Tag: banff-national-park

BANFF 20^th September – 22^nd September

We bid a very sad farewell to Lake Louise and start the trek to Banff.

We really don’t know much about this place except that it is a mecca for outdoor sports, especially skiing/snowboarding etc. And that it has a strange name that sounds cool if you keep repeating it.

Try it.

See! Banff Banff Banff

Anyhoo, the weather has cleared and despite my worst fears we are not driving through a snow storm. Don’t get me wrong, I have driven in snow before. I am just well out of practice. So was a little bit nervous, it was all for naught because the weather cleared and it was an easy drive to Banff, after the hours and hours I have spent on the road it is only 40 minutes to Banff (60 km) wahoo! Today is the day to cut me some slack.

Thank you universe, or neurotic planning…

As we drive into Banff we see what everyone has been talking about. Wow, fucking wow. Ummmmmm, wow.

We arrive at 1pm and our room is ready for check in, magic. I park up the chariot and we unload the bags. I have no plans to drive her anywhere during our time in Banff.

We are staying at the Elk + Avenue (Elk + Avenue Hotel Official Page: A Few Steps from Downtown Banff (banffjaspercollection.com)) it is mid range, but as we changed our dates to include Calgary, it was the best option we could get. The location is amazing, right in the centre of town, everything is within walking distance and the staff are incredibly helpful and friendly. We needed to do some laundry and had to use cash, $3 to wash and $3 to dry, I only had $5 so they gave me the extra dollar. How lovely is that, you Canadians are so sweet.

Off we go for a walk around town, brrrrr, the wind coming down off the snow-capped mountains is a little brisk to say the least. There is only one thing for it, and that is to find the local brewery. Jason has some sort of homing beacon that identifies a brewery from 100 yards.

In this instance he discovers the Banff Ave Brewery (Home – Banff Ave Brewing Co | Banff Ave Brewing Co) it is quite nondescript and you could easily walk past it, if you did not have a Jason on hand. According to Jason the beers are amazing, and he had to sample a few to be sure. They also had wine so I was more than happy to indulge him.

The bartender provided great insight into different things we can do around town. Including some hikes where we might see elk and/or bears and a restaurant where we can get a decent steak without having to give up another body part in payment.

Back on the street Jason and I have our beer and wine coats on to keep us warm and we head out for a walk around the river. Jesus wept, there are icicles on my eyeballs. It doesn’t help that I am sick – oh yeah, did I mention that Jason made me sick?

Everywhere you turn there are mountain peaks and stunning views the photos do not do it justice. But its worth a try so I take about a thousand snaps.

Dinner is at Melissa’s Missteak – great name (Melissa’s Missteak 2024 – A locally owned and operated restaurant in downtown Banff (melissasmissteak.com)) the food and service are great, and the view out the window does not disappoint.

Its been a long day, we have washing to do, I feel like shit, so after dinner we retire to our hotel room. Which, for fucks sake, is right next to the lift. Ding, ding, ding, earplugs, the best thing ever. Why can’t people use the fucking stairs. Fat bastards.

21^st September – Banff Get Enough

Talk about a chilly start to the morning. -3 that is just plain uncivilised. Luckily we had a bit of a sleep in and gave the world a chance to defrost.

We have plans for today, get the bus to the gondola, head up Sulphur Mountain where we had lunch booked at the Sky Bistro. The plan seemed simple enough. Breakfast, go for a walk and look for bears, catch the bus to the gondola, boom.

In order to do any of the hikes in the national park you have to get a pass. In this case it is a day pass which, at $11 each, is quite reasonable. These have to be purchased at the visitor centre. Whilst there we ask is it really necessary to have bear spray.

There is clearly a party line when it comes to this as it is not noted as necessary but “recommended”. They take you through how to use it and what to do if you run into a bear. Then they tell you the cost of a can of bear spray… $75. You can rent it for $10 from some shops in town. I thought if we did buy it we could always take it home as a souvenier, but you are not allowed to take it on planes either in carry on or checked luggage.

Jason decides we do not need bear spray, it will all be fine. I am on board with this as long as he realises that I will be using him as my bear defence. I would like this noted by you all. IF I do, in fact, get eaten by a bear… he may have had this planned all along.

