Canadian Rockies

After Waterton Lakes, we drove through the rain to the Town of Banff.  Banff National Park was the first national park in Canada, and the town is in the center of it all.  It is also a prime ski area in the winter.  Our home for the next two nights is the Mountain Home B&B, just two blocks from Banff Avenue -- the main shopping/restaurant thoroughfare.

Lake Louise

Unfortunately, the weather has turned cool and with off and on rain.  Highs are only in the low 50s.  There is very low cloud cover which makes seeing the mountains, especially the tops, impossible.  There is a mountain at the end of Banff Avenue that we never did see in the three days we were in Banff.

While the Town caters to tourists, it has lovely "mountain chalet" architecture along the main street and a lively vibe.  It also has a lot of fantastic hikes, lakes, and waterfalls within an easy drive.  One of the nearby areas that people tend to visit is Lake Louise.  The Town of Jasper is about 3 hours or so up Route 93, also referred to as the Icefields Parkway.  The area stretching between Banff and Jasper is the heart of the Canadian Rockies and probably the most visited.  Banff National Park and Jasper National Park are both located here.

Moraine Lake -- perhaps the best view we experienced

Because of all the rain in Banff, we drove north and west to Lake Louise and drove a portion of the Icefields Parkway up to Bow Summit.  Fortunately, we drove past the rain and the sun even popped out for a bit.  We still had a lot of low cloud cover, which obscured a lot of the mountain tops.  However, we were still treated to a lot of spectacular scenery.

Probably the most scenic view we saw was of Moraine Lake near Lake Louise.  The view here is so iconic in Canada, that for many years it graced the reverse side of the Canadian twenty dollar bill.  The lakes and rivers in this part of Canada often have a deep cobalt blue appearance.  This is due to the sediment in the lake and how it tends to refract sunlight bringing out the blues and greens.  The water itself is not actually blue.

Peyto Lake

We had a great day driving and taking short hikes to take in the views.  The weather held up and the sun popped out.  As we drove back to Banff, the rain returned, but we didn't mind a bit.