Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Banff, kayaking and Lake Louise


Just got home from a fantastic day! We spent the AM in Banff, walked a bit in town and toured all the shops and then drove up to beautiful Lake Morane and Lake Louise which are 2 of the most beautiful alpine turquoise lakes you will ever see. We thought we could go kayaking on them, but you can't unless you use their canoes and pay $40 an hour which we weren't about to do since we brought our own kayaks, so we walked around and took gobs of pictures.

Then we went looking for a lake that we could go kayaking on and about 30 miles up the road we found Emerald Lake, it was a deep turquoise and we paddled around for about 2 hours. It was fabulous and we had fun until about dusk, saw a deer too! At the end of the lake was the most incredible MILES long waterfall down the side of the very hi mountain that was loaded with a snowy glacier at the top. They are amazing to look at. While at Lake Louise we sat still and listened and you could hear the ice cracking over the mountain as little pieces of them fell!
At Emerald Lake we found this very unusual duck, well Momma Duck with her 11, yes count them!, ducklings all in tow! So Cute!

And on the way home the big Banff Elk herd was grazing by the side of the highway so we saw them!

So tomorrow, we are planning on biking around Banff a bit by the river and then floating down the Bow River in our kayaks from Banff to Canmore, about 3 hours they say with a nice steady and sometimes swift current but no rapids. We put in just beyond the falls thank goodness. There was a gorgeous rainbow there today! More pictures when we get home and can download them!


5 comments:

kevandcan said...

Wow - stunning photo! Make sure to wear your life jacket on the river tomorrow.

Jenn said...

11 ducklings? I'm jealous! Looks like beautiful country.

Yvo en Lenneke van der Sleen said...

Once a while I check your blog to see how you're doing. Great to see it's going great!
Send you an e-mail last month, with pictures, but think I got the wrong emailadress. Let me know which is the right one!
Lots of love from here, Yvo,Lara and Lenneke

phil.anderson said...

Next time you are up there go ahead and put your kayaks on the lakes. You can put in just to the right of the Lake Louise docks as you are looking at the lake. Its a put ackward but well worth the effort. We put in there in July this summer and it was a beautiful afternoon!!

Unknown said...

Hi,
we are going to kayak from Banff to Canmore this weekend, was it a nice paddle? Took about three hours?

Rob