Soaking in the Radium Mineral Springs Pool
Leaving the Mineral Pool
Lake Lousie
June 23
We stopped by the Radium Falls Mineral Pool on our way to Lake Louise. It was a unique & enjoyable experience. The pool, olympic sized but only about 3-5 ft. deep, was surrounded by mountains. The pool water was a beautiful shade of blue/green & the temp was somewhere around 105 degrees. We were a little uncertain what the procedure in a mineral pool is so we just noted what others were doing. Generally speaking the other people in the pool were just hanging onto the sides of the pool & just chatting with one another. Simply put, "soaking!" I enjoyed floating in the water & it was like floating in the sea but the water was not at all salty. The minerals, I suppose, are what keep one afloat so easily. At one point I noted that everyone was looking in the same direction up the mountain, so I looked up also. What should I be looking at? I could see nothing. Maybe it was a special time of day & there was a tradition or rite of some sort that we should observe. Even the life guard (salvateur!) was looking skyward! So I kept looking up along with everyone else. Sure enough I saw something! Two white mountain goats were very high above us seemingly balancing on the edge of the cliff. A fun sighting! We soaked in the pool for about an hour, took our daily shower in the shower room & then motored north. We took the Bow Valley Pkwy (1A) as suggested by a very knowledgeable young guide in the information center in Radium. It was a lovely scenic drive through more mountains into Lake Louise – a bustling international tourists' town center. Once again we became oriented at the information center & then went into the national park campground where we camped for 2 nights. After securing our space we returned to the village to look/shop around & then came back to the camp for dinner. Steve cooked some nice pork tenderloins on our new grill & I made salad & baked beans. Pretty delightful in the open air.
On Sat. we drove to the Lake Louise (named for Queen Victoria’s daughter!) & were amazed at the beauty & the color of that lake also surrounded by mountains. Many people were enjoying canoe rides along the lake & being that it was a sunny & warm day nothing could have seemed more pleasant. Steve & I took off on a “simple” 2 ½ mi hike to Lake Agnes. Well, it was straight up for that entire distance! About 350 degree elevation climb. Phew! At the top was a lovely log tea house where people were enjoying pots of freshly made English tea. We tried to join in the ritual but became frustrated when the service was slow & not organized. What we really enjoyed was water & that we had with us so after a few sips, down the mountain we went with the knowledge that we would be viewing the beautiful Lake Louise all the way down. Lake Agnes at the top was lovely also. All these mountain lakes were formed by glaciers which formed the cavity & then the melting glacier waters fill the lakes with their clear turquoise waters. The following day we broke camp and drove to another nearby lake called Lake Moraine with the intention of doing some hiking along or around that lake. The weather unfortunately had turned colder & rainy during the night so at Lake Moraine we just viewed it & took advantage of visiting the little gift shop. We learned later that the word “morane” means the rocks & rubble that the glacier pushes in front & on the sides of it & then the morane is left behind when the glacier retreats. So at Lake Moraine there were huge rocks & boulders surrounding the lake. Lots of people we having fun climbing around on them. I observed that many seniors were having as much fun climbing around on the rocks as the young people. It reminded me of how excited our children would be when we'd pull into a camping area that had lots of big rocks!
Leaving the Mineral Pool
Lake Lousie
