A lovely high cup of tea

After a quick cooked breakfast (I haven't described the kitchen facilities- they are really pretty good, and the gas stove is excellent) we headed up to Lake Louise. The weather was overcast but the cloud was thin and very occasionally the sun peeped through. We were hopeful that we would be able to get to the glacier (a 7km walk) before the predicted thunderstorms. 

Lake Louise was at her most beautiful and the chalet looked very inviting at the end of the lake. 

Beyond our price range

The glacier from Lake Louise

A couple of canoeists made their way from the far side of the lake and we snapped photos galore. The trail along the lake is shared with horses, and the locals here are allowed to take their dogs in national parks as long as they are on a lead (very French.. lots of people seem to travel with their dogs)

An amazing radiating scree slope in revegetative state

At the end of the lake the feeder stream looked turbid and light brown, yet the lake itself is beautiful azure. The contrast is marked where one colour meets the other. 

Once here, the ascent begins, skirting around the base of impressive cliffs, winding up the glacial valley until it begins to narrow. 

There were several phalanges of snow to cross, which was fun. At one point we heard a sound like thunder and looked up to see the tail end of an avalanche of snow from along a sheer snow cliff high above the foot of the valley below. Occasional thunderous avalanche sounds occurred over the hour it took us to negotiate the path and arrive at the pretty little teahouse snuggly nestled in pines, with its balcony perfect for avalanche watchers!

We consumed soup of the day (beef broth), home baked bread and hummus and tacos. A delightful little interlude as the rain poured down. The predicted weather now looked likely. No thunder yet though. 

In a small break in the rain we started down. Numerous showers plonked on us, but we were in good spirits (maybe 3 of us anyway) and going down was pretty easy. 

Looking down on Lake Louise

W impressed with skiing on his sneakers and I practised a silly walk which was really quite effective to avoid slipping while descending a snow slope in runners.

The brilliant colours of Lake Louise in rain

And some lighter rainfall

Quite wet we had a delicious lunch in the carpark at Lake Louise and headed to the Lake Louise Inn to wash our clothes. We had decided against our original plan of driving the Icefield Parkway this afternoon on account of the weather.. it was raining and looked like it had set in. As we sat in the carpark of the Inn, the sun came out and the clouds evaporated… it was a beautiful afternoon! We certainly have no sense for the local conditions here in the Rockies. Committed now to staying another night at Lake Louise, we relaxed in the sun bathed van, which heated up like a sauna, our saturated clothes providing the water to make steam. Mary wrestled with the locals for washing machine and drier rights and soon we had clean clothes YAY!

After the washing we headed to the local shopping centre for a coffee. I thought it was delicious, but the others thought it was burnt… I really have no idea now.. any caffeine is a bonus as my buds are crying out for it.

The evening was spent preparing dinner and I had a little wander down to the river with the forlorn hope of seeing a grizzly bear mating ritual or something really spectacular to report on the blog. Unfortunately briskly gurgling river and 17 mosquitoes won't quite make for such exciting reading, so I'll leave it at that. I did meet our RV neighbours though. R and P were Scottish (St Andrews and Perth respectively) but currently living in Zurich. R works for Kraft. I thanked him for vegemite and we chatted for a while. They were touring around prior to attending a wedding in Saskatchewan. They were very friendly. We really hoped they didn't get eaten by bears.

We finished the evening watching a movie.. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. I couldn't understand what was going on at all. I'm sure it's a really good movie, but honestly, if there was a twist at the end I couldn't really tell. Half the time I wasn't sure which side any of the characters were on. The plan for tomorrow… an early start and the Ice Parkway: 200km of very spectacular country. This meant an early start!