Before ironing out all the details for our short trip to Banff, Caitlin and I both decided there was one hike we could not miss. The Lake Louise area of Banff is well known, and for good reason. The stunning blue waters of both Lake Louise and Lake Moraine (they’re neighbors) bring thousands of tourists each year. While Caitlin and I don’t love big crowds, we knew we had to hike in this area at least once.
Lake Louise is accessible without any reservations, the only catch is that the parking lot fills up early. Lake Moraine on the other hand requires a shuttle reservation of which we did not obtain. We knew this ahead of time and planned to attempt booking a shuttle two days prior (the earliest we could through the park website) and unfortunately we did not succeed.
We had to skip the hike we wanted to do starting near Lake Moraine, but we knew we could hike starting near Lake Louise no matter what.
For people who enjoy long hikes I would argue that the Plain of Six Glaciers, Big Beehive, and Lake Agnes Tea House loop is the most popular trail starting in the Lake Louise area of Banff. This trail hits all of the popular stops, but if you’re not up for the full 11-12 mile loop there are options to visit just one, or two of these stops and skip the full loop.
We of course opted to do the whole loop, and although AllTrails recommends starting counterclockwise we accidentally started clockwise. We later learned this is what the local employees recommended, so it all worked out. Starting clockwise took us first to the Plain of Six Glaciers.
We arrived in the parking lot with enough time to snag a spot, and our plan was to hit the first of two tea houses before the masses.
We arrived at the Plain of Six Glaciers Tea House, the quieter of the two tea houses on this loop, and we quickly started kicking ourselves for forgetting a very important detail. In all the hubbub of trying to secure a shuttle to Lake Moraine/finding other hikes for our previous days we both completely forgot that these two tea houses are CASH ONLY.
Neither of us are big tea drinkers, but we did want to sit and savor a cup for the novelty of the idea. We were momentarily bummed, but ultimately pushed on after at least using the facilities near the tea house. It was here I made friends with an older gentlemen who was waiting for the bathroom after I exited. There were two outdoor compost toilets and I thought the one next to me was empty.
So I told him it was empty.
The bathroom was in fact not empty, and when he knocked someone replied. He concluded because of this that I must be a YouTuber filming for a prank show and he was my latest target. This caused me to laugh quite hard, and I quickly took a liking to him. We played leap frog a few times throughout this hike, and each time he saw me he warned another member of his party (there were at least two other men with him) to watch out for me because I was a pranking YouTuber.
This was the second to last wholesome interaction I had with strangers while hiking in Banff.
After skipping the tea house we pushed on to the Plain of Six Glaciers viewpoint (shown in the previous photos.) This brought us to a series of glaciers tucked into the mountain walls, and was a beautiful start to our looped trail. We sat here for a bit and enjoyed our first snack while laughing about our knuckleheadedness of not having cash.
The sun finally came out as we headed back towards the main trail, continuing our loop towards our next destination: Big Beehive. Going clockwise meant we managed to have parts of the trail to ourselves at times, and when we did see others they were not in masses. After passing an exposed area of the trail we found ourselves in the woods where we began to climb vertically.
After four days of hiking, this vertical climb was tiresome, but nothing we couldn’t handle. We started to see people coming down this section that we had seen at the very beginning of the hike who had chosen to go the other direction. While we were climbing towards the Beehive we deliberated if we wanted to take a side quest on this hike.
There is an offshoot at the summit near the Beehive that takes hikers along the backside of the area to another summit called Devil’s Thumb. In true Brittany and Caitlin fashion we decided to first get to Big Beehive, savor that experience, and then decide if we wanted to attempt the side quest.
The view of Lake Louise from above exceeded my expectations.
We ran into my new friend who told another passing hiker to watch out for me, we said hello, and decided to go to the peak of the Devil’s Thumb. I had no idea what to expect with this side quest, and I was all but hopeful until about 2 minutes into the trek. The normal trail had a section of rock climbing in order to continue, and it took me a long while to commit to this.
The rocks were not on an edge that felt unsafe, but I knew that if this was what the trail entailed I would not be comfortable. A hiker coming down assured me that the rest of the trail did not have a rock section like this, so I held my breath and climbed up the rocks. From here the trail became narrow, and there was a sharp edge that made my stomach drop into my colon for the entire attempted adventure.
Caitlin is far more daring than I, and she doesn’t have the same gut wrenching fear of heights, but she was patient with me as we slowly continued on this sketchy trail. I took it slow, wanting to die each step I took, but told myself that I could stop at any point. I finally reached my breaking point when the trail consisting of scree turned vertical.
The moment a trail requires me to crawl with my hands near a ledge, is the moment I tap out. I encouraged Caitlin to continue on, and she did for a bit longer, but she also called it after she continuously slipped. We both knew that coming back down this terrain without trekking poles or experience would not make for a good time.
While waiting for Caitlin a woman passed me asking if I was coming up or down. I told her neither, and that I was staying put after deciding this trail was not for me. She commended me and told me I made the right choice. She told me she was also afraid of heights and cried twice on her way up. She was clearly a trooper, and her partner helped her the entire way.
More power to her, it was still a no for me.
After Caitlin found her way back to me we happily went back to the main trail. I was ready to wipe my hands of this terrifying side quest, and my stomach found its rightful place once we were back on solid ground. I’m glad we attempted this, and without having gone this way we would have never seen the view of Lake Agnes (our next destination) from above.
The last highlight of this trail is walking around Lake Agnes to the Lake Agnes Tea House. This area was madness by the time we arrived. Because we didn’t have cash we knew we didn’t plan to enter the tea house, but we still sat on a rock to savor the view of Lake Agnes for a bit. I watched a group of Germans feeding a chipmunk, debating if I wanted to engage with them at all in German.
When the man came to show me his photos of the creature I said to him “Eichhörnchen?” This is the German word for squirrel and I always worry I butcher the pronunciation.
He smiled and told me my pronunciation was correct, but then the woman with him corrected me that this was a chipmunk and not a squirrel (duh Brittany) and she told me the German word for chipmunk which is “Streifenhörnchen.” Streifen meaning stripes had me laughing. Of course the chipmunk would be the striped version.
We maneuvered through the masses of people enjoying their cakes and tea’s, continuing to our final decent. By this time I was a bit tired, and a bit frustrated because my Garmin watch had spazzed out (I know, first world problems.) The last bit of this hike was one foot in front of the other for me, but it was still a beautiful walk back down to Lake Louise.
As we made it back to the lake, clearly dirty and tired, a couple stopped us to ask if we had completed the loop. We spoke with them for about ten minutes, sharing how the hike was and recounting each of our experiences in Banff. The last wholesome interaction I shan’t soon forget.
After a shower and real food, we drove into the tiny town of Lake Louise for our reward after completing our final hike.
ICE CREAM. My souvenir for myself was a local bar of chocolate (which was to die for), and a small pin. This was the perfect end to an amazing week in Canada. Five hikes, four days, three national parks, two gals, one fancy meal, and…ZERO BEARS!
It was tough for me to find the excitement for this trip after a long couple years caring for a cat with aging illnesses, but I am incredibly thankful this trip worked out (and my cat was just fine without me.) I don’t see any trips in my near future longer than two nights, but I will continue to relish on these wonderful memories from Banff. It was just the trip I needed.
I look forward to rounding out the fall season with a few more hikes, and then I will be hibernating like all the bears I thankfully did not see.
Q: What is something that scares you in the way that heights scare me?
Blissfulbritt 