Day 6 Part 2: Canadian Rockies: Lake Louise to Ice Fields

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Today's Itinerary: Leaving Banff and arriving at the Columbian Ice Fields,  about half way between Banff and Jasper

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This was one of our finest weather days.  The Bow Valley Parkway is the scenic route to Lake Louise.  It's a bit slower than the Highway Route 1, but well worth it. 

One of my favorite pictures of entire trip

We spied this grizzly cub along the Parkway.  Yes, it is a cub! We learned from the Park's "Guardian of the Bears" that this particular cub is 2 1/2 years old and is an orphan.  This cub’s mother was killed by a train last May, yet the cub and his sibling were able to figure out how to hibernate successfully together this past winter. This day, the male cub was stressed, and the “guardians” were herding traffic around him so he could get to his dandelions on the side of the road without being bothered by people and cars.

These shots are from Lake Louise. Though there were only a couple of chunks of ice left on Lake Louise, many nearby lakes were still frozen over.  The Fairmont Hotel is seen at the edge of Lake Louise in several of these pictures.

We reached our evening's destination later than usual, arriving at the Glacier View Hotel at the foot of the Athabasca Glacier.  (See pictures on tomorrow's post.) A late arrival was no big deal; sunset this far north was about 10:30 or 11:00.