A holiday from cycling today (again). I took a walk from the village of Lake Louise up to the lake itself. When I set off there was a light drizzle which had become a slushy snow as I got up to the lake. At the lake is a huge hotel, the Lake Louise Chateau. It must have several hundred rooms. Looks a bit like the hotel from the Shining, but many hotels round these parts do. There was (at least) one in Banff.

The clouds came down over the lake while I was there, but going higher I started to see blue sky between the tops of the trees.

At Mirror Lake, which was partially frozen, the snow had settled and people had made snowmen out of it, though only small ones, perched along a wooden fence kind of thing in the path to stop bikes getting past.

I kept going, and after a while I was crunching through snow several inches deep. I started to see blue sky between the tops of the trees.

I wanted to get to the top of a mountain called the Big Beehive. I was going to go for the Little Beehive but getting up there the Big Beehive didn’t seem that much bigger so I went for it. The path which had previously been clear by the numerous footprints now dissolved away. There were some footprints but I’m not sure if there were human. I was carrying my anti-bear spray, clipped onto my rucksack within easy reach, just in case I should meet something furry and hungry.

By the time I got to the top the sky had cleared quite a bit and I was able to see down to Lake Louise and across to some snow capped mountains. It was quite nice, but a long way down. I was thankful I bought waterproof shoes. When I got back my feet were still dry, but aching quite a bit.

Tomorrow I’m back on the bike, going through Kicking Horse Pass, which I was told today is not much higher than the height I’m at now (5’7″). I must’ve been going uphill more than I realized. I could feel myself climbing, all the way from the praries, but it didn’t seem like that much. It certainly doesn’t feel like I’ve gone up much since Banff.

The weather forecast is not great for tomorrow. Cold in the morning (minus 9 degrees) but no wind, then rain or snow in the afternoon, though it says less than 1cm of snow and less than 1mm of rain, so I guess that’s much like today.

It’s 85km to Golden, British Columbia, where I hope to be tomorrow night. And it’s 795km to Vancouver.