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As Yogi Berra once said, “Nobody goes there anymore. It’s too crowded.” Lake Louise is so popular that you can’t drive there anymore. Instead there are shuttles in place that require reservations.

We decided on a 9:45AM shuttle but we went to the pickup point early to get our kayaks ready. Along the way, Guy from GuideAlong told us about Morants Curve, a spot where Nicolas Morants, a photographer for the Canadian Pacific Railway, took an iconic photo of a train in winter going around the curve. Clearly we couldn’t reproduce the winter part, but we decided to try to get a photo with a train. Unfortunately, the trains are freight and don’t have a listed schedule. We waited for a half hour with no luck. We left the site and drove to the Lake Louise shuttle parking lot before we heard a train go by. Even without the train, the view was spectacular!

It wasn’t clear to us if we could take our kayaks on the public shuttle so we signed up for a private one. This meant finding parking at a nearby hotel, which was challenging. We were able to find a spot around the back of the hotel that was large enough for our motor home. Taking our kayaks made us a point of interest for others. We fielded a lot of questions about having a foldable kayak and how it works. Even the shuttle drivers, who are used to bringing watercraft to Lake Louise, hadn’t seen a foldable kayak before.

At the entrance to Lake Louise there was a map with cross country ski paths. One went directly across the lake. We knew that the water was going to be cold! Lake Louise is a glacier fed lake. You can tell because of the blue color which is created due to glacier flour, the name for the fine rock powder made by the weight of the glacier, which has a consistency similar to wheat flour. The dust reflects the sunlight, causing the blue color.

At Lake Louise, you can rent canoes. When we arrived the water was super smooth and there were many canoes in the water. The only good place for us to launch our kayaks was at the canoe dock. We paddled the length of the lake, about two kilometers. At the far end, there was a beach where we stopped for a short hike. When it was time to return, the wind had picked up considerably. Luckily the wind was at our backs! There were very few canoes left on the lake. When we returned to the dock, we heard the rental staff actively discouraging rentals because of the wind.

Throughout our paddle, many visitors were taking pictures of us. Some were posing for their social media accounts. Greg paddled behind the posers to photo bomb them. We are sure that we will be on their posts!

After we returned to our vehicle, we tried to go to the town of Banff. The town was so busy, it was impossible to find parking - even at the remote parking area. The streets were super busy with pedestrians. So we decided to leave. We found a paved trail outside of town with some hoodoos. The main trail was closed for maintenance, probably a controlled burn to reduce the overgrown vegetation. We saw the hoodoos and decided to head back to our campground to start a campfire. Only we can’t because the wind is too strong to safely make a campfire.