Saturday, June 28, 2014

We wanted to get to Lake Louise before the crowds, but it has not been easy getting out much before 10:00 in the mornings.  I don't know why, since it is daylight so early.  Apparently, it was not just us, because we still beat the masses even though we were what I would have thought was late.

The walk from the parking lot to the lodge crosses the glacial water leaving Lake Louise.

Lake Louise also had a very nice shoreline trail starting right in front of the Chateau Lake Louise.  It was paved and included benches along its length.  Like Lake Moraine, the color of the water was incredible.

Lake Louise is named after Princess Louise Caroline Alberta, 4th daughter of Queen Victoria.

Victoria Glacier sits at the base of Mt. Victoria and feeds Lake Louise.

A Clark's Nutcracker decided to pose for a few pictures.  I guess he thought I must have trail mix to share.  He finally left disappointed, but he fulfilled our desire for a little wildlife on our hike.

  

Clark's Nutcrackers (named after the explorer, William Clark) have a sublingual pouch capable of holding 50-150 seeds, depending on their size.

The trail was 2 km (1.25 miles) one way, but at the south west end of the lake another trail continued on to The Plain of Six Glaciers.  It was clear the lake trail ended when we started sharply uphill.  We hiked just a little bit of the continuing trail (maybe half a km) before turning around.

This mountain wall, at the end of the shoreline trail, seemed to be a favorite for climbers.  Can you spot the man near the center of the picture?

He wasn't alone, around a dozen climbers were attacking the wall in different places.  A passersby said it was an easy climb.  Everything is relative!!!

Just for something a little different we went back to the Chateau along a different trail.  The map did not mention the trail was used for horse riding.  It turned out to be quite muddy and liberally decorated with horse droppings.  In addition, the only view of the lake was through a lot of trees.

A great place to stop and have a trail bar.  Streams making their way down to the lake left the trail a bit muddy in places.

The Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise was built in 1925.

We were still feeling pretty good, so we decided to head up the Fairview Lookout trail.  It has a 400 foot elevation gain in just under a mile.

 The Fairview Lookout trail was relentlessly steep, but the view was worth the climb.

 David's camera has a polarizing filter that cuts through the haze on the mountains and brings out the drama in the clouds.

 The cloud's shadows danced on the lake.

I thought it would be a good night for a movie, so I switched on the power strip (I usually turn off power strips to reduce the load on the inverter).  We immediately heard the most awful crackling and sparking sounds, followed by that nasty electrical burning smell.  Of course, I quickly turned the power off and tried to locate the problem.

Fortunately, it was not in the TV or the DVD (both connected to the same power strip).  I just had to use my nose to trouble shoot the problem and found it located in the computer power supply.  It also helped that I could hear something rattling around in the power supply. All of the smoke had escaped the tiny capacitor laying on the corner of the table in the picture below.  As they say, "it's always something". This will be a project for another day.