The first part all went to plan, we shared a lovely breakfast at the hotel, layered up and went for a walk along the Bow River. There is a really cool sculpture trail Art In Nature Trail | Banff & Lake Louise Tourism (banfflakelouise.com) along the walk and some of these are awesome. These beautiful and funny pieces are left out in the wild and, from what we have seen, are not vandalised or stolen. I don’t think that would be the case in Vancouver or Kelowna – though I could be wrong, Judgy Jo!

You have to be at the gondola 15 minutes before your booked timeslot. I guess they really want to spread out the crowd to stop everyone turning up at the same time.

Being the exceptionally organised person that I am, we arrive at the bus stop with 20 minutes to spare before the next bus is due. As is normal with public transport it was late.

Finally the bus comes around the corner, god damn it I love when a plan comes together. Except that it didn’t. The bus slowed just enough so we could read the lips of the driver as she said “sorry, full” and then kept on going. You fucking what?

Normally you could just wait for the next bus, but we have a booked time for the gondola, and we have a booking for the restaurant (who needed my credit card details to secure the booking).

Normally I would just suggest we walk to the gondola but we were warned against that last night, a narrow road with no footpaths and lots of buses – not enough fucking buses if you ask me.

Lets break it down:

1145 Current time

1205 Next bus due (which might be full)

10 minute drive to the gondola

1200 gondola booking

8 minute gondola ride to the top

1230 lunch booking

Well that is not going to work. We make the decision to walk back to town, its only a 15 minute walk, and regroup. I jump on the phone to change our gondola time and explain the situation.

I got through relatively quickly and the young woman said she would change our tickets to the 100pm gondola giving us time to get another bus there.

Next was to contact the restaurant, which just did not happen, no one answered, no one responded to messages, nothing. Ring, ring, and ring again. Nothing. Only option is to go and see them when we get there.

The hotel has a private shuttle to the gondola so we wait around to jump on that, it should get us there with plenty of time to spare. I open our new gondola tickets to find that we have been booked for 130 and our return tickets were for 110pm. For the love of all things sacred.

Back on the phone. Explain we were meant to be on the 100pm and that we are now departing before we are arriving. Quite the feat.

Unfortunately we can no longer get on the 100pm gondola, so they book us on the 130 and update the return ride so we don’t need to perform any sort of time travel.

Restaurant – still no answer.

Rather than risk waiting for a later bus, we opt to turn up early and hope for the best.

The bus leaves on time, and is not full. We arrive at the gondola at 1225pm. I head to the information desk and explain the situation, jump on the next one they say. Bloody legend!

We make it to the top and to the restaurant at 1240 – the server politely asks “hows your day”. I think she regretted that when the response came “its been a complete cluster fuck” and proceeded to give her the rundown of the full bus and trying to change tickets and couldn’t get through, but I was happy I couldn’t get through, because we made it, finally, and we were here, and did we still have a booking, and if we didn’t could we get a new one? Complete verbal vomit. Turns out we did still have a booking, and our table was ready, and the full bus thing happens all the time, even to staff.  

We are seated and then reseated with a better view. Medical emergency, wine and beer please, stat.

The food was really good and the service friendly and informative. The world is set right again. Breathe.

If you are in Banff the Gondola (Banff Gondola Official Page: Amazing Mountain Top Views & Dining (banffjaspercollection.com)) is an absolute must. The views are spectacular and once you are up there, you have different restaurant options, I personally recommend the Sky Bistro (Unforgettable Mountaintop Dining Experiences at Banff Gondola (banffjaspercollection.com)) for the views and the food.

After stuffing our faces we head out to the different viewing platforms. This afternoon we had planned to do the Tunnel Mountain hike, we had bought the day pass, but because our plans had taken a bit of a left turn time was not really on our side. Instead, we opted to walk down Sulphur Mountain, it is only 5.5km and the track is really well constructed.

We see chipmunks, I have lost count of how many, but we did not see any other wildlife, definitely no bears.

As we amble down the mountain I wonder out loud “what is actually in bear spray”? Jason suggests citronella. I fucking hope not! The thought of scaring off a bear with a scented candle does not fill me with confidence. After a lot more speculation we assume it is probably some form of pepper spray. Which seems far more reasonable.

