Canadian Rockies: The detour to the famous Moraine Lake, day 5

Hey Steemians!!

I am now back from my other camping trip to the Rockies, as promised I will now finish with the last day of our first trip before carrying on with the details of the latest mountain getaway. All this hiking was fun and I wish I could stay here longer but we do have 3 kitty cats that need us to return (one of which is 19 years old) we can't stay away for too long. We have gotten pretty good at setting up and tearing down camp by now, it takes us 15-20 minutes to have everything packed up into the truck and back on the road again. Like any other Rockies getaway, we weren't ready to leave the natural paradise just yet, since we live in Edmonton and it's much closer to Jasper, we decided to take a detour via Jasper and do some more visiting around (it's a still a really big detour FYI).

Moraine Lake. Shot 1/250 sec. f/8 22 mm, ISO 110

We normally travel to Banff and Jasper during the off season to avoid all the tourist and the chaos they create, we actually forgot how crazy it becomes during this time of year. We made our way to the town of Banff to do a little visiting around, as we got into town, it was so busy with everyone running willy nilly not obeying traffic laws or with little to no social etiquette to the point where it actually killed the zen state we had been in for the last few days. We were both getting annoyed and got the hell out of there as fast as we got into town. It's a beautiful place and all but I can't handle the lack of respect and ethics from many of the visitors. Honestly, most of them are fine except seems like many Asian visitors( probably account for close to half of tourists) act like they were raised in a barn or in an uncivilized world throwing their garbage around on the ground instead of the proper trash bins, parking where ever they want even if it's not a proper parking area or parking like assholes taking multiple spots for 1 vehicle rendering the other parking spots unusable for others, running across moving vehicle, clogging roads and sidewalks for no particular reason just to hangout, elbowing or push people out of their way, cutting lines, harassing and running after wildlife,allowing their children to stomp on and destroy different fungi and plant life habitat that is under the protection of the National Park laws, inserting themselves in front of cameras while others are trying to take a picture instead of waiting their turn like everyone else...it goes on. I don't know if it's how they act in their own country but I have very little patience for that and it is certainly not how we live here. It wouldn't be so bad if it were only a handful per busy area acting this way but it's not, more like hundreds doing this at once in small area gets really tiresome for everyone else. I always heard that Asians were really nice, polite and well mannered but unfortunately it is not the impression I get from them while they visit here. What a way to represent your people to Canada...they should be embarrassed of their behaviors! (Sorry I really had to get that off my mind)

Taken at a park in downtown Banff. Shot 1/250 sec. f/8 31 mm, ISO 125

Now that the town of Banff was a no-go zone, we gathered our spirits and cleansed whatever chaos we had just experienced out of our minds and got back to our zen mountain state. Now it was pretty much highway until reaching the Lake Louise/ Moraine Lake area so that went pretty fast. As we got into the town of Lake Louise, the place was packed, luckily they had traffic control directing everything smoothly to go up the mountain road. Since we travel off season, we never got to go to Moraine lake, the roads are closed for winter because it's higher up the mountain from Lake Louise(about another 10km drive) the roads get dangerous and is a high risk for avalanche, this was now our 5th attempt at visiting the area. On the way we saw the overflow parking lot down the highway looking pretty full. We weren't sure if we would even get in but we didn't really have time to chase shuttles around. Of course as we get up there, the road could not be accessed because there was already too many people and they block the road up after a certain # of drive-in visitors due to remote access and limited space for parking.

Shot 1/250 sec. f/8 46 mm, ISO 110

We made our way to a near-by parking area while we figured out what we were going to do with the situation and see if we had time to hike up instead . we decided to just carry on to our next stop as it would have taken us all day to just hike there. 2 stops out of 4 were now a flop, almost felt like taking this detour could have been a waste of time so far, it's ok tho, the scenery is well worth it. On the way down the mountain, we watched traffic control move the barricade and let the car in front of us onto the junction to Moraine Lake. WHAT!?! Were the mountain gods shinning upon us today? Are we getting in last minute after all? Is the 5th time a charm, would we finally get to see the place so beautiful it used to be printed on our money? My heart was beating fast and my fingers were crossed. They waved us in, we couldn't believe it, we both started cheering so loud with our arms up in the air that even the traffic control started cheering and clapping with us...haha. It might seem like nothing but for us it was the ultimate moment knowing we would finally get to see it after so many years of trying to visit.

Shot 1/250 sec. f/8 18 mm, ISO 125

It didn't take us long to figure out why this place was so hard to get into, this is a truly magnificent lake, probably the nicest piece of scenery I have seen so far. Nestled in the Valley of the Ten Peaks in Banff National Park at about 1885 meters in elevation , the area consist of many glaciers surrounding the large turquoise lake and of course walking trails and a gift shop/ restaurant/ fully functioning washrooms (a rare occurrence in much of the Rockies). Canoe rentals are available or you can bring your own and of course night accommodations also available at a lofty price with advance booking. The road to access the lake is open from June until October only and due to it's elevation, the lake still has ice when the access opens(There is no set date for opening or closing, it depends on the road conditions). The lake isn't available for visiting in the winter even by foot, the conditions to get there are too dangerous and hikers would have to trek thru major avalanche zones. To view the lake in it's glory is best to visit in July or August. If you are in the Rockies for a short limited time and absolutely need to visit this place, inquire about the shuttle service from the overflow parking or book with a tour company to take you there or you are running the chance of not being able to get there at all. @silvergingerman and I don't care that much , we live close enough to come back to places we can't get into at another time.

