27 kilometers ride details

Today definitely an off day since Lake Louise was only 30 kilometers away. I took my time eating lot’s of the leftover food and repacking everything since I was only taking two bike bags nd leaving my camping gear at the hostel. That way I travel light and pick things up on my way back to Banff. So off I went down Parkway road instead of the trans Canada. I was quickly passed by two women road bikers in uniform. The put on a good pace and I tried to keep them in eye shot. This road is very up and down with limited views as the trees are tall and close to the road. There were tonnes on cyclists coming the other way in all shapes and sizes.

I eventually caught my lady friends around the 23 kilometer mark because they stopped. A kilometer up the road was a view point I had to stop at. All of the big peaks in the Lake Louise region are visible and one of them, Mount Temple (3,544 meters), towers above the rest. It was an impressive sight and while I took it all in my lady friends rode by.

It was only a few more kilometers to Lake Louise where I hit the visitor centre, dropped my stuff at the hostel(check in wasn’t until 3pm), got dressed and headed up to the lake on my unloaded bike.

It is a fairly steep 4 kilometer climb from the village to the lake and I broke a little sweat going up but it was well worth it. Just like the photographs the lake was surrounded by rocky mountains and a glacier at the end. The crystal clear glacier water had the Caribbean light blue appearance, almost a fucia. I took it all in and sat at various locations around the lake before embarking on the Angus lake trail which is at a higher elevation than the lake.

The trail is about 4 kilometers are is a constant incline to the lake but still very doable for most people. There is one decent view of Lake Louise…

…lovely little Mirror lake

…a view of the valley

…and finally Angus lake itself which has been a tourist destination since theh 1900’s. I chatted with an English couple at the Tea House up top and talked about their current trip which they are enjoying but need more time, a previous trip to Toronto which wasn’t to thrilling and Sasquatch. I made my way down and once again absorbed as much of Lake Louise as I could before checking in to the hostel. By the way, the Hostel is very nice indeed and about $40 bucks a night.