I have since looked it up, and it is definitely not citronella, if you are interested Bear spray – Wikipedia.

The walk is really lovely, and not too busy. There were a few very determined people walking up. Good on ya!

Back in town we visit the Brewery again, it would be rude not to. There is American Football on TV and couple of people watching intently. One of my favourite podcasts, Crime in Sports (HIGHLY recommend Crime in Sports | Wondery | Premium Podcasts) has a lot of episodes that covers players from NFL and I have picked up a wee bit of knowledge.

We started chatting to the American couple who were from Michigan and cheering on Michigan State University. They were NOT expected to win. So we joined the cheer squad and were educated on the finer points of NFL and NCAA FB. Apparently, from now on, we are Michigan supporters (they won BTW). Such a convoluted game, you can have 8 minutes left in the game and it take 30 minutes to play it. Watching the head high tackles its not surprising that most retire with a head full of CTE.

By this stage it was early evening and we decide to get dinner from the food court. I really want some steamed vegetables and, paradoxically, I also want some Popeyes Chicken. This is mainly due to the Adam Sandler movie, Little Nicky, I can report that Popeyes Chicken is nicer than KFC and did not seem as greasy. However, I don’t think I need to have it again.

What a great day, Banff is beautiful and welcoming.

It is time to hit the sack and get some sleep to the sound of the lift, ding, ding, god damn ding.

22^nd September – Bye bye Banff and hello Calgary

Today is our last day in Banff, we are in no rush to leave, we have some life admin to attend to before we go for our last walk.

This morning, we are going on a bear hunt! The idea is to walk along the Bow River and towards the golf course where there are regular sitings of elk and bears. I would like to point out that we still do not have any bear spray.

As we walk along, scanning the track and the trees for anything deer or bear related I SEE IT.

I grab Jason, look, what’s that? It is a large, black, hairy shape. Really, have we finally found a bear.

Well, no we have not found a bear, I had found a large black dog. I am suffering from the “logadile” syndrome, I am so fixated on seeing a bear, that is all I can see. But now I have the song Bear Necessities stuck in my head and it stays there for the whole walk.

We were expecting a path to walk along but it does not seem to exist.  Mostly we are walking along the side of the road and looking into the forest for any signs of life.

Quite disappointing as we had hoped to see more. Though I do find some adorable and chatty chipmunks and a very industrial woodpecker. That was pretty cool. We turn around and head back to town, there was no further to go and chances of seeing any more critters were low.

I NEED TO SEE BEARS.

Back in town we have a fabulous lunch at Block Kitchen + Bar (The Block Restaurant Banff (banffblock.com)) the food is fanfreakingtastic. Highly recommend.

And that was it, our last day in Banff, we need to load up the wagon and head to Calgary where we are having dinner with a very special young woman.

I recommend Banff to anyone, whether you like food and wine/beer, sighseeing, outdoors, or people watching, there is something for everyone and we loved it. We definitely want to go back.

22^nd September – Calgary meh

Everyone told us the only reason to go to Calgary was to leave. You go there because that’s where the airport is. There is not a lot to do or see, especially if you have spent the last 10days in places such as Revelstoke, Banff, Lake Louise.

Regardless we had a special mission and that was to see the lovely Khali. Khali is the daughter of our friend Belinda, and has been living in Calgary for the last 5 months. As we were all the way over here, it would be wrong not to spend some time with her. Especially as she is winding up her time in Canada.

Driving to Calgary is much of the same except that you can really see the increase in traffic, the closer we get the more congested the roads. Welcome to a city. We hadn’t seen one in a while.

Its about 130km to Calgary, so around 90 minutes. My last long drive. We are staying in the centre of Calgary which, on review, was not really necessary as we were not going to do anything in Calgary other than go to dinner with Khali.

The drive was going very well until we got into the centre of town and all of a sudden it was not. Turns out that the address for the hotel is not where you drive in. This lead to the most stressful driving situation I had encountered since we set out. The GPS was having a fucking conniption and didn’t know where we were or where we were going. The map spinning like a top trying to find its bearings.

