Lake Agnes (BOTL)

Elevation: 2135 m
Elevation Gain: 433 m
Lake Agnes was named by Walter Wilcox for Susan Agnes Macdonald, the second wife of Canada’s first Prime Minister. Lady Macdonald visited Lake Agnes as part of her trans-Canadian tour in 1886 following the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway. In order to better-see the country that the newly built railway had united, Lade Macdonald famously rode atop the train’s cowcatcher. Since 1901, the shores of Lake Agnes have been home to a rustic cabin. This structure was built by the railway to shelter hikers. In 1905, it began serving tea (a tradition which continues to this day).
My Ascents:
September 14 2019, August 15 2020
Trailhead: Lake Louise Parking Lot

Before setting off to Lake Louise for our much-anticipated 4-day camping trip, Brianne reached out to her parents to see if they would be interested in joining us for a family hike up to lovely Lake Agnes. As a little girl, Brianne remembered visiting Lake Louise and enjoying treats at the Lake Agnes tea house with her parents. Now that we have little girls of our own, she wanted them to have similar memories at the lake with their “Nannie” and “Papa”. Better still, we figured that we could easily obtain hard-to-come-by Lake Louise weekend parking since we were camping only 10-minutes away. Unfortunately, that meant a very early wakeup for her parents who were day-tripping from Calgary but they didn’t seem to mind. With a (in retrospect lax) meeting time of 9 am set, we left for the Lake Louise parking lot at 8:45 am (about 3-hours after “Nannie” and “Papa” hit the road).

At 8:56 am, we pulled into the Lake Louise parking lot and managed to secure one of the final spots left. It was a good thing that we set a 9 am meeting time with Brianne’s parent’s because 9:10 am would have been too late!

Navigating the crowded lakeshore path is a harrowing experience at the best of times and is worse-still during a pandemic!

A fitting 2020 family photo! Hiking in a mask is less than ideal but it at least set our minds somewhat at ease in congested areas.

LEFT: A sleepy bumblebee enjoys the view of Mount Victoria from his dew-soaked fireweed perch.
RIGHT: Papa leads the way up the popular Lake Agnes trail while Mera enjoys some quality hiking time with her Nannie. Despite the lack of others in this particular photo, the hike to Lake Agnes was, regrettably, crowded and we sometimes felt “in the way” since our more relaxed pace was suited to small children and septuagenarians.

LEFT: “Pinkalinka” seems to have become a regular hiking partner of ours and insisted on this random photo in the woods on the way up.
RIGHT: Nannie and Papa pause for a smile at “Instagram Corner” (which provides the first view of Lake Louise from above).

After a 2ish km walk, the “kids” were due for a snack/elevenses so we stopped at Mirror Lake and enjoyed the view towards the Big Beehive (left) and Mount St. Piran (right).

One of the “kids” enjoys a less-than-wholesome snack (overpriced green frog candies)…

LEFT: Mirror Lake lives up to its name.
RIGHT: After we ran out of frog candy, it was time to continue onwards and upwards! After a cool start to the morning, the sky cleared and the transition from freezing to sweltering began.

LEFT: The stretch of trail above Mirror Lake provides the first significant views towards the larger peaks in the area including Haddo Peak (left) and glaciated Mount Aberdeen (right).
RIGHT: Massive Mount Lefroy appears to be generating its own weather this morning!

Horses have long been a part of Lake Louise’s history but bored wranglers on cell phones are a more recent phenomenon.

LEFT: A scenic waterfall means that Lake Agnes and its tea house are close-at-hand.
RIGHT: Expecting that the stairs below the tea house might lead to a bottleneck, we donned our masks to stay safe. Ironically, this is the only stretch of trail where we didn’t actually come into close contact with other hikers!

Despite having the stairs to ourselves, our mask-wearing was not in vain as the lakeside environs near the tea house were uncomfortably crowded. When coupled with the mechanical scream of a pump that was taking water from the lake into the tea house, we didn’t spend much time here and opted to continue towards the back of the lake (BOTL) where we hoped to find some semblance of peace.

