Nevertheless, we ventured out to repeat another of our favourite walks from our last visit. A 10 mile round walk from Lake Louise, to a neighbouring lake, and high above the Bow Valley which ran down the length of Banff National Park.
The hike began at Lake Louise, a large lake that is a big tourist hotspot. After battling our way through the crowds at the lakeside, we started our way to the first milestone of the journey - a small lake called Mirror Lake which sits at the foot of a mountain called the Beehive (also known as the 'Big Beehive' as there is a smaller mountain nearby with the same resemblance called the 'Little Beehive').
This would be the high point of the hike, but first we had to continue on to nearby Lake Agnes which sits above Mirror Lake. Here is a teahouse which sits isolated at the lakeside, and is another very popular tourist hotspot. We didn't stay for long, and continued along the much quieter path around Lake Agnes and then headed straight up a very steep and somewhat precarious trail up the Big Beehive.
The effort was worth it, and from the top we had a great view of the Bow Valley and of Lake Louise from above. A view even the cloudy weather couldn't spoil.
After stopping for something to eat, we continue the path down towards the back of Lake Louise. This gave us a good view of the mountains and glaciers at the end of the lake which seemed to have some relatively fresh snow around their cloud-shrouded peaks. We had actually noticed some avalanche warning signs at the start of the walk, and the mountainside certainly did look very heavy!
Once we reached the bottom of the Beehive, the path joined with the stream that fed Lake Louise. This was a milky white colour due to all of the glacial silt that it carried with it.
The hike ended where it began at the foot of the lake, and from here we headed back into town.
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