I had to pull over and try and work it out based on where we were currently parked and where we wanted to get to. There is a lot of construction with streets closed and There is a lot of construction with streets closed and one-way systems, all leading to a rise in my blood pressure and a rise in the likelihood I was going to run someone over. Which nearly happened as two people crossed against the lights and I was focused on the map.

Thank <insert your favourite deity here> my copilot pointed out the human targets and I slammed on the brakes. They were completely oblivious. After, what felt like a lifetime and was only about 10 minutes, we make it to the hotel. I handover the keys and step away! We made it.

This hotel is lovely, the room is huge and comfortable. Everything is very new and there is plenty of space to repack our suitcases. Tomorrow we fly.

We are meeting Khali at 530pm at the restaurant where she works, The Chairman. The plan is for cocktails first and then a big steak dinner.

We get dressed up, there is a dress code for this restaurant which makes me feel warm on the inside, order an uber and head over there.

We see Khali and she is looking amazing. Clearly the life of travel and working ridiculous hours agrees with her.

The bonus of having dinner with Khali at her place of work is you get the inside scoop on what is good and the staff are super lovely. I am sure they are super lovely anyway, but especially so.

After enjoying a couple of cocktails we go through to the main restaurant. This place is amazing. AND they play lots of Frank Sinatra (yeah, I know, its kind of in the name right) which is another thing that fills me with joy.

We open the menu and it is so easy to read. Check this out, the menus are backlit! So old people, like myself, can easily read the detail. I love this place. What a great idea.

On top of that, the food is FUCKING AMAZING. I have fois gras and it is divine. Jason goes for the steak tartare, and Khali orders the bone marrow. We swap and share and agree they are all pretty amazing.

The server brings out a massive platter of steak for us to choose from. Talking through the cuts etc. Jason takes this as a challenge and names each cut correctly. Well done.

We settle on Canada Prime, bone in, smoked ribeye, and a whole selection of sides, which feels excessive but they all sound so good.  

When the food comes out I feel like we need a bigger table, I definitely need a bigger stomach!

Everything is delicious, I cannot emphasise enough just how good this food was. The steak was so tender and well cooked, the sauces perfect, and the sides beat all expectations. Without a doubt, one of the best meals we have had this journey.

Thanks Khali for the suggestion and thanks to the team at The Chairmans for making it such a memorable night.

If we are in the area again we will be back.

Chairman’s Steakhouse (chairmans.ca) GO THERE. You will not regret it.

After eating to the point of gluttony we roll out of the restaurant and into an Uber to head back to our hotel. Where we sleep a big and deep sleep, in a very comfortable bed.

Tomorrow we fly to Victoria. We say goodbye to our silver bullet and begin the final part of our Canadian journey. I can’t believe how fast this trip is going.

Lake Louise 19^th September

Getting ready to leave Revelstoke and super excited to be heading to Lake Louise, the advertising and photographs are stunning and I am hopeful that it will be just as amazing in real life.

We have a quick breakfast, pack up the silver bullet, and hit the road.

It is 2 hours 30 to Lake Louise, approximately 230km. I am behind the wheel and kick the ponies into action. There is a little town called Golden, our tour guide from Whistler recommended it as a stop, and is home to Canada’s highest suspension bridge, 426 feet!

Gold is just past the midway point and Jason had offered to drive from there. Reluctantly but the offer was appreciated. We approached Golden and missed the turn off, no problem, surely there will be another one. Either we missed that one too, or there was only one turnoff. Either way we sailed past Golden and the suspension bridge. Meh, shit happens.

Looking back I am so pleased that we did not make it to Golden as that would have eaten into our time at Lake Louise and HMFSB, you want to spend as much time there as humanly possible.

There was a lot more road construction as we got closer to Lake Louise, but we still averaged between 120kmh and 140kmh – I LOVE THIS.

But suddenly, it is going to take us an extra hour to get there, how the fuck did that happen, I did not take the wrong turn off, I did not turn us around and point us in the wrong direction. Oh, hold the phone, the time to arrival has not changed, only the arrival time. We have just gone through a time zone, not a time warp (try to get Tim Curry out of your mind now, let’s do the time warp again….).

We have zipped forward an hour god damn it.

Finally we arrive at Lake Louise, not quite at the Fairmont Chateau (Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise – Luxury Hotel in Lake Louise(Canada)), this is where we are staying and appears to be the only place you can on the Lake. And there is a definite cost involved, there is a reason we are only staying one night. I have two kidneys and can only afford to sell off one.

