{"id":1496,"date":"2015-08-23T08:10:15","date_gmt":"2015-08-23T14:10:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/?p=1496"},"modified":"2019-03-16T10:59:55","modified_gmt":"2019-03-16T16:59:55","slug":"moraine-lake-consolation-lakes-banff-national-park-canada-7-23-13","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/?p=1496","title":{"rendered":"Moraine Lake & Consolation Lakes, Banff National Park, Canada (7-23-13)"},"content":{"rendered":"

“No scene has ever given me an equal impression of inspiring solitude and rugged grandeur.\u00a0 I stood on a great stone of the moraine where, from a slight elevation, a magnificent view of the lake lay before me, and while studying the details of this unknown and unvisited spot, spent the happiest half-hour of my life.”\u00a0 – Walter Wilcox, 1905, six years after “discovering”\u00a0Moraine Lake\u00a0with Ross Peacock.<\/em><\/p>\n

The morning of July 23, 2013 was totally overcast, almost foggy at Lake Louise Village.\u00a0 SPHP had decided to return\u00a0for more exploration of\u00a0the Moraine Lake area with Lupe, but the day didn’t look very promising.\u00a0 Moraine Lake was only 14 km away from the turn off the road to Lake Louise.\u00a0 Half-way there, Lupe and SPHP drove out of the gloom and into brilliant sunshine.<\/p>\n

The inspiring solitude Walter Wilcox experienced at Moraine Lake in 1905 is long gone.\u00a0 Now crowds swarm over the rock pile at the E end of Moraine Lake just across the outlet stream.\u00a0 On summer days the large parking lot fills quickly with cars, and they then line the road for long distances.\u00a0 Buses bring more people.\u00a0 It was still early when Lupe and SPHP arrived.\u00a0 Early enough so there were still plenty of places to park in the parking lot, although they were going fast.<\/p>\n

Lupe and SPHP took the very\u00a0short Rock Loop trail leading up to the top of the “rock pile” from which Walter Wilcox had viewed the lake.\u00a0 Hordes of tourists were already there.\u00a0 Although the inspiring solitude is history, the rugged grandeur remains.\u00a0 The striking colorful beauty of the waters of Moraine Lake beyond which lay towering peaks of the\u00a0Valley of Ten Peaks didn’t even look real.\u00a0 The whole scene looked like a fake impossibly beautiful postcard – but it was all\u00a0real.<\/p>\n

\"Lupe<\/a>
Lupe at Moraine Lake, Banff National Park 7-23-15<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Moraine<\/a>
Moraine Lake in the Valley of Ten Peaks from the Rock Pile<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"From<\/a>
From L to R: Mt. Little<\/a><\/strong><\/span> (10,302 ft.)<\/strong><\/span>, Mt. Tonsa<\/a><\/strong><\/span> (10,020 ft.)<\/strong><\/span>, Mt. Perren<\/a><\/strong><\/span> (10,010 ft.)<\/strong><\/span>, \u00a0Mt. Allen<\/a><\/strong><\/span> (10,860 ft.)<\/strong><\/span>,\u00a0Mt. Tuzo<\/a><\/strong><\/span> (10,646 ft.)<\/strong><\/span>, and\u00a0Deltaform Mountain<\/a><\/strong><\/span> (11,240 ft.)<\/strong><\/span>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After visiting the Rock Pile, Lupe and SPHP took the 1.1 km Moraine Lake Lakeshore Trail.\u00a0 The Lakeshore Trail goes along the forested shore on the right side of the photos above to the far end of the lake.<\/p>\n

\"Mt.<\/a>
Mt. Fay<\/span><\/a> (10,610 ft.)<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0and the Fay glacier from the Moraine Lake Lakeshore Trail.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Mt.<\/a>
Mt. Fay (L) and Mt. Little (R) from the Moraine Lake Lakeshore Trail.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On the previous day, Lupe and SPHP had gone up to see\u00a0Eiffel Lake<\/a><\/strong><\/span> and the upper end of the Valley of Ten Peaks.\u00a0 However, Lupe and SPHP had not yet\u00a0been on the 3 km long Consolation Lakes trail which starts just below the Rock Pile at Moraine Lake.<\/p>\n

Due to recent grizzly bear activity in the area there\u00a0was a requirement that people hiking all these trails stay in groups of at least 4 or face a $5,000 fine.\u00a0 Lupe and SPHP waited at the start of the Consolation Lakes trail\u00a0for a likely group to join.\u00a0\u00a0Although far fewer people were interested\u00a0in seeing\u00a0Consolation Lakes than Moraine Lake, it\u00a0didn’t take long\u00a0before SPHP and Lupe were on the way as part of a large group of kids led by a couple of adults.<\/p>\n

