Beehives and teahouses!

Quite the combination, hey! That's pretty much what yesterday amounted to... the morning started out a little less than sunny... but my friend Lynn and I headed out to Lake Louise anyhow, in hopes that the clouds would burn off and we could do some hiking. Our perseverence paid off (and I'm sure Lynn's sun dance helped out!) and by 9:30, we were on the trail.

I must say, the loop we followed turned out to be my new favorite scenic hike! The views were amazing pretty much every step of the way, and I highly recommend it! However, it really should be done in the order we did it - I noticed in a couple of guidebooks it is suggested to do the route (or part of it) starting at the opposite end. One word on that: ICK!! Anyway, here is what we did:

- Chateau Lake Louise to Mirror Lake

- Mirror Lake to Little Beehive (do not go to teahouse first)

- Little Beehive to Lake Agnes Teahouse

- Lake Agnes Teahouse to Big Beehive lookout

- Big Beehive lookout to Plain of Six Glaciers Teahouse (via Highline Trail)

- Plain of Six Glaciers Teahouse to Abbott Pass lookout

- Abbott Pass lookout to Plain of Six Glaciers Teahouse

- Plain of Six Glaciers Teahouse to Chateau Lake Louise (via Lakeshore Trail)

The only trail which required backtracking was between the Plain of Six Glaciers Teahouse and Abbott Pass lookout. The entire day was stellar!

Today we got rained out... we had aspirations of quickly zipping up Ha Ling Peak or West Wind Pass before we had to leave for Red Deer... but the Spray Lakes valley was filled with clouds and precipitation. So... they'll have to wait until the next time.

Back to work tomorrow for SEVEN... count 'em SEVEN... shifts! Eeek! Oh well. I'll survive. On the bright side, that means I have SEVEN days to plan for my next set of days off!! Yeah!

Cheers.

Lake Louise Teahouse / Beehive Loop

Time (car to car): 8-1/2 hrs

Distance: 20km

Elevation Gain: 800m (total - Little Beehive, Big Beehive, Abbott Pass lookout)