Hiking Lake Agnes

Banff National Park, Alberta

Text and Photography by Mike Potter
For www.CanadianRockies.net

This gentle hike allows some of the most beautiful views on offer in Banff National Park. Leave your things at your hotel, don your best hiking shoes and a bottle of water and prepare yourself for the beautiful path to Lake Agnes.

The steadily climbing but deservedly popular trail to Lake Agnes brings you to a mesmerizing body of clear water set in a wild steep-walled cirque.

The first 1.6 km travels through subalpine forest, whose two main tree species you can readily become familiar with by examining their needles. Those of the subalpine fir are two-sided, with rounded ends; using alliteration, you can think of “flat, friendly fir”. The needles of the Engelmann spruce (named after a botanist) are four-sided, with sharp-pointed ends – thus “square, spiny spruce”. The bark of these trees also helps in identification: subalpine fir has smooth grey bark with bubbles of sap underneath, whereas Engelmann spruce has rough, corrugated bark.

The opening that you reach at km 1.6 is a result of winter avalanche activity. It grants views across to Fairview Mtn., where you may spot people who have scrambled to the summit (see Fairview Mountain description). This vantage point also allows you to look down upon Lake Louise with its typically turquoise colour; the apparent miniaturization of any canoes you see reinforces the fact that you have already covered almost half of the elevation gain to Lake Agnes.

The stunning view of Lake Louise.

The trail doubles back from the first switchback, then curves around to the junction with the horse trail from Lake Louise. (Although, as the sign here indicates, the distance to the Chateau is less by the horse trail, I recommend sticking to the footpath since its grade is gentler and thus easier on the knees for the descent.)

You reach Mirror Lake 300 m farther on. This body of water is small in size but has a spectacular setting with the near-vertical east face of the Big Beehive rising above it. The cliff’s horizontal layers, from which this feature gets its name, show the sedimentary origin of the entire Canadian Rockies. The whole range is made of rock laid down particle-by-particle in the sea that once covered this area. The rock was then uplifted, folded, and fractured by powerful forces during a long period of mountain building.

Keeping to what seems to be a tradition in the Lake Louise area, there is ambiguity about the origin of the name of Lake Agnes. Lady Agnes Macdonald, wife of Sir John A. Macdonald, visited the area in 1886, taking the somewhat undignified but certainly exciting approach of travelling up front on the cowcatcher of a Canadian Pacific Railway steam locomotive. On a later trip she walked up to the lake – which was then known as one of the “Lakes in the Clouds” (the other is present-day Mirror Lake) – led by Willoughby Astley, first manager of the Lake Louise Chalet (1890 – 1894).

As it happened, Mr. Astley had led Agnes Knox, a “Toronto elocutionist”, to the lake just a few days earlier. He relates: “Now we were in a fix, as Lady Macdonald understood from high C.P.R. officialdom that she was the first woman to be shown those lakes.” By chance, the first names of the two women coincided, and the prime minister’s wife seems to have been satisfied with sharing the honour.

Distance: 3.5 km (2.2 mi) – Lake Louise to Lake Agnes
Day Hike: 1 – 1.5 hours one way
Elevation Gain: 390 m (1280 ft)
Maximum Elevation: 2120 m (6950 ft)
Trailhead: The northeast corner of Lake Louise; pass in front of the Chateau Lake Louise after crossing from the large public parking areas using either of two footbridges over Louise Creek.

0.0 – Sign at junction (elevation 1730 m). Take the trail to the right, going up a gradual incline.
0.2 – Pavement ends. Keep straight, crossing the horse trail to the Plain of Six Glaciers. Begin steady climb on a constant grade.
1.6 – Switchback in an avalanche gully (1920 m).
2.4 – Junction with horse trail. Keep left.
2.7 – Junction at Mirror Lake (2030 m). Turn right along trail that starts 10 m back from lake, and begin a series of switchbacks. (Trail to left joins Highline trail toward Plain of Six Glaciers in 100 m).
3.2 – Junction (2105 m) with direct route to Little Beehive: this 500 m long connector joins the Little Beehive trail from the Lake Agnes teahouse at km 0.3 – thus saving 100 m if the Little Beehive is your first objective. Keep straight for Lake Agnes.
3.4 – Wooden stairs beside waterfall.
3.5 – Lake Agnes (2120 m) and teahouse.

