I definitely was instrumental in convincing everyone - the idea of teahouses halfway up mountains is so quaint that I wanted to participate in the afternoon tea while in the middle of a hike. Of two teahouses (Lake Agnes and Plain of Six Glaciers), we chose the one that also offered views of six different glaciers. It took some Googling, but the six glaciers are Aberdeen, Upper and Lower Lefroy, Upper and Lower Victoria, and Pope's. Can you see them, left to right?
Well, we didn't quite get the 9am start we were looking for, but 9:30 was close. There were a couple cars pulled off at different points when we took the hour-long drive back to Lake Louise (since we were just there yesterday), but we didn't stop to look for animals. Which was perfect, because we got some of the final "spots" (at that point, it was merely concrete surface area - lines were a formality) in the parking lot at Lake Louise. Another minute, and we would have been circling for ten, or parking hundreds of yards away.
We trotted off, along the same path as yesterday's geocaches along Lake Louise. That was the first mile. The next mile was some decently high grade. Then a mile of gradual slope. Then, the trees began to decrease.
We were high above Lake Louise. Abbot Pass, named after the "first" mountaineering fatality in Canada (though we all decided that it was probably just the first by European settlers) was across a pit of gravel and scree that hid the crevasses to a glacier.
We stopped to have lunch (given that it was 1pm - our 6.6 km/4 miles took two hours). The critters that were around every picnic area were checking us out too. The magpies quirked their heads at us; one ground squirrel was bold enough to put his paws on Valerie's thigh before she shrieked. (That yell helped her out a week and a half ago when her phone was stolen.)
The slight sun-basking on flat rocks on the scree pile made it hard to get up and walk the final 2/3 mile to the viewpoint, but hike we did. Uphill, with a hyperbolizing groaning father in the rear.
However, he was also the one that called out, "A big one is falling!" Not to be taken in by his hijinx (but also wary enough to check out the surroundings), Mom and I both saw no rocks falling... because it was an avalanche cascading off the mountainside opposite us.
A video, you ask? Sure:
We played in the scree pile for a bit as Valerie and Ben headed up the path toward a waterfall. (There was apparently some skidding involved on their part, but Mom, Dad, Deanne, and I all stayed on our feet.)
We had planned to meet up with them back at the teahouse - the exposed slope of the mountain was a bit chilly for just dilly dallying. On our way back, we ran into two of Valerie's friends from Alabama we had seen on the street in Banff the night before. Shortly after we told them of our avalanche and continued down the trail, we heard the rumblings of another small ice slide. Well, "small" in that grand scale.
We found those lovely flat rocks again, and waited for Valerie and Ben. It was mid-afternoon, but the first hike wasn't all that tough... and there was something called the "Teahouse Challenge"...
Valerie, Ben, and I peeled off to do tea at the teahouse before hiking on to Lake Agnes. The other three started back down the mountain.
We pretty much remained along the treeline as we went along the Highline Trail. It was gradually downhill for a few miles, which meant once we hit the forest, we were starting to hike steeply up to Lake Agnes.
We've been seeing some great wildflowers and berries. Summer is short in these mountains! I caught a bee headed to some lupine (or other flower... I'm not too concern).
Lake Agnes was named for the first two women that got to it - thankfully, both were named Agnes. It is nestled between two "beehives" (rounded mountains) and is framed by a range in the background as well.
More tea, a half game of Love Letter, a mountain square (graham cracker crust, chocolate chips, raisins, coconut), and some of their delicious brown oatmeal bread and hummus, and we were headed back downhill to drive back to Canmore and meet up with the parents.
Oh, I almost forgot to mentioned the best part about the hike! The teahouse was situated right over a waterfall from Lake Agnes down to Mirror Lake!
We stopped at the lodge to pee, then got home in time for sausage, broccoli, beer, and a game of Istanbul. Dad won - shocking, right? Pretty good for a guy we dragged around for ten miles.
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