In our first day of actual hiking in Rockies Mountain we decided to go to Banff. Out aim was Sentinel Pass, actually, the larch valley below it.
Last time I visited this place eight years ago, and even four years before it I was where during the larch season, so I remembered and liked this place. My comrades also had pretty nice images of this valley. So, we decide to start our larch tour from the place that we know to avoid disappointment. Unfortunately, disappointment waited for us. The trail starts from Moraine Lake. Eight years ago I parked at Moraine Lake parking without any problem and even never thought about the possibility of such a problem. However, eight years is a long time, as I found.
Moraine Lake and Lake Louise always were very popular places. Many nice trails start from these lakes, however, most people that come to the lakes don’t have any intention to hike at all. They just walk near the lakes, eat, drink (there are lodges neat both lakes), and make crowds. If years before it was the only problem, nowadays the number of visitors increased so much that they overfill both parking lots (they are not small at all). So now the roads to the lake are closed pretty early (at 8 am they were already closed). There are shuttles from the parking near the highway, but they make rides pretty seldom and there is a huge line to them. The next available for us shuttle to Moraine lake was at one pm (we arrived just after 8 am), and the last return shuttle was at five pm. It didn’t have any sense for us. So we decided to forget about Lach Valley and take a shuttle to Lake Louise that departure immediately. I was very upset about this situation in Banff.
In Lake Louise area we choose Fair View Mountain. Its elevation is 2750 meters, elevation gain about 1000 meters, and it covered with larches from the bottom to the top.
On the summit.
Lake Louise below us.
The avalanche on the opposite mountain. We heard and sow a lot of avalanches this day.
On the way down.
To be continued …
