Fairview Mt

September 13, 2025 -- Lake Louise, Banff

Stats: 10.8 km / 980m gain / 2720m high / 4 hours MT

How to secure a parking spot by the famous Lake Louise? All the shuttle buses were already reserved. The information center told us to park 5km west, in the Lake Louise over-flow parking lot by the highway, and get up at 6:00am. I really didn't want to miss out on this hike so we got up at 5:00am. Hind sight, 6:00am would've worked but it didn't take long after that for the huge parking lots to fill up.

This is a popular trail but once we stayed left at the fork (right went to the Fairview lookout), we only ran into one person during the ascent. But then it's not often we summit a 2720m before 9:00am! We started 6:45am, before the sun was up.

Sunrise.

Mt. Lefroy (3423m) -- west.

Mt. Temple (3543m) -- southwest

Mt. Victoria (3464m) + Mt. Whyte (2744m) from the summit.

Lake Louise

Still some haze from the forest fires -- north.

Are we tough, or what?

Lake Louise, busy as ever.

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We spent the last night of our trip in Salmon Arm. But before the daylight faded, we drove 26 km on the paved Meadows in the Sky Parkway Road in Mount Revelstoke National Park. There we did a 1-hour walk to Heather Lake and the surrounding area. This included the inter-connected fire lookout, Koo Koo Sint, Heather Lake and First Footsteps loop trails.

Looking north at the Monashee mountains.

This fire lookout tower was built in 1927 and was staffed till 1987 when satellite lightening information and aerial fire patrols were widely used. The tower has withstood regular snowpacks that buried everything except the flagpole on top.

Least Chipmunk

The Selkirk Mountain range -- north.

In ancestral times the Ktunaxa referred to the as the animal world, a huge water monster called Yawunik killed many animals. A war party was formed by a large being called Nalmuqcin to destroy Yawunik. They chased him throughout the lands of the Kootenays and Columbia Rivers, forming the mountains of Ktunaxa territory.

Pearly Everlasting