August 29, 2007, Wednesday
Lake Louise, Alberta
As usual, the "rest day" in Lake Louise involved riding about 30 miles. That's why we now call them layover days, since there is usually some physical activity involved for most of us. The main group hiked from Lake Louise to the first tea house, a 6 mile round trip. Some stayed at the lodge, one couple caught a bus to Banff and spent the day, others rode. Kerie and I chose to get a late start and ride up to Moraine Lake.
The road to the lake was in great shape having been recently paved. Even though there is no shoulder and limited sight distances along the twisting road, we had no problems with the traffic, that slowly built as we climbed from 11 am until shortly after noon. From Lake Louise Drive it's 11 km to the lake, about 7 miles. The grade was not steep for most of the climb. At the top of the climb, about 2 miles before the lake, there is a spectacular view of the surrounding mountains and the glacial valley below.
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| Kerie on road to Lake Moraine | Bruce at same stop | Bruce and Kerie at Lake Moraine |
A noisy crowd was gathered at the edge of the lake. Many people drive to the lake, take a few photos, then drive back down to the main road. It's unfortunate that there is no public transportation. It would cut down considerably on the traffic and air pollution. We took a few photos, had a good light lunch at the restaurant, the same one where we ate in 2000 with the Timberline tour. The place looked much smaller to me, perhaps because we were now seeing it in daylight whereas before we arrived at dusk for dinner.
The return ride involved a short climb before the long descent back to Lake Louise Dr. We turned left toward Lake Louise and then turned right onto the Gread Divide trail, formerly the main road to Lake Louise, now abandoned and open to hikers, bikers, and cross country skiers. The asphalt surrounding the road culverts had slumped and the culverts became formidable speed bumps. The roadbed has not been maintained, so our progress was relatively slow.
Being a bit tired, we were wondering about our decision to repeat this ride which we had done in 2000, since there was a steady descent to the great divide, where waters from a stream split at the British Columbia/Albert border. One stream flows to the Pacific, the other to the Atlantic. After a very brief visit to BC (5 minutes) we headed back uphill toward the main road and our hotel.
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| Kerie at Lake Moraine | Another view of Lake Moraine | Great Divide Road |
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| Broken asphalt on Great Divide Road | The waters divide | Alberta/British Columbia border |
It was a laid back day despite the 30 mile ride.
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| One last image of Lake Louise |
Tomorrow we pack up and head north for the first of three days on the Icefields Parkway. The first 25 miles is a steady climb to Bow Summit, then a steep descent toward the Saskatchewan River.