Plain of 6 Glaciers, Banff National Park

Banff, Alberta

Text and photography by Mike Potter
for www.CanadianRockies.net

The Plain of the 6 Glaciers is a great hike that offers some fantastic views of Banff National Park and Lake Louise. Whether you are on the lookout for wildlife or just a well deserved cup of tea at the teahouse at the end, this is a good option.

Climber on the Plain of Six Glaciers trail

The first 2.5 km of this hike serve as a good warm-up for the outing: this stretch is essentially flat. After tracing the north shore of Lake Louise you pass beneath the quartzite cliffs of the “Back of the Lake,” with a variety of challenging rockclimbing routes (for roped technical climbers only).

The trail then runs along the delta formed at the west end of Lake Louise, where particles of silt carried in the rushing glacial meltwater streams settle out when they reach still water. A sign marked “End of Nordic Ski Trail” suggests the origin of the open swaths soon encountered when the route starts to climb: they are avalanche chutes. These slide paths are especially dangerous for cross-country skiers in winter, but still constitute a hazard for people on foot early in the hiking season.

Hoary marmots, large members of the squirrel family with reddish tails as adults, are often found in the slide-created meadows. Marmots are also known as “whistlers” because of their high-pitched, far-carrying alarm calls.

The trail gives views of the terminal moraine left by the most recent advance of the Lower Victoria Glacier during the Little Ice Age, which peaked circa 1850. The present outlet stream flows through the steep, narrow gorge it has breached in the material deposited at the toe of the receding glacier.

The third in a series of four short switchbacks just 300 metres before the teahouse grants an excellent perspective over the glacial cave at the present toe of the Lower Victoria Glacier, and across to the peak named The Mitre (shaped like a bishop’s cap) between mts. Aberdeen and Lefroy.

Arrival at the teahouse reveals the complement of six glaciers that gave rise to the name: hanging glaciers on mts. Aberdeen, Lefroy, and Victoria; the Lefroy and Lower Victoria valley glaciers; and finally the bulge of a hanging glacier on Popes Peak to the north.

Just one of the beautiful views from the Plain of 6 Glaciers

You reach the zone of the subalpine larch at the teahouse. Larches are unique in that although they are conifers, they shed all their needles in the autumn. The needles turn a brilliant golden hue before dropping off. Each year’s soft-textured foliage grows anew starting in the spring.

At the Plain of Six Glaciers teahouse you are also near the high cliff haunts of mountain goats, with their white coats and thin black horns. These sturdy, stocky climbers, who rely on seemingly insurmountable walls as escape terrain, can often be observed on the slopes due north of the teahouse.

For those who want full information about the hike, here is some in depth details to help you out.

Distance: 5.5 km (3.4 mi) – Lake Louise to Plain of Six Glaciers teahouse.
Day Hike: 1.5 – 2 hr one way
Elevation Gain: 370 m (1215 ft)
Maximum Elevation: 2100 m (6890 ft)
Trailhead: The northeast corner of Lake Louise; pass in front of the Chateau Lake Louise after crossing from the large public parking areas using either of two footbridges over Louise Creek.

0.0 – Sign at junction (elevation 1730 m). Stay on left along the north shore of Lake Louise, as for the Lake Louise Lakeshore trail.
2.1 – End of the Lake Louise Lakeshore trail at a rest bench (1740 m) above the west end of Lake Louise. Descend a short distance to travel beside the braided channels of Louise Creek.
2.5 – Begin gradual climb at two rest benches where Louise Creek is a single stream funneled through rocky banks.
3.4 – Junction (1800 m) with bottom of Shortcut Switchbacks to Plain of Six Glaciers trail from the Highline trail. Keep straight.
4.1 – Junction with the Highline trail for Lake Agnes. Keep left. The trail stays fairly level for some distance and passes along a narrow ledge (there is an alternative route along the base of the cliff). Then begin a steady climb in the trough behind the north lateral moraine of the Lower Victoria Glacier.
5.2 – Series of four short switchbacks.
5.5 – Plain of Six Glaciers teahouse (2100 m).