A little about the lake itself, Lake Louise is a hamlet within Banff National Park, Alberta. Named after Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll. She must have been quite a hotty to have this lake named after her, just saying. Lake Louise sits at an elevation of 1,600 m (5,200 ft), making it Canada’s highest community – weeeeeeeeeeell. Define high, from what we have seen Kelowna was the highest community we have come into contact with so far…

There are several snow-capped mountains, including Mount Temple, Mount Whyte, and Mount Niblock that hover above Lake Louise and no doubt add to the subarctic climate and annual snowfall average of 279cm!!!!

Winter temperatures can fall below −50 °C in January and February FUCK NO! Apparently even the summers consist of frosty mornings and crisp, cool days. Snow can occur in any month of the year (yep) the frost-free period averages only 14 days.

From the offset you can see why this place is 5 stars. We arrive at a gate where a young man, dressed in their standard uniform (think Swiss mountains and Sound of Music) greets us. You are not even allowed to drive in there unless you have a reservation.

Oh yes, hello Mr and Mrs Walford (sigh, it was easier for the travel agent to book this under Jason’s name – caused a few issues) we can see you are staying for one night. Would you like to self-park or valet. No valet baby let’s keep the eye watering cost to a minimum where logical.

We are directed to drive to the front of the hotel and the bell people (bell boys, so last century) took our bags away, gave me directions to park the car. Despite the cost this place is fully booked, people are actually having conference here! You cannot tell from the service though, there is no one rushed, or stressed, or too busy to help you.

We are checked in by our Aussie man, Kye, from NSW. He gives us the low down on what we can do and takes all our details. We will receive messages when our room is ready, and he provides all the details we need to go for a hike.

We gear up and buy some lunch. Because we are staying at the chateau we get a discount on food – thank fuck because $18 for a muffin with hard to recognise egg and bacon seemed a little rich.

Full price is for the day visitors! And there are thousands of those. We are feeling very fancy with our cards that allow us onto the premises and into the facilities, like TOILETS and the Bar.

We consumed our reconstituted food, and it was time really test my leg. There are several tracks we can do but, of course, we opt to go hard! Why, oh why do I do this shit to myself. Plain of Six is a 4 hour round trip consisting of 7km and a gain of 335 metres in altitude.

The track starts off easily enough stretching its way around the lake providing lots of stunning vantage points for selfies. 2km in we start to climb, it does not feel too bad, a steady incline, with lots of roots and stones keeping me highly focused.

Just as we set out Jason comes to a screeching halt. That’s a bugle he declares. I assumed he had heard a bird that was called a bugle, but no. A bugle is the Elk equivalent of a roar. It is mating season, and the big boys are out looking for a willing girl. It also makes them a bit aggressive, so pays to be aware and keep out of their way. Jason is thrilled, apparently this is a big deal.

As we are hiking I am receiving regular updates from the Chateau, our room is ready, is there anything else we would like. Yes, I would like to book dinner for tonight, boom it is done. I would like to book the tour to see the sunrise at Lake Moraine tomorrow morning, boom it is done. I LOVE THIS PLACE. Their extreme level of organisation makes me feel happy.

During this hike there are times when I am outright chastising myself, why, oh why did I think this was a sane thing to do. I know how unfit I am and how average my leg is. Yet I suggest that we do the longest walk and do all the things. Inside my head there is a fair bit of berating going on. Up, up, trudge, trudge, grump, grump.

CHIPMUNK! Well, that changes everything. As we head along the track we see a few little chipmunks. Granted there are a couple who have figured out that humans bring trail mix, and those suckers are not so little anymore. They also pose for photos and clearly have learnt behaviour. Works for me, I get lots of photos and videos to show all the granddaughters.

There was a very nice older Japanese gentleman next to me. Asking what they were.

NOJG: They squirrels.

JKW: No, they are chipmunks.

NOJG: Oh. Chip Monkeys.

JKW: Kind of, chipmunks.

NOJG: I have learnt a new word today, chipmonkey.

JKW: Me too. Me too. Chipmonkey it is.

We say goodbye to the chipmonkeys and continue our up, up, up.

