Enjoying some quite time at Lake Agnes
May 22, 2010 – Rocky Mountain Road Trip Time!!..
Everyone loves a road trip. Well I do and the May long weekend marked the first time that I would be hitting the road alone in Canada.
To me this meant hiring a car (yes, renting for all you Canadian’s – RAY!!) and escaping the rat race and seeing as much as my blue eyes would allow me to take in over the three days.
Now I admit that my initial planning was a bit way-laid. I’d had a thought that I might like to drive to Jasper for the weekend. Enjoy some of the stunning scenery and see just how spectacular these rocky mountains really are. After all I knew that the short Greyhound bus ride from Calgary to Banff in late March was really only a teaser of things to come.
I arrived early enough at Lake Louise to be able to enjoy the sights without the flood of tourists. It was still spring and a little bit of snow was still on the ground BUT the lake was pretty much still FROZEN!.. I admit I was shocked!..
a. it was May
b. it was a big enough lake, how could it be frozen!; and
c. I’d only ever seen the ‘beautiful emerald’ water that everyone raves about – again I have learnt something new.
I’d planned to walk the shoreline of the lake. Enjoy simply being outside and being in this magical place, but en route I passed a trail head that said ‘Lake Agnes Tea House – 3.8km‘ and I knew I just had to do it. I’d grown up with the lure of ‘Lake Agnes’ being on my doorstep back home on the farm in Patchewollock.. the difference was that it has been dry for hundreds if not thousand’s of years, plus didn’t Catriona Rowntree from Getaway do this hike not that long ago.. it looked easy when she did it! So I saddled up my backpack and hit the trail.
The first couple 100m of the trail were steady-going, a slight incline all the way and spectacular views of the lake below. It was beautiful. After the first switch back the heart began to beat faster and the realisation that I was going 1,204 feet in 3.8km, with altitude hit me.. WHAT WAS I THINKING.. I was from the mallee and pretty much sea level. But I had started and I wasn’t stopping.
The higher I got, the more snow on the ground and colder it become (a lesson that I learnt very early on – always pack for every condition). But the views of the valley below were spectacular.. plus, when I got to the top I could enjoy a nice hot chocolate in the tea house, right.
Little did I know that the tea house didn’t open until June 1st!.. What. I was like a week too early. So instead I enjoyed my lunch and nice cold drink on the rocks by a thawing Lake Agnes, simply staring at this amazing place and ‘Remember(ing) to Breathe’. It was only day one!.
The adventures of Patchegal 