So here we are at part three, the final leg of our summer journey. Lake Louise and Lake Agnes. We decided to stop at Lake Louise for a couple of days on the way back to Calgary to do a little hiking and exploring. We don't get up to this area that often so we thought it would be nice to spend a little time here and take in some of the sights. The main purpose was of course to get Aidan and Maelle out on the trails and to do some hiking. After scouring the maps, I decided to give Lake Agnes a go, using the tea house at the lake as a bit of a lure. Well, it worked! These kids hiked a 7km round trip trail, with a 400m elevation gain. Wow! Needless to say I was so very proud of them. I was one beaming mama! I honestly thought they wouldn't do it. We played games along the way, and stopped for breaks at spots selected by Aidan. Let me tell ya....Aidan was a machine. He loved the route finding, and climbing over the rocks and every time we got a bit of a view on the way up or down he stood jaw dropped and kept saying "look how high we are!" Awesome! It was also nice to see how he helped Maelle - a very determined little gal I might add - along the trail. Now, on the way back down, there was a little bit of tired whining, but considering we were on a long and boring downhill stretch with nothing to scramble over or look at, I would whine too! As promised, once we arrived safely back from our hike, we made our way through the masses and masses of tourists (one of the main reasons we don't visit this area in summer!) and found some ice cream at the Chateau Lake Louise for a reward. I am still beaming at these kids for doing this hike. Totally exceeded my expectations! Needless to say they slept really well that night - even through the train horns and rumbling that shook our trailer throughout the night. I think our part of the campsite was where the horn blowing started. Lovely.
On the way up! Glimpses back down to Lake Louise.
A quick stop at Mirror Lake at the base of the Big Beehive for a break and a snack.
Success! We made it to the tea house! I still can't believe that these two little hikers made it all the way!
A well deserved cookie and dinosaur shaped tea biscuits and jam. Ok...these were probably the most expensive biscuits and cookie I have ever ordered!
A beautiful view of Lake Agnes, not too far from where we ate our lunch.
The way back down had some amazing views.
The kids loved hiking and picking their way through the rocks.
We also spent some time wandering the trails just off our campsite along the Bow River. That was until they closed them due to a female grizzly and her cubs. Fair enough.
Cooling off in the Bow River while hunting for rocks.
Now that we are back at home, we are slowly settling into a normal summer routine. We have a few weeks around the house in which we hope to spend much of it outside. We actually had our very first family bike ride today with everyone! Fantastic! Looking forward to more of that, hopefully some more hiking with Aidan and Maelle, some summer bbq's with friends, but most importantly...some good ole' being lazy. Outside of course!
Our next camping adventure has us heading down to Waterton for almost a week at the end of August, before Aidan heads back to school and begins grade one. Yes....grade one. I am so not ready. I am also not ready for Maelle to start pre-school. Sniff. There are going to be a few major adjustments around here come the fall and no doubt they will have us all hopping!
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