What's buzzin Hive!
We finally got to go for another round in the Rockies! With both of us off of work at the same time, it was time to go for a road trip to Banff National Park. Generally, we find it too busy for us but we figured with all the covid no international travel stuff, we might luck out with a quiet town. We never stay directly in the town of Banff because it's expensive, we stay in the near-by town of Canmore that is much cheaper and equally beautiful. In Canmore, we tend to get a small apartment suite for about the same price of a hotel room, sometimes cheaper. Our apartment at the Silvercreek Lodge was on the fourth floor with a beautiful view of downtown Canmore and mountain view but more on that later.
We woke up nice and early both excited for the day ahead that we hadn't really planned. 
With breakfast in our bellies, we began our journey to? Oh wait we hadn't decided yet! We saw the road to Lake Minnewanka and said, how about there? Sure...it was on the list anyway. The morning started off pretty cloudy and foggy but sometimes I forget that it was early in the day. By the time we grabbed all our gear and got going towards the lake, the sun was beginning to rise over the mountain allowing the light onto the lake creating reflections of the surrounding landscape. It looked like the day would clear up for a beautiful hiking day. We started making our way around the lake, I brought my cleats in case we went further because out here, it's full on winter. The lake wasn't frozen yet or even begun but it's only a matter of time now since everything is covered in snow.
Lake Minnewanka is both a glacial lake and a hydro dam reservoir. The only lake in Banff that allow any power boats at all, during the summer months it's possible to take a little cruise boat tour around the lake while learning about the local history with Brewster. There is a submerged village from when a dam was built and the water levels increased over the abandoned resort that can now be spotted peacefully resting at the bottom of the lake popular with scuba divers. This area is also famous with backcountry camping and late night photographers or sky enthusiast trying to catch a glimpse of the famous northern lights and probably one of the best places in Banff to view the phenomenon. Fishing is allowed with proper park permits along with kayaking or canoeing and the many hiking trails available. If you are feeling lazy, there is also the Lake Minnewanka Scenic Drive that takes you around the lake from the comfort of your vehicle and is only about 10 minutes away from the town of Banff no wonder it's one of the park's busier recreational area, the view is spectacular.
At 1500 meter elevation, the lake is 21 km long and over 140 m deep and gets it's water from the Cascade Mountain and river. Cascade Mountain is the same one you see in all the popular downtown shots or from the gondola. This picture is from a previous trip but now you can have a vantage point of where we are (and I like the gondola view)! We now are on the back side of that big snowy rock in front.
It gets it's name from an Anglicized version of the local Stony Nakoda Tribe called "Minn-waki" or "Lake of the water spirits" and early European settlers also called it "Devil's lake". The legend of the lake's name comes from the first aboriginal man to lay eyes on the lake from the tallest near-by summit noticed a fish that appeared to be as long as the lake, leading him to call the lake, “Lake of the Evil Water Spirit.” The Stoney people both respected and feared the lake for its resident spirits. Some artifacts have been discovered around the lake dating as far back as 10 000 years ago related to the Clovis. There are legends of ghosts sightings of warriors searching for the skulls of their defeated enemies as an offering to the spirits along with tales of Big Foot sightings. With a place once called Devil's Lake with a near-by Ghost Lake and Devil's Gap or Deadman's Hill, leaves one to wonder what went on here before recorded history, I looked around on the internet but didn't come across any specific stories.
The area's first documented tourist was in 1841 a white settler by the name of Sir George Simpson, governor of the Hudson Bay Company along with his party led by Metis Alexis Piche "Bobtail", referred to as chief of the Mountain Cree, who led the crew thru Devil's gap along the Stewart Canyon where he discovered 3 more lakes interconnected by rivers and streams during his expedition. The first hotel was built in 1886 and later in 1912, the small resort of Minnewanka Landing including restaurants and boat tours came to life. In 1895, the first dam was built to improve boating, 1912 to be used for water storage and lastly in 1941 when the War Measure Act was implemented and a hydro dam was built to secure energy. The latest dam raised the water levels substantially for the second time raising by 25 meters and the diameter of the lake doubled submerging the lakeshore resort and all the original trails creating what is now the largest lake in Banff National Park.
Undocumented history dates even further, with archeological evidence that suggest the lake may have been a popular resting/camping spots for thousands of years for both local and more distant tribes pre-European contact who used the Devil's gap as their corridor to the prairies to go hunt the once plentiful Buffalo or Bison (depending on which side of the fence you are, there is a scientific vs cultural debate on the appropriateness of what to call them). The Bison used to roam the plains of Banff until they were hunted to extinction in the local area, now there are efforts to re-established the herd to it's ancestral land with the help of Elk Island National Park. Back on topic, the Ghost Valley contains many ancestral burial lands along the banks of the Ghost River and the locals believed the spirits of the lake needed to be appeased with offerings to the mountain to be placed on large flat mountains like Devil's head for the safety of their tribe during passage.
