On Tuesday, the 17th, we left the lodge we'd stayed in to go find our campsite for the next four nights - with some anticipation, since the lodge was no prize, affording only a good shower, but a lousy night's sleep.
Our campground was bear protected by an electric fence. In spite of strange feelings about that, we were assigned a nice campsite that served us well.
There was a grand view of a mountain-top glacier through the treees from our picnic table.
After setting up the tent and a picnic lunch, we set off on a smokey afternoon, exploring first Lake Louise, with its famous Chateau at the end of the lake looking up-lake to the glacier beyond - a fabulous view that would have been even more fabulous 100 years ago before glacial warming took its toll. The smoke from the fires in British Columbia was pretty thick and we could only guess at the Columbia Glacier at the end of the lake.
We did a short hike along the lakeshore and found some less smoke-obscured views.
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| Canoe on Lake Louise - Note Glacier at Upper Left Corner |
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| Glacier in the Upper Left Corner of the Photo Above |
Then we took the 10 mile drive to Moraine Lake, another lake that lies in a valley between snowclad mountains. Still smokey, but less so than at Lake Louise.
Lake Moraine, as its name suggests, fills a valley whose sides are moraines formed by glaciers that, when they melted, dropped all manner of rocks and debris in huge piles.
