Welp, guess I have some catching up to do as I’ve been slacking on my blog writing lately. Last post I had just gotten into Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada. I had secured my camping spot before the weekend at Protection Mountain Campground, and was happy to use it as my home base for exploring the area. With the weekend approaching, I knew that I had to get in some hiking at one of the more popular destinations in the park, Lake Louise. I had done my research on the hiking trails, and came up with a 12-mile round trip hike, Devil’s Thumb, rated as difficult, in order to get out of the heavy crowds. Starting as early as possible for me with a hearty breakfast and coffee to sustain a long day of hiking, I left the campground at around 8 just to get to a closed highway 1A, just my luck. Turning around to get on Freeway 1 caused a 45-minute detour, so my “early” start quickly got derailed, and by the time I got to the town of Lake Louise, I knew that all of the good parking would already be taken. So, I pulled over the first chance I got, and scored an empty parking lot at a picnic area about a mile away from the actual lake, oh well. The walk to the lake and trailheads wasn’t bad at all, and I knew I made the right call as I walked past dozens of cars waiting in line to get a parking spot.
After a couple of quick touristy pictures at the beautiful Lake Louise, I set off down the trail at a quick pace trying to get ahead of the hordes. The hike that I picked out was the perfect tour of the attractions around the lake, and featured a couple of other higher elevation lakes, the most scenic being Lake Agnes, the destination of most of the hikers on the trail. The dogs and I waited in line there for a nice cup of tea at the quaint little teahouse on the lake, and some chips and salsa, which I couldn’t recommend. I wish I had gotten the biscuits and jam, oh well, next time I’ll know. It’s probably not all that smart to be ordering chips and salsa anywhere in Canada, I suppose. Hiking past and above Lake Agnes and some daring Colorado hikers jumping in the frigid waters, I headed up to the Big Beehive overlook, but was excited to get headed up the final scramble up to Devil’s Thumb. By this time, the crowd had dwindled to all but the most adventures hikers, and I met the two most hard-core old ladies coming off the thumb, who both must have been at least in their 70’s. Saying something dumb as I’m known to occasionally do, I asked them, “Did you make it to the top?” Slightly offended, but laughing it off, they replied, “Do you even have to ask?” Of course they did, and it wasn’t even the first time they’ve summited. Then they pulled an awesomely classic grandma move, and gave me a Werther’s Original caramel for the summit. I said thanks, told them that they were awesome, and assured them that the dogs would get some licks on the caramel, and headed on my way.
Before the final and most difficult ascent, there was a girl from Mexico there waiting for her friend to get to the peak, who would pick her up on the way back. Apparently, she would only hike as far as her fear of heights would allow, and let her friend continue ahead of her while she waited, sometimes an hour or more. I also spent some time talking to four nice dudes from Ohio State University heading up to the summit. One of them was struggling pretty good on the loose rocks, and he had to laugh at my all-terrain dogs running up, down, and back up the slopes again, never missing an opportunity to make sure my path was clear of chipmunks. Needless to say, the summit was epic as could be, and would be difficult to top the whole trip. I chose to make it a loop hike in order to see the plain of six glaciers on the way back, thinking that they probably need to rename it since all but a couple of the glaciers have unfortunately melted and receded. I came around the back of Lake Louise for the return trip, and there was an awesome beachy area where a bunch of tourists were hanging out and wading in the milky, bright blue waters. Too worn out to do any more sight-seeing, I was ready to get back home. With the added 2 miles to get to my picnic area, I estimate that we did 14 miles that day and it was well worth it. I was happy to get back to my campsite and have a couple of days to rest, eat, drink, make fires, and plan out my next adventure.