The trek to Consolation Lakes was through a forest virtually all the way, so there weren’t really any big views.\u00a0 The trail was broad and easy to follow.\u00a0 It gained elevation at a slow to moderate pace.\u00a0 Approaching Lower Consolation Lake, the forest gave way to a broad flat valley of meadows through which a stream flowed.\u00a0 The meadows ended at a large boulder field which had to be\u00a0traversed to get to the shore of the lake. Lupe and\u00a0SPHP went boulder-hopping and\u00a0wound up sitting on a boulder at the water’s edge relaxing.<\/p>\n

\"Lower<\/a>
Lower Consolation Lake. Beyond the lake, the double peak near the center\u00a0of the photo\u00a0is Bident Mountain. It is separated by a large snowfield or hanging glacier from Quadra Mountain to its right.\u00a0 It’s easy to see the 4 peaks or platforms of Quadra Mountain.\u00a0The green slope at the right side of the photo is part of Mt. Babel<\/a><\/strong><\/span> (10,180 ft.)<\/strong><\/span>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lupe and SPHP stayed there at the edge of Lower Consolation Lake for quite a long while.\u00a0 There were plenty of people around, but not nearly so many as back at Moraine Lake.\u00a0\u00a0Upper Consolation Lake, which is slightly smaller, was just out of sight beyond Lower Consolation Lake.\u00a0 Every 15 or 20 minutes or so the rumbling roar\u00a0of a large snowfall could be heard from\u00a0a valley to the right beyond Lower Consolation Lake.\u00a0 That valley was also out of sight, but seemed to be in front of and to the W (right) of Bident and Quadra Mountains.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, the trail did not extend past the boulder field at the N end of Lower Consolation Lake.\u00a0 SPHP thought it would be great fun for Lupe to explore over to Upper Consolation Lake, from which the source of the rumblings could probably be seen.\u00a0 (According to maps, likely snow falling off glaciers on Mt. Fay.)\u00a0 No one else seemed to be interested in heading over there, however.\u00a0 With the minimum 4\u00a0 in a group rule in effect due to grizzly bears, Lupe and SPHP could not go over there alone.<\/p>\n

The return to Moraine Lake was uneventful.\u00a0 After eating dinner at a picnic ground along the Bow Parkway and spending a little time at Lake Louise Village,\u00a0Lupe and SPHP went to Lake Louise.\u00a0 SPHP sat on a bench with Lupe\u00a0and wrote postcards.\u00a0 A low-flying\u00a0helicopter flew directly overhead and got Lupe all excited.\u00a0 The helicopter hovered for a little while over the far end of the lake.<\/p>\n

As the sun disappeared over the mountains and light was beginning to fade, Lupe and SPHP took the Lakeshore Trail to the far end of Lake Louise.\u00a0 The\u00a0helicopter was long gone.\u00a0 No one was around.\u00a0 Lupe sniffed the air and trotted happily along the trail like she always does.\u00a0 The lake was smooth as glass in the stillness of the evening.\u00a0 By the time Lupe returned, Chateau Lake Louise was all lit up.\"Moraine<\/a><\/p>\n

Links:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Want more Lupe adventures?\u00a0\u00a0Choose\u00a0from\u00a0Lupe’s 2013 Beartooths & Canadian Rockies Adventure Index<\/strong><\/span><\/a>,\u00a0Dingo Vacations Adventure Index<\/a><\/strong><\/span> or Master Adventure Index<\/strong><\/span><\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0Or subscribe free\u00a0to\u00a0new Lupe adventures<\/strong><\/a><\/span><\/span><\/em><\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“No scene has ever given me an equal impression of inspiring solitude and rugged grandeur.\u00a0 I stood on a great stone of the moraine where, from a slight elevation, a magnificent view of the lake lay before me, and while studying the details of this unknown and unvisited spot, spent the happiest half-hour of my … Continue reading Moraine Lake & Consolation Lakes, Banff National Park, Canada (7-23-13)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1488,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[105,32,30,31,106,233,26,17,104,141,230],"class_list":["post-1496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2013-beartoothscanadian-rockies","tag-american-dingo","tag-banff-national-park","tag-canada","tag-canadian-rockies","tag-carolina-dog","tag-consolation-lakes","tag-dingo-vacations","tag-exploring","tag-lupe","tag-moraine-lake","tag-valley-of-ten-peaks"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/adventuresoflupe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/P1050046.jpg?fit=1651%2C1238&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1496"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1496\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20788,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1496\/revisions\/20788"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1488"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}