The level of natural beauty and visual stimulation today was incredible. We packed 4 of the most beautiful places in British Columbia and Alberta into one day – Takakkaw (indian word for “magnificent)” Falls, Emerald Lake, Lake Louise, and Moraine lake. Each place had its own unique beauty.  Here is a short write-up and a few pics for each location:

Takaka Falls – You could see the falls well before you actually arrived at the parking area to hike in. We are catching the falls at the best time of the year.  The snow and glacier melt is creating very high volume in all of the waterfalls and rivers in the entire Rocky Mountains area. The Takakkaw Falls are primarily fed by the melting of the Daly Glacier.  By early fall, these falls will reduce to a trickle and won’t be this spectacular until late spring. When most of the water is comes from glacier melt at high altitude, it has a milky sort of color since it has a lot of silt mixed in with the water. It was the same in the Columbia Ice Fields between here and Jasper. Snow melt is much clearer. One of the pics below shows the confluence of the Yoho  River and the Kicking Horse River. The Yoho is primarily glacier melt and the Kicking Horse is snow melt and other water from natural streams, rain, etc.  It may be hard to see in the photo but when you are there, you can really see the difference in the water color where they converge. There are also a lot of wild flowers in full bloom at this time of year which makes all of the scenery that much more amazing.

  The confluence of the Yoho River (left) and Kicking Horse (top)

Emerald Lake– this lake must get its name from the color of the water. It’s a very pristine lake that also has a lodge facility and a canoe rental.  We took a nice hike around the lake before departing for Lake Louise.

Lake Louise – this is a very special address but we both agreed it would be much nicer if there weren’t so many people there. Of course, we expected that since July and August is the most popular time of the year. The  Chateau Lake Louise Fairmont Hotel  is very luxurious and the overall setting is really amazing…a beautiful lake surrounded by steep mountains (still with snow at higher elevations) and glaciers. And like the lodges at Jasper and Banff, the grounds of the hotel are extremely well manicured. We hiked around the lake, took pics, and went into one of the restaurants for an appetizer and a beer before departing for our last site of the day, Moraine Lake.

Moraine Lake –  this was our last stop today and in some ways  it was the most stunning. The water was so blue. To get the best shot I had to work my way across a log pile in the water, and then climb a natural rock pile (probably from a landslide event) to get the best pic. It was worth it.

That’s Nancy in the middle of the first picture below.  I took it after I climbed up top.

What a day!