Shot 1/250 sec. f/8 18 mm, ISO 140

Shot 1/250 sec. f/8 18 mm, ISO 125

The lake is very close to the parking lot, no long hikes necessary to get to the picturesque view. Of course we like to hike and it took us so many attempts to get here, were were going to make this last and view as much as we can. We took the approximate 1 km hike towards the back of the lake, the trail doesn't go all around, only for part of it. This short hike took us to a closer and unobstructed view of the mountains and glaciers that feed the lake. It's a relatively flat trail easy to do for any level of fitness and it does lead away from the busy area for a more quiet experience as most don't take the trails and just come to view the lake. To get the ultimate view and the most popular picture, the climb up the pile of rocks, it has a short trail accessible near the parking lot(the same access as the Consolation Lakes trail). The trail is a short climb up the moraine, fairly easy and has stairs for much of the way. Wildlife you may encounter are chipmunks and pikas. The longer hikes in the area have grizzly activity and it is required to go in groups of 4 or more, sometimes it may be closed due to too much activity, checking the Parks Canada website is usually up to date on trail closures but doesn't apply to the busy lake area since the large number of visitors keep most dangerous wildlife away.

Shot 1/250 sec. f/8 18 mm, ISO 140

Shot 1/250 sec. f/8 18 mm, ISO 180

Shot 1/250 sec. f/8 18 mm, ISO 100

Once at the top, we were greeted with the most amazing view in all of the Canadian Rockies, the view that once was featured on our $20 bills issued from 1969 to 1979 and it's the only bill I can recall that ever featured a natural Canadian Landscape. Of course we had to get our selfies with the lake, as I sat there waiting for @silvergingerman to do his thing and take pictures, I got photobombed by the cutest little resident. As I sat down on the rock, he came by right away and started checking me out and eventually climbed into my hand, I know chipmunks can carry nasty diseases, it was not my intention to touch it at all, it just happened so fast but it was still a very precious moment. One of my favorite part of doing wildlife and landscape photography is the interactions with both small and large animals I get to experience. Some are definitely more friendly than others!

Taken by @silvergingerman with iphone8

With the chipmunk photobomb, taken by @silvergingerman with iphone8

We didn't have time to go canoe on the lake or take the longer hikes, we were on our way home after all and we could only spend a couple of hours here if we wanted to stay on track for our other targets while still have time to stop at a few breathtaking roadside views on the way to Jasper. It is much faster to take the highway but our next target, Athabasca Falls is on the Icefield Parkway and we love the view on that drive anyway. In the summer, allow for more time to get to remote locations due to road construction, only a few short months to get things done and it gets real tight, awkward and slow moving on narrow winding mountain roads and it can take a while to get thru the congested area. As the name suggest, the Icefield parkway passes by the Columbia Icefields that can easily be seen from the road, naturally we had to make a quick stop. We had plans to come here and explore on a later trip(the one we just came back from) so I wont spend too much time explaining geological features in this post, you are just going to have to stick around for a little while longer and read a few more posts if you want to know more. 😉

One of the best vantage points on the Icefield Parkway near the Skywalk over the Sunwapta Valley.

From the bottom of the mountain, we could see weather was starting to degenerate from this point forward, the mountain with the glacier was totally engulfed in nasty looking clouds(I swear it's always moody in this area). With our experience with elevations, clouds look cool from the bottom of the mountain and make everything look picture perfect but it means its really shitty up there...Sure enough it was, hopefully it's just for this area and not the rest of the drive. 😕 I can't complain too much, we did get phenomenal weather perfect for hiking and photography for most of the trip and we had no plans for any lengthy hikes for today anyway.

Columbia Icefields, The long flat glacier that can be seen on the bottom right corner is the Athabasca Glacier.

It continued to stay cloudy and rainy for most of the way until we got to Athabasca Falls, it finally stopped raining and there was a break in the clouds for a short while. At least long enough for me to snap a few pictures. We didn't stay long just enough to say we came , we saw... time to head to town have a meal and head home. We wanted to be heading out of the town of jasper close to sundown, that is when the wildlife becomes more active and visible.

Shot 1/250 sec. f/8 22 mm, ISO 200

Mount kerkeslin. Shot 1/200 sec. f/7.1 18 mm, ISO 200

Shot 1/200 sec. f/7.1 18 mm, ISO 200

We found out when we got home that by changing our route and taking a detour, we actually dodged a bullet, well many golf ball size ice bullets to be exact. During our return, violent storms had passed in what is the most efficient way back home, via Calgary. Strong winds, heavy rain and hail did lots of damages around the city including large dents on cars and busted windshields. Since we never even came close to that way, the avalanche made it out unharmed... talk about luck! This concludes our Kananaskis trip, soon I will start working on the details to our recent trip to Jasper National Park (not just a drive by like today), I will leave you with a few more pictures in the meantime. Play safe!

Shot 1/200 sec. f/7.1 18 mm, ISO 200

Shot 1/250 sec. f/8 22 mm, ISO 200

Elk aka Wapiti. Shot 1/125 sec. f/5.6 116 mm, ISO 1100

All images are shot with Nikon D7000 with Sigma 18-200mm lens paired with a Tiffen polarizing lens filter unless otherwise stated.

Cheers! X🐞X