Mera leads the way towards the BOTL while Papa models the latest in hiking fashion: twin hats. While the crowds dispersed a little beyond the tea house, the trail to the BOTL was, unfortunately, very narrow. With a seemingly constant stream of others looking to pass us, what should have been a nice hike ended up being quite stressful!

LEFT: Brianne and Mera pose with “Nannie” and “Papa” amidst Lake Agnes’ natural rock gardens. You may have noticed that poor Penny is absent from all of these photos; that’s a simple result of the fact that the hike was too crowded for a 2-year-old to do. We’d hoped that she could walk some of the way but, with so many others about, she seemed to always be in someone’s way so we put her into her hiking backpack and I simply carried her up (not that she objected!).
RIGHT: Mount Whyte towers impressively above Lake Agnes’ vibrant shoreline.

After successfully making our way around the lake, we found a pleasant place to sit somewhat away from others and breathed a deep sigh of relief as we finally allowed ourselves to enjoy the beautiful surroundings. Click to see larger.

LEFT: Crowds gather at the still-open tea house despite the ongoing pandemic.
RIGHT: An Instagram photo shoot in progress (not that I objected this time). Soistheman is always wondering where the “bikini girls” are in the Rockies and I’ve finally found an answer for him: Lake Agnes. Despite her attempts to look cool, this girl was, however, never brave enough to lose the sweater or actually go in the water! I bet she got lots of #Likes anyways though…

LEFT: After being on my back all morning, Penny was quite pleased to be released amidst the rubble at the BOTL!
RIGHT: Mount Niblock looms above lovely larch trees from the BOTL.

LEFT: While the trail to Lake Agnes is wide and easy, the BOTL offers the opportunity for some fun hands-on “scrambling”!
RIGHT: Yep, she’s definitely my daughter…

LEFT: Since Penny needs to do whatever her big sister is doing, we soon found ourselves with a pair of little scramblers clambering about!
RIGHT: Penny is, however, still working on her technique.

After regrouping and enjoying (yet another) lunch, we made sure to grab a BOTL family photo before braving the crowded trail back down.

LEFT: Feasting our eyes on the lake’s unreal colors as we begin hiking back.
RIGHT: Brianne and Mera stop to pose in this alpine Eden.

The Big Beehive, the Devil’s Thumb and Mount Whyte backdrop colorful Lake Agnes. Click to see larger.

Redoubt Mountain (left) and Lipalian Mountain (right) rise up beyond the busy tea house. With the front of the lake (FOTL) crowd coming into view, it was time to, once again, mask up.

LEFT: The crowd-free spectacular view from the FOTL (thanks to some artful cropping)!
RIGHT: Looking across the Bow Valley from the top of the waterfall at Lake Agnes’ outlet. Knowing that many of the others here would not be aware of the alternate descent that starts down from the lake’s southeast corner, we made haste in that direction.

Descending another set of stairs which easily breaches the significant headwall below Lake Agnes.

LEFT: Brianne puts her off-trail hiking skills to good use during a recovery op for “Pinkalinka’s” sibling “Calvin’s Daughter.”
RIGHT: Our alternate descent (which rejoins the main Lake Agnes trail at Mirror Lake) was much less busy and provided pleasant views towards massive Mount Aberdeen.

A photo that sums up how I feel about the hike down from Mirror Lake (each and every time that I do it).

Finishing off the hike with postcard-worthy views of Lake Louise. Lake Agnes is, undoubtedly, scenic but, in retrospect, it may have been better to pick something less-crowded during a pandemic! Fortunately, our nearby campsite was well equipped to alleviate crowd-related stress…

… We may not have had any “BOTLs” to destress after the crowded hike to Lake Agnes but we found that a PINT at our nearby campsite proved most effective!

😷 Pandemic or not, when our little ones reflect on their family hiking memories, they’re not going to remember the day’s crowds or our anxiety. What they will remember is a beautiful day spent in the mountains with their mom, their dad and their “Nannie” and “Papa.” 🥰