Lake Louise, Alberta

The fires continue to burn out of control in British Columbia, with several of them just over the nearby range of mountains. In spite of the air quality warnings, we wanted to visit the last major attraction in the Banff area, Lake Louise. In 1882, Tom Wilson, a horse-packer for the Canadian Pacific Railway survey crew became the first non-native person to see the lake. Impressed by its color, he called it Emerald Lake. In 1884, the lake became known as Lake Louise, in honor of Princess Louise Caroline Alberta, the fourth daughter of Queen Victoria.

A nice couple visiting from Georgia offered to verify our visit to Lake Louise!

We saw signage on the TransCan Highway that the parking lots at Lake Louise were full, and suggested that we park in a remote lot and board a free shuttle to the lake, so we took advantage of that. When we arrived at the first viewpoint, we were dismayed at the sheer number of people visiting at the same time. Canada is well-known for its acceptance of cultural diversity, so we should not have been surprised at the variety of languages and dress that we encountered. I suspect that with a bit more time we'll be able to speak passable Mandarin Chinese and German!

Meltwater from six glaciers at the head of the valley feed Lake Louise, which is very cold (less than 50F in summer). In midwinter, the ice on the frozen lake can be more than three feet thick. The awesome color of the glacier fed lakes and streams that we've seen hereabouts was explained to us today. The glaciers grind rock beneath them into a fine powder, called rock flour. Meltwaters wash this powder into the lake, where the resulting silty water absorbs all colors of incoming light - except the turquoise and blue that reflects back to our eyes.

The Canadian Pacific Railroad built another in a series of fine hotels whose purpose was to entice wealthy guests to use the railroad to visit remote areas. The Fairmont Lake Louise is one such hotel. Placed in a manner so as to look up the Lake Louise valley, it is truly placed at a magnificent location.

We took the shuttle bus back into the hamlet of Lake Louise, where we enjoyed a slice of pizza and a bottle of water (oh....and an ice cream cone...waffle, no less) before boarding the bus again for the ride back to the remote parking lot.

Rather than take the TCH, again, back to Canmore, we decided to take the scenic route on Highway 1A, the Bow Valley Parkway. This leisurely ride took us through pristine forests and animal habitats.

Along the route, we happened upon a statue tucked a bit off the road. marking the site of the Castle Mountain Internment Camp. Thinking that this was Canada's version of the infamous US World War II Japanese internment, we decided to check it out. To our surprise, the statue of an eastern european farmer memorializes the World War I internment of Austro-Hungarian Empire, which was an ally of Germany during that conflict. Some were Canadian citizens, most were from the Ukraine, and all were treated harshly. Forced into hard labor from 1914 to 1920, the internees were forced to work under winter cold and summer heat conditions. This area, near Castle Mountain, was in operation from 14 July 1914 to 15 July 1917.

Returning to Canmore for dinner, we coughed and choked our way into the rv park. A walk with a very lively dog brought us to this sight.

The air is so smoky this evening that other campers are beginning to leave earlier than they had planned. A couple from Louisiana are leaving two days early. Our immediate neighbors are also leaving two days early. Interestingly enough, no refunds are given, but the beauty of the area is so cloaked in smoke that it becomes almost impossible to enjoy. For us, tomorrow is grocery/laundry/cleaning day, so we'll stay another couple of nights.