Hike to Ten Peaks Hike / Yoho National Park
September 1 and 2, 2001

This was the 3rd morning at Lake Louise to take a good sunrise photo of the lake. I came to know a gentleman from Texas at the lakeshore.

Lake Louise and Victoria Glacier in Sunrise. This is the shot after 4 days of waking up early.

While we were waiting for the sunrise, we started to talk a lot. He told me that he was staying at the Chateau a with special discount price. Without it, he would had to pay 500.00 USD per night. That was ridiculous, we both agreed. Today, the lake was calm, and a cloud over the lake. This made the scenery more mysterious. But it looked almost impossible to see a sunlight. And then, there was a brief 30 seconds of red sunlight lit the top of the glacier. The light was weak, but better than nothing.

It was my breakfast time. Hmm, why don't I try the breakfast in the $500 USD hotel? The breakfast buffet was only $20 Canadian dollar. They had usual good stuff: cheese, yogurt, eggs, bacons, sausages, smoked salmons, etc. But they also had Japanese miso soup, white rice, nori (sea-weed), and BBQ'ed salty salmon. Impressive. Or, should I say, there must be tons of Japanese tourists in this expensive hotel. The room was gorgeous, the food was good, the service was excellent; all for only $20 Canadian dollar.

Moraine Lake/Ten Peaks/Sentinel Pass: I was ready for a big hike. This was the hike starting from Moraine Lake to Sentinel Pass, with a good view of Ten Peaks. Everybody used different name. This was also the hike I gave up 2 days ago due to lack of (intermediate skilled) hikers and bad weather. When I walked up the trail, there were already 6 hikers at the trailhead this time. We were ready to go. What a difference the weather make.

Moraine Lake in afternoon light. One of the most mysterious lakes (only if there were not so many tourists.)

In this group, there were 4 people from Calgary, who were heading to Mt. Temple. One of them was a young kid, about 5 years old. According to them, the Mt. Temple was the 3rd highest peak in the Canadian Rocky, and definitely the highest peak around this region. The view from the top of the Mt. Temple is supreme, they said. It would take about 6 hours extra to go to the top and come down. "Oh, it is no more difficult than walking up this hill", they said. We were on the first stretch of the trail with steep climb. It was very tempting for me to join them. But I knew I would need a better jacket for the wind and cold at the top, a glove, and I had an early afternoon appointment with a friend in Banff.

The first 30 minutes of the hike was the hardest part; it was a relentless climb with numerous switchbacks (counted more than 12). The thick forest limit any view of Moraine Lake nor the Ten Peaks. But the hard work paid off in a big way, when we finally reached the Larch's Valley floor. On one side, he majestic Ten Peaks were standing right above the forests. Mt. Temple and other smaller mountains covered the other side. With beautiful meadows, and blue skies, no wonder many people think this was their favorite hike.

Another look at the Ten Peaks from Mount Temple above the Sentinel Pass.

The rest of the group was a couple from Atlanta. They looked, definitely not hikers; they were a photographer and his girlfriend. The couple and I were pretty dead during the climb. But the magnificent view completely energized us. We started to take a lot of photos, and were glad that we made it to here. The hike continues to the Sentinel Pass at 2500m, which is above tree line. The top of the Mt. Temple was 900m more from the pass. At the pass, the air was already thin, temperature was low, and it was windy. I decided to climb up the mountain only for 20 minutes. I guess that was about 100m up or so. As I go up higher, the view got much better. I had to wonder what the view would like at the top. But for today, I had to go down.

Three of us went down together. One of them was an experienced photographer. He was always looking for a good shot; an interesting object like flowers and rocks. He knew about filters and compositions. And he had an expensive camera and heavy tripod. We frequently stopped for a photo-shoot. It took 2.5 hours (9:30~12:00) to go up, but took 3.5 hours (12:00~3:30) to come back.

This was my 4th try to take the sunrise photo at Lake Louise. There were less cloud this morning compared to yesterday. There was the gentleman from yesterday was at the lakeshore as well. It turned out he worked for an oil company, and they were looking for a mechanical engineer to design offshore oilrig. A person like him will make me miss the life in US. It was very easy to meet many people from all over the world with various experiences. We both were hoping because this was the last chance for both of us. But the weather did not cooperate with us. There was absolutely no glare this morning. The lake surface was also a little rough. It was too bad because there were a lot of blue sky.

Takkakaw Fall

I came back to the Royal Canadian Lodge to check if I could return the Hertz rent-a-car at Calgary airport. And the answer was it cost only $50. I left the hotel around 11:30am to visit places in Yoho National Park. Two major attractions were: Takkakaw Fall and Emerald Lake.

The Highway One first ran down Kicking Horse Canyon right after it entered Yoho National Park. An old railroad runs parallel to the highway, except where it enters two big spiral tunnels. There was an overlook parking along the highway to look at the spiral tunnels. The view was... normal. And then, there was a small road to Lake O'Hara. The lake is very beautiful, famous, and easy to access; there is a bus transportation right to the lake. So, the park had to restrict its bus access to protect the natural environment. They issue a limited amount of bus tickets 3 months in advance. It was easy to guess no tickets were available for my stay in Banff. I found there was a way to visit Lake O'Hara. It is only 12 to 13 km of trails to get to the lake. Walk further more to enjoy the surroundings. The bus picks up anybody back to the highway. It is possible to do all of them within a day.

The next turn was to Yoho River Road. After 13 km of driving beautiful, narrow and winding road, it reached Takkakaw Fall. It was the magnificent one; one of the tallest falls in Canada; it had abundant of water. But, what impressed me most was the mountains and glaciers surrounding the fall. This was the trailhead to the Iceline trail, which I could not make it this time. Unfortunately the weather was getting worth at this time, I could not see them well. Still I could see why the hike was recommended so highly.

Driving 30 more minutes from the fall, I was at the Emerald Lake, a gem of the Canadian Rocky. Walking about 15 minutes along the lakeshore, I found a good photo spot where I could see the lake and the glacier behind together. The lake did have beautiful emerald color. It was calm, sunny with patchy cloud. The world away from the cold Tekkakaw Fall.

After the Emerald Lake, I turned back to Banff. I had to sleep early to make it to the early morning flight.