Johnston Canyon, Lake Louise and Moraine Lake

After the climb to Tunnel Mountain yesterday we wanted to do shorter and easier hikes today. We started the morning in Johnston Canyon just 20 minutes from our campsite which has two sections. The lower falls is accessible on a narrow but well built walkway. The upper falls is a more challenging hike with some stairs and steeper inclines. How do we know? We use the Alltrails app which is a good way to filter trails based on distance from your base, length and elevation profile.

The Canyon way quite crowded but very interesting to see and our kids enjoyed a lot. Echo was less excited with the big depth next to us and the noise of the water flowing downwards but he kept walking with us regardless. Afterwards we decided to give a try to the beautiful lakes of Lake Louise and Moraine Lake. Parking is almost impossible at these locations during the day. We red about hikers going there at 2-3am in the morning to enjoy sunrise and the parking lots filling up by 3am. So it is a gamble during the day and there is no place to wait for an empty spot. If the parking lot is full you need to keep driving, turn around and leave. You can take a prebooked shuttle which fills up weeks ahead too but that was not an option for us with the trolley and the dog. So we took a chance. On our way we stopped at the iconic Morant's Curve (google it for beautiful train photos, we had no luck with an oncoming train but the scenery was still beautiful).

It was 2pm when we got to Lake Louise and it was a dense row of cars heading to the lakes. First intersection: Moraine Lake. A big flashing sign said: "Parking Full" so we kept driving towards Lake Louise. After about 10kms we reached the parking of Lake Louise and everyone in front of us was sent back. Except the car right in front of us and then us. We were waved into the parking lot by the attendandts and right after us it was closed again. YES! Got lucky, it seems that two cars left just at the right time to let us in!

We stopped the car and decided to take the kayak with us too so I unmounted it from the roof. It is free to use your own equipment at these lakes but there are very strict rules to prevent contamination of lakes. You need to clean and dry your boat and leave 48 hours drytime between lakes. Next to the lakeside there is a box and you need to fill a form and drop it into the box. We did so and we launched the kayak into the water. The views are stunning and the mobile photography (or my limited skills) still can not nearly express the beauty of this place.

All of us had a go on the water except Akos and Echo but they were playing peacefully on the shore until we enjoyed the lake It had an unreal turquise blue color and very cold water but our retina was hardly believing what we saw. Lake Louise is at an altitude of 1600m and has a max depth of 70 meters. Why so blue? Fine rock dust, produced by massive glaciers rubbing against bedrock, stays suspended in the water, reflecting light and creating the turquoise colours. The color is changing and the climate change has an impact on it too!

It was time to head back home so we started our drive and when passing by the intersection to Moraine Lake the car in front of us started to signal to turn towards the lake despite the road blocks. The attendant at the closure opened the gate and let them turn in, so we tried as well and we were let in too! It was about 5:30pm and we got lucky the second time so we drove up to Moraine Lake and had a quick look at it. I now undestand those who get up at 1am and spend the rest of the morning in their cars waiting for sunrise.

The evening was a bit busy after getting back to the campsite. We had to empty our black and grey tanks and fill our freshwater tank what took about an hour altogether (packing, slide in, attach to car, drive 5 mins to dump station, dump, drive back, detach, level, slide out, smile!)
We can not be more grateful to our friends for lending us the kayak, it was an unforgettable day!