One of if not Canada's most iconic lakes, Lake Louise is a gem in middle of the Canadian Rocky Mountains. It's an extremely popular weekend destination, so book ahead and arrive early. After a two hour drive from Calgary, they will often turn your car away and you will have to hope there are still bus tickets from the overflow lots near the ski hill across the valley from the lake.
We collected these photos over a number of trips to the lake. The first two are from the first Sunday of September 2022 while some of them are as recent as last fall. A few times we drove past here after visiting another destination and were turned away, so we reserved the bus and made a stop at Moraine Lake last fall. You cannot drive to Moraine lake, so it's definitely worth a stop over on the way to Lake Louise.
The Chateau Lake Louise is part of the Fairmont Collection. I highly recommend the breakfast buffet, they won't let non-guests here in the summer but you can get in during the winter. Notice the Ski Hill across the Bow Valley behind the hotel. World class skiing and skating on the lake makes this a popular year round destination.
We come here for the hiking in the summer, You can see the boathouse on the other side of the lake from the main trail. That's Fairview mountain behind the boathouse which was also featured in the main image.
There's usually a lineup to rent the boats. On a nice day, I prefer buying a blow up raft for $30 and floating down the Bow River in Calgary, but if you're coming from afar this is also a must do activity. You could also paddle on Moraine Lake, Emerald Lake, or Lake Minnewanka, but Lake Louise is the best of the best!
Looking into the plain of the six glaciers on the other side of the lake from the hotel. Mount Victoria, the tallest in the area is hidden under the clouds but you can still make out the glaciers. This lake is ice cold and is never popular with swimmers.
The clouds shifted on the way back from our hike. You can notice the lake change colours during the day depending on how the sun hits the waters. Minerals from the glaciers and surrounding mountains give alpine lakes their incredible colours.
This is another angle of the hotel from where the glacial runoff enters the lake. Over time this side of the lake has filled up with silt from the minerals and runoff. It's interesting how geography works, in a few hundred thousand years, the lake might fill up entirely with silt and become a small mountain stream.
This is fairview mountain from another angle. Scree falls from the cliffs into the lake. The muddy runoff from the river quickly gives way to the aquamarine waters. It's a unique angle as one has to walk two kilometers from the other side of the lake to get here.
The views along the shore are beautiful and it's a flat trail making it highly recommended for those who have never hiked a day in their life. The most popular trail involves climbing a little up to Lake Agnes which I will post about soon. There are plenty of loops in the area making this one of the best hiking destinations in Canada (although I prefer Lake O'Hara on the other side of Mount Victoria in BC.)
Here's a view of this gem on the way up towards Lake Agnes. The Aquamarine blueish-green tint of the lake draws millions of people over the course of the Summer- especially on weekends, so plan accordingly.
Thank you for reading and see you at the lake!
All photos were taken with an s22, iphone 13 or iphone 15 pro