Tag: Moraine Lake

Visiting Moraine Lake

On By wherekatieisIn Canada, North America, Travel

Today, I’m going to tell you (and show you!) all about visiting my favorite lake in Banff National Park, Moraine Lake. I visited Banff with my husband Brian earlier this month, and was honestly blown away by how much more beautiful Moraine Lake was in person than in any of the photos I’d seen!

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Moraine Lake. No filters or editing needed– it’s that beautiful!

The stunning lake is located in the Valley of the Ten Peaks, aptly named for the ten peaks of the Canadian Rockies that can be seen surrounding it. It gets its beautiful teal blue color for an interesting reason. As the glaciers that feed it melt, they carry with it silt, or bits of glacial rock and debris, that the sunlight refracts off of to create the incredible color.

  • When to visit:
    • If you’re wanting to see Moraine Lake at its peak teal color, it’s best to wait until mid-June. By then, the lake will have fully thawed and will have risen enough to take on its characteristic shade of blue.
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This color is unbelievable.
  • Where to hike at Moraine Lake:
    • There are several different trail options that offer stunning views here. The Shoreline Trail is an easy, 1.8 mile trail that covers about half of Moraine Lake’s shoreline and offers endlessly beautiful views. It ends at an area of rapids at the other end of the lake, and you hike back the way you came.
      • I loved these views so much that Brian and I did this trail twice– once on our first day in Banff and again on our last day!
    • The Rockpile Trail is another popular hike at Moraine Lake. It’s a moderate, 0.5 mile climb up a large pile of rocks that offers stunning views of the lake and the surrounding mountains.
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View from the Rockpile Trail.
  • Canoeing at Moraine Lake:
    • Moraine Lake Lodge offers canoes for rent starting at 8:30am during the summer months. Since no reservations are allowed, coming early if you want to canoe is your best bet!
    • We did not canoe here as it was too windy and cool on our first visit here, and on our second visit, we had just canoed at Lake Louise.
    • Whether you canoe at Moraine Lake or Lake Louise, it is pricey. The current cost is $110 CAD (about $85 USD), but is well worth it in my book. The views from the water are honestly incredible, and my take is that who knows when I’ll be back again to experience it!

 

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What a beautiful morning at Moraine Lake.

Visiting Banff National Park was a major check off my bucket list, and I highly reccomend adding it to yours if it’s not there already! Have you visited Banff before? What was your favorite site here? Let me know in the comments! And if you have any questions about visiting Banff, comment below and I’ll address them in my next post!

 

Planning a trip to Banff: Where to Start

On By wherekatieisIn Canada, North America, Travel

Banff National Park is Canada’s oldest national park and is located in the gorgeous Canadian Rockies in Western Canada. It’s a popular destination for good reason, whether you visit in the summer to see the stunning teal blue of the glacier-fed lakes, or in the winter for skiing and other winter sports. Here are some tips to help get you started when planning a visit to Banff, and make sure you check out my other Banff posts for more details on visiting the stunning Moraine Lake, the best time to explore Lake Louise, and all the best places to eat in Banff. You can’t go wrong visiting this incredible place!

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The beautiful Moraine Lake, my favorite of all the lakes in Banff.
  • How to get here:
    • Fly into Calgary International Airport (YYC), and get a rental car from there to finish your journey to Banff. It’s about a 1.5 hour drive from Calgary to Banff, making it by far the closest major airport, and the drive is so gorgeous that it’ll go by fast!
    • There are also options to take a bus from Calgary to Banff, like this one, but I highly recommend renting a car since you’ll need one to fully experience all of the different lakes, beautiful drives, and hikes that Banff has to offer.
  • Where to stay:
    • For convenience of visiting all that Banff National Park has to offer, I recommend staying in either the town of Banff or Canmore.
    • The town of Banff itself is adorable, with a fun downtown area to explore and lots of good restaurants, and is a easy drive to most of the popular lakes and hiking sites from here.
    • Canmore is about a 15 minute drive from downtown Banff, and it can be a more affordable location to stay in, and still has grocery stores, a nice downtown area, and plenty of dining options.
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Downtown Banff is just the cutest, right?
  • Plan ahead! 
    • Banff is a very popular summer destination, so planning as far in advance as you can is important! The glacial lakes, like Lake Louise and Moraine Lake, typically do not fully thaw and take on their beautiful teal color until about mid-June, so if you’re like me, you’ll want to visit between mid-June and early September to see them at their best.
    • Hotels, Airbnbs, and campsites book up quickly (especially the more affordable options!) so planning ahead is a must. With that being said, this past summer, I found a great deal on directs flights from Nashville to Calgary on WestJet, so I ended up booking our trip only about six weeks in advance! We ended up staying in a camper in Canmore that I found on Airbnb, which was fine, but we probably could have gotten a hotel for about the same price if we’d booked six months plus in advance!
  • Go early or go late to the most popular sites! 
    • Visiting Banff in the summer means that it will be busy, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but means that you need to be strategic about when you visit the most popular lakes. Lakes like Moraine Lake and Lake Louise have limited parking, and once the parking lots are full, no more visitors will be allowed in until others leave.
    • Going first thing in the morning (i.e., before 7 or 7:30am) allows you to practically have the lake to yourself, perfect for soaking it all in and taking all the photos you want.
    • The sun sets quite late in Banff during the summer, at times as late as 10 or 10:30pm, so you can still enjoy several hours of daylight by visiting the more popular lakes in the evening. By mid-evening, Lake Louise and Moraine Lake are much quieter and are perfect for exploring on your own.
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An early morning at Lake Louise. It doesn’t look real, but trust me, it’s even better in person!
  • Drive the Icefields Parkway 
    • A trip to Banff is not complete without a day spent driving the famous Icefields Parkway, a highway that connects Banff National Park to Jasper National Park. It’s considered one of the most beautiful drives in North America (if not the whole world!) and it’s just something you need to experience for yourself.
    • Plan a day to just drive this gorgeous route, and know that you’ll be pulling over frequently to take in the sights, like Bow Lake and Bow Summit, which overlooks the stunning teal blue Peyto Lake.
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Just one of many gorgeous stops along the Icefields Parkway.

Have you been to Banff National Park yet, or is it on your bucket list, like it was for my husband and I? I can’t say enough how incredible it was and how highly I recommend visiting! Banff is honestly one of my favorite places in the world now, and I can’t wait to go back again! What would you like to see on the blog next? Let me know in the comments!

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The water is all so clear and so reflective, like it is here at Grassi Lakes.