We slowly made our way around the lake getting as many angles as we could, the place looks amazing in the morning and there are no words for the stillness of the area, we were some of the first to arrive and had the place to ourselves for tourist free photography. All the shape and turns, every climbable rock reveals a new aspect of the valley ahead. We had been here before but only for a quick stop at the end of the day, never really had the chance to explore. The good news, I had my cleats with me but my dumb self had them clipped to my backpack that
That was a bad decision on my part, while standing on the edge of a small cliff, maybe 15 feet, my feet started to slip out of nowhere so from there on out I got to a safe area and put my cleats on regardless of the awkward rock/cliff walk ahead. Was there a battle for my spirit just there? Did the lake just try to claim me? Who knows but on second thought, that water looks cold...BRRR...YUK. I'm getting chills just thinking about it. The rocky trail took us to the entrance of the Stewart Canyon. We had no real set plans so we decided to just keep walking to the next feature we come across. I walk here as a tourist today but as I move along, I can't help but be lost in my thought as to what early peoples must have gone thru on exploring expeditions or how harsh life would be for local habitants of pre-modern times.
The pictures doesn't do it justice, the water was such a bright bluish green, it looked liked a gem as the sun reflected on the clear water, it was hard to gauged the depth by eye. By now all the fog had cleared up and the sun was bright. We were walking with our back to the bright afternoon sun, worked out well. At one point, we came across a bridge that took us to the other side of the canyon where the trail went deeper into the woods still following the edge of the canyon as it gets deeper until we reached a river crossing. By now it was all dried out because everything is frozen up but we continued walking crossing the rocky field to what's left of the winter river. It looked shallow enough that I could have walked into the canyon via the opening we came to but my hiking boots aren't all that waterproof. Possible feature to look for in my next pair?
I walked as far as I could around the bend, I really wish I could get the view on the other side but I don't want to have cold soggy feet for the next 3 km. I think the trail continues passed our little detour but we decided to turn around. The detour we took is where the river generally flows and it was quite the rock filed to get thru with a few inches of snow, we could tell we were the first ones here in a while. Aside from our rocky detour, the trail is fairly easy with a few cliff areas to get thru and a bit of up and down. If you are getting old like me, hiking poles are recommended, cleats required for winter hiking, it's getting slippery out there. Dress in layers because it's really cold and windy around the lake then it warms up once into the forest. Bring water and a snack, bear spray if it's not hibernation yet, we were alone for most of the way there as the early birds and most people don't make it this far.
I'll admit, the most spectacular views are around the lake but this little hike to the river crossing was worth it for the exercise and the view, it was pretty enjoyable on one of the first cool days of the season. Without looking at the time, I could tell we were now in the afternoon and it was getting pretty warm, the snow under my feet was getting sticky and forming snowballs under my foot. I was pretty excited to see the lake in it's full afternoon sun, kind of happy to be getting back to civilization as well. The trail was getting busier on our return, the trail was all melty, muddy and messy but I remembered I wasn't passed the slippery cliff section yet. Once I got passed it was safe to take them off again as they get quite uncomfortable when not walking on ice or hard snow with them especially walking on rocky surfaces.
On our way back, we made our way around the shore of the lake as soon as we could. As we were leaving a picture area, we got intercepted by a cute little fuzzy fox who decide to curl up for a nap at the base of a tree about 5 feet in front of us. He seemed more concerned with the red neck grebes cackling in the distance than us so we just sat there and watched him for a good while. My closest encounter with a fox since I was a child! So precious, what an opportunity for a close up. I slowly changed my lens to a 300 mm to get better close-ups and still give him his personal space he chose as allowable when he decided to take a nap next to us. I still can't get over all this cuteness.
This post is getting pretty long and I wish I could say that's it but like my usual bad informercial line... But wait, there is more! We still had to get back so we took the scenic drive via the hydrodam route to complete the scenic loop and the valley view was spectacular. On the way, there are 2 lakes worthy of visiting for a few minutes with a different view coming down the mountain. Both Two Jack Lake where Mount Rundle in the distance but (no pictures for it since I was staring at the sun)and Lake Johnson that takes you down a little path to get a better view. The first picture in the set below is taken at Two Jack Lake and the other 3 from Lake Johnson. The ice was beginning to form on the lake interrupting my reflections but I liked how the photos turned out, came with a twist. It may be off season but there are some fast moments as it doesn't take long for the ice to take over a lake.
Of course I talked about the dam station we follow on the scenic loop, I didn't leave that out but much of it is at the beginning before we come back onto the highway. It offers some spectacular views of the valley and well worth seeing on the way back towards town. It wasn't even close to the end of our day but I'll save that for another post, this is a lot already! Overall, if you are visiting the Banff Area, I highly recommend to save a day for the Lake Minnewanka recreational area, it holds a lot of beauty that takes time to discover. From early in to morning to the mid afternoon sun, the lake reveals itself throughout the day. This post doesn't even begin to scratch the surface and I can't wait to return already especially for the summer boat tour.
All images taken with Nikon D700 and Sigma 18-200mm or Nikkor 70-300mm for wildlife.
Cheers my friends! X🐞X