Ouest canadien 2021: Journal de bord jour 13

Last day for me in Western Canada. Tomorrow, I'll be heading back to Montreal while Marie and Laurianne continue their stay. For the occasion, we wanted to do a hike that is reputedly magnificent: Cirque Peak. Raf was also joining us for this beautiful objective. Unfortunately, things didn't turn out as planned.

Failure on the planned hike (Cirque Peak)

Another early wake-up call, but the last one for me, and we're off in the car towards the start of Cirque Peak. Once there, the access road is blocked and a park ranger informs us that hiking in the area is currently prohibited due to work on an animal conservation area.

Too bad... So we decided to head for Lake Louise to find another hike. After a quick search, we headed for the Plain of Six Glaciers.

(In the end, the hike will be accessible a few days later and Marie and Laurianne will have the opportunity to do it, and it's said to be difficult but well worth the effort!)

Lake Louise

This time we're clearly not in time to park directly at Lake Louise. So we park in the giant parking lot outside town. This is where the shuttles leave for Lake Louise and Moraine Lake.

We take the shuttle to Lake Louise. We're far from alone. It's a sunny day and the shores of the lake are very crowded. We almost have to elbow each other to get a photo near the lake.

We don't linger and walk straight to the start of the hike.

Plain of the Six Glaciers

The further we get from the parking lot, the less crowded it becomes, which is rather pleasant. We arrive at the start of the hike. We have about 14.6 kilometers to go.

All in all, it's a very good substitute hike. The views over the valley and the various glaciers around are breathtaking. There's even a tea house along the way. We took the time to stop and taste their products. (We don't recommend the hot chocolate... very disappointing).

We reach the end of the path with a view of a glacier. I'll let you admire the photo, it's worth a thousand words. 

IF I had to find a single fault with this hike, it's that it's an out-and-back and not a loop. Apart from that, it was really perfect and in my top 2 hikes I've done in the west (the other being Iceline Trail).

Here's the route of the hike with my Garmin watch:

Lake moraine

Once back at the Lake Louise parking lot, we took advantage of our ticket to show Moraine Lake to Laurianne, who hadn't seen it yet.

The ticket you buy to get to Lake Louise also allows you to travel from Lake Louise to Moraine Lake, and vice versa. So we were able to discover Moraine Lake in a different light, with more sunshine, but still just as many people.

We take the shuttle back to the main parking lot and head back to Banff for my last evening in the west. 

Balkan restaurant

We're tired from the day, so we're not going to splurge tonight. We're going to eat at the Balkan restaurant. A very good Greek restaurant in Banff.

A final walk through the city and that's what will conclude these beautiful 13 days spent in Western Canada.

It was a wonderful trip! Thanks to Raf and Laurianne who accompanied us on part of our trip. And a big thank you to Marie-Pier for putting up with me for the whole trip.

In the end, we only saw part of the West, so there's still a lot to discover. And that's just as well, because after all we've seen and done, I can't wait to come back!

Thank you for following this travel diary. Other, more "informative" articles will come along to help you and give advice if you plan to travel in these regions.

See you soon.