June 11, 2020, Lake Louise-Moraine Lake-Constellation Lakes
Distance: 29.8 km (24 km bike and 5.8 km hike)
Elevation gain: approx. 450 m
On Thursday June 11, Fred and I decided to try something different. Typically, we hike, snowshoe and scramble in the mountains. Only rarely when our planned outing for the day is lengthy and we are on a multi-use trail will we mountain bike part of the way. But on this day, we planned to make the bike portion of the day our main activity (or so we thought 😆). I had seen people posting their adventures biking up to Moraine Lake before the road opens and the hoards of people show up on different FB pages and I thought, sounds like fun. Fred and I rose early, loaded up the car with all our hiking gear and our bike gear and were on the road by 6:00 am.
The drive was gorgeous as always. The Bow River was running high but was acquiring its gorgeous colour versus the silty (muddy) colour during the spring run-off. Castle was super impressive with its basin full of snow. Carpets of dandelions provided a brilliant yellow colour on each side of the highway. I get nervous seeing all the dandelions knowing bears rely on these as a food source early in the season. Once again, some people were speeding through the park, perhaps not understanding that bears climb the park fences. In fact, on the way home, there was a grizzly feeding by the side of the highway and a significant bear jam was already starting to form. Every year bears are killed by vehicles. I wish people would slow down and enjoy the sheer gorgeousness they are driving through. And I wish people would be mindful of the negative impact of bear jams. Yes, I get pictures of bears but I am in my car (unless I pass one on a hike), with my long lens, and if another car pulls up, we leave or if I sense the bear is bothered by me sitting in a car a ways away, we leave. Its hard to leave when other cars start to stop, but it is the right thing to do.
Given we anticipated a bit shorter of a day, Fred and I drove up to Lake Louise parking lot. We were shocked to see how few cars were in the bottom parking lot. And in front of the lake, I could count how many people were there with two hands. I have not seen Lake Louise this quiet since I worked at the Chateau decades ago. It was incredibly beautiful and peaceful. After walking the shoreline a ways and taking a number of pictures, we headed back to the car, loaded up our backpacks, got our bikes, and were on our way. And when I say loaded up our backpacks, I brought poles and spikes in addition to coats, fleece, gloves, hat, etc. And I wore my hiking boots. Fred on the other hand wore running shoes and shorts.
The bike up was so much fun. The views were stunning and once I figured out my gears, the continual climb was totally manageable. As we neared the ten peaks, we just had to stop for pictures. Once we arrived, we were treated to NO cars, very FEW people, and a stunning turquoise alpine lake. Even though the water levels were low, and the skies were cloudy, it was beautiful. Fred sat while I scooted around taking pictures from different locations on the rock pile. Just as I was approaching Fred to tell him I was done taking pictures, I saw a chip monk jump right onto Fred’s lap and then leap into Fred’s backpack 😲. Needless to say, there were a few yelps on our parts before we managed to get the little fella out of the backpack.
We could see a party of bikers making their way up Tower of Babel. It appeared to be clear of snow up the steep gully. But Fred and I wanted something easier and so we opted for a 5.8 km trek to Constellation Lakes and back. At first the trail was clear of snow and ice. But after about 1 km, the situation changed, and the trail was covered in snow. For the rest of the way, Fred and I post-holed our way through heavy, wet, un-supportive, knee to mid-thigh high snow. We were completely exhausted by the time we reached the first lake. And Fred was soaked and had snow-ice “burns” on his legs. While we were not looking forward to the return through the snow, we both decided it had been worth it to have the time we did sitting on a large boulder having a snack all by ourselves.
Surprisingly, we made quick work of getting back to Moraine Lake. The weather was changing quickly so we wasted no time jumping on our bikes and heading back down. What a hoot! I am sure at times Fred and I exceeded the 50 km speed limit 😆!
