Peyto Lake

Peyto Lake was, for me, the most beautiful lake that we saw.  It was also one of the coolest and windiest days for us.

There is a nice paved trail at Peyto Lake for visitors.  We saw a few nifty things along the way, such as this cute squirrel that was very busy having a snack.

These mushrooms were as big as dinner plates and look like they have been burned.  Very ominous looking fungus.

Panoramic shot of Peyto Lake.  It was just stunning.

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Teahouses

There are two trails that we wanted to hike while we were at Lake Louise.  We decided to hike the Lake Agnes Tea House Trail and the Plain of Six Glaciers Trail.  Both trails total 14.6 km (9.07 miles).  The trail for Lake Agnes was a relatively easy hike, while the Plain of Six Glaciers was more challenging.  Of course the going was all mostly up.  We did get to see some nifty things on the way.

This gray jay was very accommodating by sitting on a low branch and posing for our pictures.

There were all kinds of interesting mushrooms along the way.

We did see some folks later in the day foraging for mushrooms.  I know nothing about them except for the ones at the grocery store, so I just take their picture.

This is Lake Agnes.  The Lake Agnes Teahouse offers up quite a selection of teas, and I witnessed an employee getting water with a teapot straight out of the lake, which I found interesting yet disturbing.  We didn’t take any pictures of the teahouse as there was quite the throng of tourists and we just wanted to get moving on to the next teahouse on the Plain of Six Glaciers Trail.

We discovered a “fairy house” on the Plain of Six Glaciers Trail.  Not sure if the mushroom grew upward with the pine cone on top of it, or if there was human intervention.  Either way, it was very picture worthy.

The further along the trail we went the higher and higher we got.

The higher and higher we got, the less air there seemed to be.  Glen is a good man though, he periodically turns to make sure I am still trudging along.  I get there, just a lot slower than others.  This is me, trying to suck in air.

We did finally make it to the teahouse, and we were both starving.  We managed to find a table and had a wonderful lunch of homemade vegetable soup, sandwich and chocolate cake.  No pictures of the food, it was consumed too fast 🙂

This tree, complete with a raven, was next to the patio where we were sitting enjoying our lunch.  He was keeping a sharp eye out for any food that got left behind.

Lastly, is a panoramic picture at the teahouse.  In the middle of the shot are the glaciers on top of the mountain.  It was a very rewarding view after a long hike up.  Of course, we still had to go all the way back down.