I mostly skiied at Sunshine but as it was the last day and a very nice, clear day we decided to go back to Lake Louise.

Some of the most incredible views!

See more travel blogs and travel reviews at TravBuddy.com

Finally made it to pristine Lake Louise. I had seen a lot of photos of this place, but it's not until you see it in the flesh, so to speak, that it makes you truly admire its beauty. It's a huge lake surrounded by mountains with tourists canoeing on her, hiking around her and spending lots of money at the Lake Louise Hotel. I forget how much it was to stay there, but a Platinum Amex Card would be advisable.

We hiked for an hour or more up to the 1st Tea House before going up to The Beehive that had a terrific view. There was a lot a snow around and the track was a little uneven and wet in places. I was quite bemused at some of the footwear and clothing that some of the Asian tourists were wearing, totally inappropriate for such terrain.

There were lots of birds and chipmunks about the place and it started to rain a bit, but it was still fabulous. I highly recommend visting there. They advise not to feed the wildlife, but when they come right up to you and beg for the morsel you are eating, it is hard to ignore them. I gave a chipmunk a peanut.

From Lake Louise we drove through Kicking Horse Pass where the railway was truly amazing to Roy's House where we stayed for a couple of nights. We met Roy himself and Sheila's husband Ian. I don't know what the attraction for this place was, but I think there was some sort of agreement between friends to come and stay here so Roy made a few bucks. We stayed in cabins, but I wasn't too impressed with them. A bit ordinary and bothered by mosquitos.

The only good thing about Roy's Place was the hot outdoor sauna followed by the dip in the freezing, but refreshing, underground fed spring. Talk about a heart-stopper! I did it twice. There was a few problems here with another group, but I kept out of it. Quite a bit if angst occured and I think Roy was considering banning all future visits.

The next day we went to the Field's Visitor Centre before hiking around the national park area and seeing Natural Bridge, Takakkaw Falls, Emerald Lake and hiking up Paget Peak. Emerald Lake was magnificently picture-postcard, like so many places in Canada. There are thousands of them in Canada and every turn of the road is another fantastic view. From the top of Paget Peak we had a great view of Mount Victoria. We had our lunch at the top.

The day was beautiful and it was nice to just lie back in the sunshine and enjoy the fresh mountain air. As I lay there in the sun, a chipmunk came and sat right beside my head and began to eat his own lunch. How adorable. One of them bit one of the group on the arm, but wasn't too bothered by the pebble I tossed at it to scare it away. It let out a little squawk when my aim was true, but it returned for more treats pretty hastily.   

See more travel blogs and travel reviews at TravBuddy.com

Although there are many beautiful lakes in the area, Lake Louise - the greenish blue lake against the stark backdrop of Victoria Glacier and Moraine Lake - the turquoise lake set in front of the ten mountain peaks are two most beautiful lakes.

Most people prefer to drive up to Lake Louise but we preferred to hike from our campsite. The beautiful and peaceful trail took us next to the creek, passed the rushing rivers and through the forest to Lake Louise. Lake Louise was indeed scenic and understandably one of the most photographed place but the place was also filled with tourists from all over the world. We were happy to have seen it but would remember more of the hike there than the place itself.

Moraine Lake with its surrounding mountains is much more beautiful than Lake Louise! We chose to hike  on the Valley of Ten Peaks trail. After the steep ascent through the forest, the trail levelled off such that we were basically walking alongside the ten majestic peaks with the valley separating in between. The view was really spectacular! Even though it was in the midst of summer, part of the trail was still covered with snow. Unfortunately, my sneakers failed me and was broken along the way.

By the time we finished our trek and came back down to the Moraine Lake valley, the bear warning sign was in place, signifying the possibility of bears looming around in the area in the evenings in search of dinner. We again had no luck in sighting any bears.

See more travel blogs and travel reviews at TravBuddy.com

Got up and left the hotel about 11, we had to wait for Nick who had driven back from seeing his family in Calgary. Drove up to Lake Louise and went for a lovely lunch at the Chateau Lake Louise (possible honeymoon recommendation – Jacq actually went and pretended she was getting married to check out the honeymoon suite of the hotel!)

Everybody had lasagne for their lunch except me, Art and Ji (who had Salmon bagel) whereas Art and I had the Shrimp Penne which was gorgeous.

Some guys went off to rent a boat (Kiwi whose foot was sore); the rest of us walked the End of Lake Trail. We jumped across some sand bits in the delta to from the mountains to the lake and walked through snow, I messed about with the gorillapod a bit too.

Because of the big lunch (which Lee and Jacq didn’t have) nobody wanted a big dinner so I ended up watching Mrs Doubtfire on my own whilst they went for sushi (again)… I eventually left for the internet café where I met Kiwi and Danish randomly! I got talking to the internet café girl called Meaghyn who was cute. She filled my ipod with a load of music she said I’d like if I liked Death Cab for Cutie and Postal Service. I added her on msn and facebook. Kiwi left as I was taking too long to upload all my pictures. Danish and I went and had Poutine at a fast food place called Aardvark (a place for those with lizard brain at pub kicking out time it seemed!)

We went back to the hotel and ate it and then watched the comedy channel and played poker without chips with Jacq.

