Lake Louise and Big Beehive
Lake Louise is probably the number one image that comes to mind in Banff National Park.
This pristine mountain lake shimmers aquamarine blue. Huge gray mountains flank her banks. If we’d visited in the summer, we might have canoed in the lake. However, the autumn air was a bit chilly for that. We opted to hike instead.
Kenny picked our hike.
Six weeks before our trip, he had the brilliant idea that we should be walking and jogging every day to be ready for hiking in Banff. Unfortunately, I think we walked or jogged maybe once a week instead of once a day.
As we I huffed and puffed our way up the mountain, I was pretty certain I was going to die. And our hike was a moderate hike!
The punk My husband is very sneaky. He said something like this: “We’ll just give this a try. If it’s too much, we’ll turn around.”
He knows me only too well. My sense of integrity and my lifelong practice of finishing things I start kicked in. Even though I was certain my legs would never be the same, we finished our hike. We finished the whole thing. We hiked up to a teahouse by a lake midway up the mountain.
And we continued to Big Beehive, a rocky cliff at the top.
Lake Louise was small thousands of feet below us.
We owned the world.
Looking back on it, here are my impressions:
1. Get in shape before going to Canada.
2. Allow a little time to acclimate if you can. We could not. Rain was coming later in the week so we hiked our first couple of days.
3. DO the Beehive hike that we did if you can. Take your time. Rest a lot if needed. (I needed it!) The view is worth it and there are enough beautiful vantage points along the way, that rests are worth it.
4. Dress in layers. We started in jackets and long sleeves and ended in t-shirts.
5. Don’t be disheartened by the 90 year old couple racing past you on the hike. Ha! (And especially don’t be disheartened if they’re using walking sticks and STILL racing past you!)
6. Pack a picnic and stop to enjoy the view at the top. Ham sandwiches never tasted so great!
So absolutely beautiful – I’ve never seen blue like that! What a great adventure. . .
[...] our first day of hiking Big Beehive by Lake Louise, I realized that hikes in Canada are not like walks in Texas, so I was better prepared that the [...]