Lake Louise + Canmore: days 4 + 5

And just like that, my trip is over! I’m writing this post as I wait to board my flight from Calgary to Minneapolis. Here’s how we spent our final days! 

Day 4: Lake Louise

When I thought about the Banff area, I always thought about Lake Louise. My paternal grandparents had visited this area on a trip when I was a child and had said the area was so gorgeous. So a visit to this area was must. All the online research we did said to get there early! So we left our condo at 6am, made a pit stop in Banff for Starbucks and gas and arrived at the parking lot for Lake Louise around 7:45. We easily got a spot so our early departure was worth it! The parking lot does fill up fast! 

The views were stunning! There is another gorgeous Fairmount hotel that faces this view - I think I might prefer this one over the Banff one since there is so much hiking steps from the hotel!

Arriving early paid off as the board walk in front of the lake was very quiet. So we snapped some pics before heading out to do the Lake Agnes and Little Beehive Trails. One review describes this hike as ‘the Disneyland of hikes.’ That wasn’t really our experience but it had started to lightly rain at the start and the rain came down progressively harder so that probably deterred people from the hike. But even when we thought it might be mobbed with people, we were still willing to do it because it’s obviously busy for a reason! I love quieter, less busy hikes but I wanted to see these views. 

The Lake Agnes hike is about 3km and ends at a tea house. The tea house is only accessible by this trail so the workers all hike everything up each day!! It’s a pretty strenuous hike - not the hardest I’ve done but not a causal stroll either. The views on the way up were gorgeous!!

Mirror lake actually looks better in photos than in person. After seeing Lake Louise, it looked like a pond but the reflections off the lake were beautiful - hence the name Mirror Lake!  

We stopped for tea and treats before continuing onto Little Beehive. The tea house had lots of GF options for me! 

Little Beehive was about 1.5km further. The views were stunning. Pictures do not do this area justice. 

You can see the Fairmount on the left side of this photo. Our parking lot was just behind it so it gives you perspective on how far we had hiked! 

The hike down went much faster but it was steadily raining so we had to be careful with our footing to avoid falling! The hike was 6 miles round trip and took 2.5 hours. I was so glad to have my nice rain jacket! While the rain kept some tourists away, the rain clouds obstructed our views but so it goes! 

We stopped in Banff for lunch at a brewery before returning to Canmore. We were so very tired and opted to lay down when we got back. We had been gone for 8 hours at that point and had 3 busy, active days so rest was what we needed. At the start of the day, we had grand illusions of doing a sunset hike… but we were just so tired from all the hiking and biking. So we ate leftovers and called it an early night. We sure are fun, huh? But Amber (and all the girls I’ve met through blogging and traveled with) and I are so compatible - we prefer early mornings and early evenings! 

Day 5: Leaving Canmore

We were up early so had a light breakfast and then headed out for a short, easy ‘hike’ to a viewing point of the three sisters mountain peaks. I use hike lightly because it was more of a stroll/scramble on a rocky path. We meandered along and found a nice bench to sit on and chatted while taking in the views. You’d think we would have run out of things to talk about after talking for probably 10 hours/day the last 3 days - but nope! 

Three sisters reflection

Wearing my new Banff sweatshirt. It was a chilly morning!

It was so quiet and peaceful out there so was the perfect end to our lovely getaway. 

We grabbed brunch on our way back to the Calgary airport and then it was time to say goodbye! :(  We vowed to not let 6 go by again and will aim for seeing each other every other year! 

Closing thoughts:

This trip was exactly what I needed. It reminded me of who I was before I became a mom. Of course I am still myself as a mom, but some of your wants and desires are sacrificed when raising children, especially when they are young. It was really nice to do something for me! I recognize the privilege I have in being able to go away for 4 nights/5 days. Having a supportive husband who is willing to do more solo parenting is something I will never take for granted. But he will get his time away soon as he’s going on a guys golf weekend in northern Minnesota next weekend! 

10/10 I would recommend coming to this region and I hope to return here with Phil some day! And maybe the kids when they are hearty enough for some hiking! Luckily it’s a short 2.5 hour flight from Minneapolis so very accessible! We only scratched the surface in terms of things to do in this region but since we both have very young kids, 4 days away was as much time as we could swing. You could easily spend a week plus in this region of Canada.