I’ll be the first to admit that I wasn’t thrilled to be waking up at 6 a.m. on Saturday morning. We were headed to the mountains for a day of hiking and were told to arrive early at our destination as it’s a popular spot for hikers and fills up fast. We arrived around 9 a.m. at Moraine Lake near the Village of Lake Louise in Banff National Park and the parking lot was already about half full. By the time we finished our 9 kilometre hike around 1 p.m. the parking lot was full and vehicles were parked down the road.
There are several trails around Moraine Lake and we took the Larch Valley one. It was basically uphill the entire way (an elevation gain of 465 metres) as we climbed a mountain and eventually found ourselves in the valley. Fortunately this meant it was downhill most of the way back, however, going downhill can be tricky as you always have to have your “brakes on.”
There was a chill in the air and it drizzled on and off during the trek but overall the fall weather was pleasant. Was it worth waking up bright and early on a weekend morning? Definitely. This was my first autumn experience in the mountains and it was beautiful. Check out these photos from the hike.
Rural Route Ramblings 
Beautiful pictures, it is still in 80 degrees F here in Florida. It is nice to see Autumn has started elsewhere. That bear law is silly though, I don’t like laws that replace common sense.