There are a few more rushing across the track. Lots of dogs out for a walk too, living their best lives.

As we hike we can see the leftover snow from last season, on the highest peaks, just holding on to the ridges. The breeze coming down off the snow is enough to chill your hands and we need to put our fleeces on, but not so cold that we need long pants or beanies.

We are getting a few comments “you’re making me feel cold” or “aren’t you cold”. Always met with the same reply “just another New Zealand summer’s day”.

There was one young woman coming down the track in knee high boots and a tailored skirt, which made me look over prepared. A couple of young men in their loafers. Not judging, but fuck, asking to slip or fall, I cannot imagine they have any grip. Some of the track is on sheer cliff, granted it’s not hundreds of meters, but enough to do some serious damage on the rocks if you slip – a scenario that was running through my head quite regularly).

After 1h and 45minutes we make it to the “Tea House” a little wooden chalet with no electricity where you can order any of the 3 items on the menu, which sounded amazing BTW, have a hot drink, and recoup before heading down. We had not long ago ingested our pretend egg and bacon so just went in for a nosey. And it is so cute! The staff hike up and stay for four days, then head back down again.

Dedication.

There is a further 1.4km walk that will take you to the view of the glacier but, due to time constraints and the possibility of losing sunlight, we opted to start our trek down which was, of course, much easier and faster. Meaning we made it back, even with time spent watching the chipmonkeys and taking more photos. The views are magnificent and because I was no longer having an internal tantrum it was much more enjoyable.

A quick stop on a ledge for afternoon tea of chocolate and mandarins. Life is pretty good.

We arrive back at the chateau and decide the best way to warm up with a couple of beverages by the outdoor fire, which is not lit, but the alcohol helps. There are a couple of native birds who have taken a leaf out of the chipmonkey’s book and have sidled up to the tourists for some easy to come by snacks. I had a leftover muesli bar in my bag so coaxed one of them over.

Cheeky bastard, took one peck, glared at me, spat it out and flew back to the other table where they had nuts and cranberries. Fussy!

We watched the lake and the surrounding mountains until it was just too cold and decided to head up to our room which we had not seen yet. I was skeptical that we would actually get a decent view from our room, but boy oh boy I was wrong. We could see the lake and the mountains. How good is our life!

Jason’s back had been giving him such a hard time and he was in a world of hurt. When we saw the massive bathtub, it was time for a boiling hot bubble bath. Too funny, he had a wonderful time wallowing around and it, the heat and the beer he consumed soaking definitely helped his back.

This hotel is MASSIVE. No matter how many times we come and go and think we have figured it out, we get lost every, single, fucking time. I tell you, if The Shining had occurred in this hotel Jack Nicolson would NEVER have found Danny and Wendy. The famous line would not be “here’s Johnny” but “where’s Johnny”. Seriously, some of the hallways really reminded me of that movie.

It is truly luxurious though, stained glass windows, sculptures, oodles of staff who can’t do enough to help you and make sure your stay is as wonderful as possible. We DO NOT want to leave.

After perusing the menus we chose the Fairview restaurant, mainly because of the view! Yeah, it’s like picking a bottle of wine because of the label. The restaurant looks out at the lake and the mountains, and we choose to sit outside. There are heaters and blankets and wine, we will be plenty warm enough.

The view does not disappoint and even as the light is disappearing you just get a different perspective.

 Our meal was outstanding, the service impeccable, and for the first time our server is from Canada Such a novelty. He is delightful and chats a lot.

Suddenly the view does change, clouds move in very quickly, not just fluffy clouds, but rainy clouds. They hit and they hit hard!!! No wonder people die in the mountains when the weather changes, this just happened over a matter of minutes, the temperature dropped, gusts of wind, and torrential rain.

Still, they lower the blinds so the water cannot get in, but we can still see out, pull the blankets tighter over my knees and turn up the heater. No point in moaning about it, we continue to enjoy our dinner and drinks before retiring to our beautiful room and another amazing night’s sleep.

I have signed us up for a sunrise tour tomorrow – yeah, I know. Dumbass!

20^th September Lake Louise and Lake Moraine

Bloody hell that sleep was AMAZEBALLS! The beds are next level, and you have so many pillows to choose from, you cannot help but sleep like the dead. The happy dead though, not the miserable dead or the undead.

