We awoke to sunshine and blue sky for a second day in a row on this day. We visited quite a few places and moved from Banff to Lake Louise. We drove the whole way on the Bow Valley Parkway. We checked into the Lake Louise Campground, got settled in, and then went to visit Lake Louise. But the sun was in front of us and the lake was very crowded with tourists, so we decided to go somewhere else. We went a short distance to Moraine Lake. We hiked the Rock Pile Trail and the Lakeshore Trail. Both trails were fabulous with spectacular views. The rain caught up with us but we didn’t mind. We spotted hoary marmots and Pikas along the trails. Moraine Lake scored pretty high on the WOW factor.

The first two photos are Moraine Lake from the Rock Pile Trail, up near the top of the rock pile. The teal water, white snow and ice, green forests, snips of blue sky, stratified rock faces, and the craggy mountains and peaks all made for a beautiful place.

The third photo is the other end of the lake from the first two photos and taken from the Lakeshore Trail.

Most of the time that we were at Moraine Lake, we could hear Pikas because they were quite loud. We would look around and most of the time, we couldn’t find them. While they let us know they were there, they didn’t spend much time posing for photos. Pikas are a small rodent about the size of a guinea pig. You can see one in the last photo.