On our last day in Lake Louise, we took a three-hour trail ride with Timberline Tours up the Lake Agnes Trail. It was Niall's first time on a horse (Iver, who has been on but not ridden far, thinks he's now an "intermediate" rider :)), and the boys did really well!
Riding up the trail was much easier for little legs than hiking! We felt a bit bad for the hikers we passed (we've been there!).
The scenery was spectacular, especially as we got higher up and could see the glaciers. (We only had tiny glimpses of Lake Louise, though, although we passed lovely Mirror Lake).
We stopped for a snack (which we carried in the horses' saddle bags) and pictures near the Lake Agnes Tea House, a historic stopping point for mountain climbers.
Trying to stay warm by Lake Agnes (it was windy and very COLD!)
... and it promptly fell out, ten minutes later.
My horse, Annie, was being pretty naughty on the trip, sometimes turning 180 degrees the wrong way on the trail and nipping the butts of the horse in front, but I did my best to keep her in line:)
We walked to the Wildlife interpretative center.
We took the open chairlift (not the gondola) down the mountain, with hopes of spotting that grizzly bear again, but, alas, it had moved on. I had my secondary thrill trying to keep Niall from moving and sliding under the lap bar.
The stables were just a short walk from the shore of Lake Louise, and since we got totally rained out the day before, we popped over (thankful we had parking, which is a nightmare unless you're a Fairmont guest) for some quick photos.
We could definitely see the turquoise water today.
After a warm lunch (I drank basically a pot of tea!), we headed over to our last Lake Louise attraction, the summer gondola.
The area around the gondola is apparently a very popular area for grizzly bears, due to berry foraging! We heard from some employees at the base that they had to close a trail at the top due to grizzly activity today... so the kids (and we) were really excited to head up! (Of note: Kelvin and I were behind in the "animal spotting" points game, and we hadn't yet seen any bears this trip).
Just before we reached the top of the gondola, I spotted a grizzly in the meadow to the north side of the gondola (20 points!!!)! The zoomed in, blurry iPhone picture through the gondola glass is trash but it was definitely a grazing bear, which excited us all! Glad we didn't encounter one on a trail.
The views from the "Top of the World" were spectacular (the backdrop is real!!)!
(Lake Louise seen, turquoise, in the center)
Panorama
We walked to the Wildlife interpretative center.
We took the open chairlift (not the gondola) down the mountain, with hopes of spotting that grizzly bear again, but, alas, it had moved on. I had my secondary thrill trying to keep Niall from moving and sliding under the lap bar.
(only one person had his "L" (for "Lake Louise") backwards!
Despite all of these smiling photos, there was definitely plenty of crying (kids), fighting (my kids do not do well on long car rides), annoying behavior, yelling (I may have told my kids to stop making the vacation miserable for us adults when they were being especially whiny and difficult, mostly early on in the trip), and hiccups on this trip. Nevertheless, we had an incredible week in Canada, full of adventures (including the wildfire evacuation), seeing some of the most spectacular scenery I've ever seen anywhere in the world, and much restorative time in nature. The grizzly bear sighting at the end was icing on the cake.... and when I asked the kids what they enjoyed the most, they responded...
THE HOTEL POOL! Of course.