We drag ourselves out of bed and onto the bus. The lovely young man who is driving the bus is wearing his uniform, I hope he has thermals under this because it is cold, and he is not wearing a coat. Stop it mum, I don’t need a coat!

For fucks sake, Jason has made me sick now. Sore throat, headache, grumble.

It is a 25 minute drive to Lake Moraine (The Rockpile Trail Hike Moraine Lake, Banff National Park (morainelakeshuttle.ca)), but it seems that only tour buses are allowed to drive there. Probably a good thing as the road is pretty busy and not that wide. By the time we arrive the rain is back, and we just have to zip up, suck, up and get out there.

I am so glad I opted to swap out my usual running skirt for a pair of long tights, my legs are still cold – but I still have feeling in them. The rest of me is toasty warm.

In the dark we walk our way up the “Rock Pile”. The Rock Pile hike is stated as the number one thing to do, TBH it is not actually a hike. It is a stroll, and some stairs, and takes about 10 minutes, tops. Walking up steps to get a view of the lake and the Valley of the 10 Peaks. The idea this morning is to find a position and watch the sunrise. But, it’s raining people, so the chances of seeing the sunrise are pretty fucking slim. Nevertheless, we hike up, we stand, under a tree, and we wait with everyone else (even though it is raining it is packed).

It becomes pretty clear that the sunrise is happening elsewhere and we want to spend our time exploring. We only have 1.5 hours here so let’s not waste it on a fool’s mission. We “hike” back down the rock pile and decide to walk around the edge of the lake.

It is very similar to Lake Louise in the colour, the lake itself is much smaller but the mountains that loom over it are impressive. If we had more time, I would have loved to have done some of the bigger and more challenging hikes around here (Valley of the Ten Peaks – Wikipedia).

We spend the rest of the time walking around the lake, absolutely awestruck by just how beautiful this place is. I am running out of adjectives to really do it justice. Suffice to say its fucking stunning and I highly recommend you call by if you are in the area.

Time is ticking, its really, really, really cold (snowing off and on) so we head back to the bus. As we walk towards the Rock Pile I see this large white shape. I figured someone had bought a large white blanket to keep them warm as they wait for the sunrise that will never arrive.

But NO. As we get closer, I realise it is a bride and groom, standing halfway down the rockpile with the lake and mountains in the background. And the bride is wearing her wedding dress. Sleeveless! Smiling. Photographer giving instructions. I am extremely impressed, this woman has stamina, I am not sure I would go to such lengths to get these photos, but she was an absolute legend!

I realise what an absolute sook I have been complaining about my cold legs and this chick is out on the rocks, in her wedding dress. I bow down to you good lady, I bow down.

Photos are below, just in case you think I am making shit up to sound cool.

We are on the bus and heading to Lake Louise, our checkout time is 1200pm, which I think is pretty bloody awesome, it gives us more time to explore and not have to stress about checking out. Well done Fairmont, well done.

With hours left before we have to depart, we have a wonderful, filling, and extremely expensive, breakfast and decide to do one last hike before we leave. The weather is not great, thank the lord for yesterday, and we head to the lookout. It is, yet again, one of those occasions where I am thinking WTAF, why is this so hard. Every step is miserable, and I think about leaving Jason to it.

Granted, he has infected me with the dreaded lurgy, but it all just feels much harder than it should. I grumble, internally, tell Jason I will meet him at the top, and eventually make it.

As we hike our way there it starts to snow. It’s pretty damn special, I have to say, the whole landscape goes silent, yes, even the Aussies and Americans go quiet, whilst the flakes fall, and the forest feels magical.

We reach the lookout and take some photos, with the snow falling it looks spectacular… in the back of my mind I am thinking “I don’t want to drive in the fucking snow”!

Checkout, load up our silver chariot, bid farewell to Fairmont Chateau and wish we were staying longer. We are heading to Banff, which we have been told is amazeballs. It’s got big shoes to fill as Lake Louise has stolen my heart, and one kidney so we could afford to stay there.

If you can stay there, do it, you will not regret it. Its spectacular, special, and heartwarming.

ONWARD. To BANFF.