it for me, it was early to bed as I was very tired, I hope I feel better in the morning.  I should have known better than to exert myself when I was sick.