The Long Way to Lake Moraine

Last day from our one week trip to Lake Louise was reserved for Lake Moraine. It happened to be a Friday, during COVID-19 restrictions. Little we knew how the day will unfold…

Lake Louise Village

There are no longer buses connecting all the tourist attractions, except for the public transit buses from Banff to Lake Louise and to Lake Moraine.

In order to catch the first bus to Lake Moraine at 8:17 am, we needed to walk 4 km from our accommodation The Deer Lodge to the Lake Louise Village bus stop.

We started our walk around 7 am in a cold and dark morning. Not too long on the road, we met a couple returning to Lake Louise. The guy was holding a bear spray in one hand ready to use it, and a flash light in the other hand. “Bear in the area!”, he shouted. “We are going to Lake Moraine”, I said. “A bear was spotted in the area, we are turning back”, the guy said. “We are going to the lake”, I insisted. And we parted our ways.

Half way to the village’s bus stop is the intersection with the road to Lake Moraine. It was 7:30 am and the road was closed for cars, except for buses: parking at the lake was already full. Now we know: weekend in Alberta includes the Fridays!

We arrived at the Lake Louise Village at the crack of down. To our shocking surprise, the bus to Lake Moraine passed by without stopping. Later we found out that the Banff Roam Transit decided for the Moraine bus to skip the Lake Louise Village stop on Fridays and weekends… The reason for this decision was that tourists coming by car will park in the area and take the bus in order to go to the lake.

The only way for us to get to our destination was to go 50 km in the opposite direction to Banff with the Lake Louise bus, and return back to the village and further away with the Moraine bus. A supposedly 14 km trip took us more than 100 km to reach our destination.

Lake Moraine Reflections

The well-known lake is half of the size of Lake Louise. The unique shade of azure blue and the beautiful scenery propel Lake Moraine to the top of the Banff National Park tourist attractions.

We were luckier at the end of the trip. The bus driver was nice enough to stop at the Lake Louise village without having to do all the Banff switcheroo again.

Which lake do we like? The answer is Lake Louise!

Map

Related

• Hiking the Plain of Six Glaciers Trail
• The Crown Jewel of Banff National Park: Lake Louise
• Smokey Lake Louise
• One week at Lake Louise: The Deer Lodge