Wednesday 6 October 2010

Early morning at Lake Louise ...

Sun rising over Lake Louise

Lake Louise is often number one on tourist 'to-do' lists.  It is frequently featured on travel shows and in travel brochures back at home.  So, naturally I wanted to take my Mum there.  I'd been saving my first Lake Louise visit for her trip, so I was excited about finally seeing the popular lake.  In fact, my only wish for our Rockies adventure was to get up super early and see the sun rise over Lake Louise, before all the tourists arrived. The alarm was set for 7 am and we found ourselves at the lake by 7.45 am, only to be met by the frantic buzzing noise that often accompanies large groups of Asian tourists.  What is it about some tourists who feel the need to talk in loud, overbearing voices when others are trying to enjoy the serenity that is found in such a beautiful natural setting?  The other crowd that were up and about early were small groups of professional and amateur photographers, although they were much quieter and respectful of the environment.


The professionals ... 

... and the amateur

We had planned to do an early morning walk along the 4 kilometre (return) Lakeshore Trail.  Once we saw how crowded it was, we decided to do the shorter (3 kilometres return) but steeper Fairview Lookout walk, which took us away from the tourists and halfway up Fairview Mountain to a small viewpoint overlooking the lake and the (in my opinion) hideous, but famous, Lake Louise Chateau.  After some time admiring the view and the stillness, we headed back to our hotel for some breakfast.  As we left, we counted 6 huge tour buses arriving in the car park.  I was glad that we had arrived early and missed most of them.  The verdict on Lake Louise?  Beautiful but perhaps ruined by the presence of the Chateau and the huge numbers of tourists.  I couldn't wait to see nearby Moraine Lake which is often described as more beautiful and much quieter than Lake Louise.


Another angle

It had to be done ... a typical Chinese pose in front of a beautiful tourist spot

Canoes in the early morning

Looking down towards Lake Louise from Fairview Lookout

Chateau Lake Louise from Fairview Lookout

Heading out as the hordes of tourists arrive

2 comments:

Jared said...

The walk to the end of the lake and the view overlooking the Plain of 6 or 7 or whatever number of Glaciers is amazing, plus the brownies they serve at the tea hut are awesome. We did that then looped up over a range and back down to another much smaller lake. It was a few years ago now, so my memory is fuzzy.

Great lake sunrise shots!

Anna Davidson said...

Yes, we did that walk too Jared ... I'm just a bit behind on the blogging at the moment! Great hike!