See more travel blogs and travel reviews at TravBuddy.com

Lake Louise was the end of our adventure in Banff National Park, but what an end! We turned off of Highway 1 late in the afternoon, drove past the tiny town of Lake Louise, and up to the Lake itself. Right at the edge is the massive Fairmont Hotel. I was struck by the sight of this immense building in such a remote location. I have never found the words to describe the sensation - a complex composite of the knowledge that men undertook the construction this grand structure in such a grand natural setting, of the feeling of isolation from the mainstream, of the idea that even before transportation became easy, people made the arduous journey to this spot to relax and admire the world we live in. That's still not quite it. Complete wonder, I guess. I really wish I had taken a picture of that scene, to preserve the moment in more than just my mind's eye.

The day was cooling off. We walked past the hotel to see the lake. Even in summer, the water is too cold to swim in since it comes from the glacier. People use canoes, or hike the trails around the lake and further up into the hills. The lake, and the mountain backdrop, were gorgeous. The water was so blue. We dipped our fingers or toes in. It was pretty cold, alright! There was a group of French tourists, including a bunch of kids, having their picture taken. Instead of "cheese!", the photographer kept having them say "Lac Louise!" Pretty cute.

My sister still says this is the most beautiful place she has ever seen. We had a disposable panoramic camera with us. (Remember when they made those? I can't find them anywhere anymore.) For her graduation present, I had our panoramic of Lake Louise blown up into a poster and framed it. What a great trip. I hope we get to take another one together soon!

See more travel blogs and travel reviews at TravBuddy.com

It was good waking up in a normal friendly hostel.  Our room mate was a French Canadian girl from Quebec.  Had gruel again for breakfast (Emma has bought a box of oatbran) although today we had syrup to go with it - so not so bland - will look forward to this breakfast for the next 200 mornings!

We headed out to Peyto Lake which was just a short walk along snowy footpaths to the view of a brilliant turquoise lake - it was definitely spectacular.  We stood with the other onlookers for a while and then headed off up another path.  We found another trail which led us through the trees to a rocky outcrop which had amazing views of the lake and mountains.  It was very peaceful, we spent a while sunbathing on the rocks before making our way back down the trail.

Next stop was Bow Lake, the trail started at a lodge on the edge of the lake and we followed the path around,  and again found a sunny spot.  Managed to get a picture of a pika - a little creature apparently related to the rabbit.  It was a good day, lots of sun and very warm when sitting around looking at the scenery.  This has definitely got to be one of the better times to visit this area.  The roads and trails are alot quieter than they must be in the summer.  We did manage to come across a couple of coach loads of Japanese tourists though - off the bus, snap, snap, on the bus.

In the evening we had our thanksgiving dinner with a bottle of wine and really enjoyed it.  It made a change to pasta or noodles!

See more travel blogs and travel reviews at TravBuddy.com

Today we headed out to see another Lake.  About 13km from the village is Lake Moraine.  This lake again was spectacular, it had snowcapped mountain peaks surrounding it, as the sun shines on the lake it gleams 'turquoisness'.  At the edges of the lake were many logs, brought down the mountain and then deposited as driftwood by the lake.  We wandered to the end of the lake, passing the start of a trail that had strict rules about walking in groups of six because a grizzly bear had made its home in the forest.  There were some people waiting at the end of the trail for some others to join their group.  We didn't as today we were content with just walking around the lake.  It was suprisingly warm and we had many stops to soak up the winter sun and the quiet atmosphere of the lake.  It is a very calm and peaceful place.  You can understand why Grizzly has decided to live here.  After a few hours here we headed back to Lake Louise village and had a look around the mall. 

See more travel blogs and travel reviews at TravBuddy.com

Having gone to bed with just one man in our room, we awoke with another - who looked a bit crusty!!  We had breakfast in the hostel cafe, Emma having a giant bowl of porridge - enough for the 3 bears and Goldilocks, Diane had local speciality - pancakes with maple syrup. 

We drove out to Lake Louise.  First thing we saw was Chateaux Lake Louise, a monstrosity of a hotel that most definitely would not get planning permission now.  We walked up to the lake and it was indeed beautiful.  The lake is turquiose, the mountains sheer, the glaciers vast; the whole ensemble is utter natural perfection.  We decided to do a trail walk that took us up through the pine forest and took us first to a small lake called Mirror Lake.  The trail continued upwards (always uphill!) to Lake Agnes.  The views from here over the forested valley and across to the distant peaks were breathtaking.  By the lake was a little wooden chalet style tea house (!) where we shared a pot of earl grey - apparently they don't do PG tips.  Outside we saw some wildlife - finally - a chipmunk!  After spending a little time exploring around the lake we headed back down to Lake Louise.  It now looked much more turquoise with the midday sun shining on it. 

We had decided to have tea out tonight.  The hostel has a little cafe attached to it - Bill Peyto's.  We even indulged in a bottle of wine.  Emma had one of the local delicacies - bison chilli. 

See more travel blogs and travel reviews at TravBuddy.com

Had a leisurely breakfast, chatted some more with Maud and Sally.  We decided to make our way to Lake Louise today - we had had enough of "rustic" hostels and needed some running water.  Emma's hair now had a natural gel applied to it, commonly known as grease!!  We stopped off at a few places of interest on the way, the first being Athabasca Falls.  The waterfalls and Canyon were quite spectacular.

The rest of the day consisted of driving down the Ice Fields Parkway, supposedly one of the most scenic drives in the world.  This proved to be true everytime we went round a new bend there was another spectacular mountain view.

We arrived at the hostel late afternoon, it was chalet like and very civilised.  After some welcome showers, we were then joined by a man in our dorm - apparently we are in a mixed dorm.  There are only four beds!!  We made some tea and then sat in the lounge which is very comfortable with a huge fireplace.  Just read and chilled for the rest of the night.

See more travel blogs and travel reviews at TravBuddy.com