For further information on guided tours in the Canadian Rockies, fill out the blue form on the right side of this page.

The body of water that the Stoney Indian people knew as Ho-run-num-nay, the “Lake of the Little Fishes,” lies in a valley close to some of the higher peaks in the Canadian Rockies. The first non-native to behold it was Tom Wilson, who – led by a Stoney guide – reached its eastern shore in 1882.

The completion in 1885 of a transcontinental line on the Canadian Pacific Railway route, along with the construction in 1890 of the first commercial accommodation at Lake Louise, attracted increasing number of visitors. The Lake Louise area became an international destination, largely due to promotion by the CPR.

Pioneers such as Walter Wilcox and Samuel Allen explored and mapped much of the vicinity. The surrounding mountains became a mecca for alpinists. Their activities created notoriety for the area when Philip Stanley Abbot became the first person to die in a climbing accident in North America when he fell during an attempt on Mt. Lefroy in 1896.

Legislation had created the Lake Louise Forest Park in 1892, but it was not until 1902 that the area including Lake Louise and Moraine Lake came under the protection of an expanded Banff National Park. Recreational hikers were drawn by a proliferation of trails, such as those to Lake Agnes and the Saddleback – built in the early 1890s under the supervision of Willoughby Astley, first manager of the original Chalet. A number of teahouses provided to cater to hikers proved popular (two of them, at the Plain of Six Glaciers and Lake Agnes, are still operating).

The works of the many painters who responded to the Lake Louise area, among them Belmore Browne, Lawren Harris of the Group of Seven, and Banff residents Peter and Catharine Whyte, helped to further spread recognition of the area. Road construction facilitated access, and visitors flocked to see for themselves the renowned scenery.

The Lake Louise area has become one of the premier attractions of Banff National Park, and indeed of the entire Canadian Rockies. You can marvel at the panoramic vistas from a distance, but to gain a better appreciation of these fabled environs, head out on foot to experience their fascination firsthand.

This guidebook beckons you to explore more than 270 kilometres (over 165 miles) of trails and routes within a 16 km (10 mi) radius centered on Lake Louise village. This area of some 600 square kilometres, with its concentration of hiking possibilities, can be the focus of excursions – whether short walks, day hikes, backpacking trips, or off-trail scrambles – during which you will garner in-depth knowledge of natural and human history.

You will also gather what may well become some of your most cherished memories…

Hiking Lake Louise | Recreation | Banff National Park | Rocky Mountain Destinations

Hiking the Moraine Lake Rockpile

Banff National Park, Alberta

Text and Photography by Mike Potter
For www.CanadianRockies.net

Banff National Park has some of the greatest hikes around. Due to its former use as the background on the Canadian $20 bill, Lake Moraine along with Lake Louise, remains one of the most popular walks and rightly so. The relatively easy hike is rewarded with simply stunning views that remain ingrained in your memory for a long time.

The awesome view of Lake Moraine and the ten peaks.

The interpretive trail up the Rockpile, the prominent heap of boulders at the northeast end of Moraine Lake, gives an excellent introduction to the famous Valley of the Ten Peaks. Interpretive signs along the trail focus on the geology of the area, and viewpoints at and near the top give classic views of Moraine Lake and some of the Ten Peaks. One of the viewpoints is the exact position from which the illustration on the older Canadian $20 bill was taken; the scene is thus known as the “Twenty Dollar View.”

Distance: 0.5 km (0.3 mi) – Moraine Lake parking area to top of the Rockpile
Walk: 15 – 20 minutes one way
Elevation Gain: 15 m (50 ft))
Maximum Elevation: 1900 m (6230 ft)
Trailhead: Southeast corner of Moraine Lake parking lot.

0.0 – Sign (elevation 1885 m). Go straight, away from parking lot.
0.1 – Cross footbridge over Moraine Creek; begin short incline.
0.2 – Junction with Lower Consolation Lake trail. Turn right for Rockpile; climb rock-slab steps.
0.5 – Summit of the Rockpile (1900 m)