August 1st, 2020: Plain of Six Glaciers

Type of hike: Out and back

Time (approx): 5 hours 6 mins

Distance: Around 17.1km

Hello, and welcome to my second favourite place on earth - Lake Louise!

The Hike

Fueled by the high from completing Sendero Diez Vistas on my own, I impulsively made the decision to make the trip to Lake Louise to explore the Canadian Rockies. It was the best decision of my life, despite the long drive.

I stayed at Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise, which gave me the opportunity to do the Plain of Six Glaciers hike really early in the morning. Of course, you do not need to stay at this pricey hotel to do it, but I preferred the convenience and not having to beat the crowd in finding parking spots.

The trailhead is somewhere along the lakeshore in the back of the hotel. This trail connects to Big Beehive, Little Beehive, Lake Agnes Teahouse and the Plain of Six Glaciers Teahouse. Most people only make the trip to Lake Agnes but I think it is worth the extra effort to go to the second teahouse and even further up to the Plain of Six Glaciers Viewpoint.

I was lucky to get a room facing the lake, and this my room view at dawn:

I started the hike at around 6:30am when the sun had just risen. The first destination was Mirror Lake, which was only about a 2.3km trek. There was a steady incline and unfortunately, it started to drizzle a little bit so it got pretty cold real fast. Luckily, the rain did not last long. It was on this trail I discovered bear bells existed and that they could potentially be useful for solo hikers (some people say bears are attracted to the sound though).

Mirror Lake felt very serene and peaceful, and the water was so clear it made the most incredible reflection of the Big Beehive behind it.

It was a mildly hazy day but the sun managed to peak through anyways.

From there, it was a short walk to Lake Agnes Teahouse, which sat right next to a small waterfall. The teahouse opens at 8am.

From the teahouse, you can go to the Little Beehive, or continue around the lake to reach either Devil's Thumb or the Big Beehive. My plan was to reach the Plain of Six Glaciers so I did not have time to visit either one of those.

Lake Agnes was also incredibly beautiful:

I continued on the Highline Trail and, after leaving the lake behind, emerged into the rocky alpines teaming with wildflowers in full bloom. If you ever visited Lake Louise and wondered what the mountains in the back are like, they look like this:

At some point, the trees and flowers start to dissipate and all there is to see are rocky mountains with snow caps (they do not call it the Canadian Rockies for nothing).

The trail became very narrow and because there was not much vegetation to hold anything in place, if you slipped and fell, you would definitely roll down the side of the mountain (see picture below: the path I am standing on is for both going up and back down. Not only did it make social distancing hard but even just merely passing by each other was risky). I was really glad to start early because I did not encounter many people heading up but coming back down afterwards was a challenge.

The Plain of Six Glaciers Teahouse looked quite festive to me, and rather cute. I got a cup of tea, scones and a piece of chocolate cake to go since the seating area was small and I did not want to take up a whole table by myself. The food was disappointing however: the scones were cold and quite dry even with all the jam and butter I slathered on, and the chocolate cake they labelled "best in the world" was so moist to the point I felt like I was eating spoonfuls of margarine. I would definitely skip the food and just get a cup of tea.

It was another 20 minutes to the Plain of Six Glaciers Viewpoint and this part of the trail was not as well maintained mainly because not many people would bother continuing on after reaching the second teahouse. On camera, everything just looked like a bunch of rocks with some snow but when I was actually there and looking all around, I felt so tiny in comparison to all that Mother Nature has to offer. It was a very profound moment.

Heading back down the trail was challenging not just because of the narrow path, but also from all the loose rocks and gravel. I saw many people using hiking poles and those seemed to help their balance a lot. It was very easy to slip and slide.

Instead of taking the Highline Trail back through Lake Agnes, I decided to take the trail that goes around Lake Louise. It offered stunning views of the turquoise waters with the Fairmont Chateau hotel behind it.

What I brought:

1. Bug spray. The bugs on this trail was not as bad as the other ones but definitely enough to annoy me.

2. Bear spray. Solo hikers should carry this at all times.

3. Hydration pack. 2.5L was not enough because it was so hot and sunny on the trek back down.

4. Snacks. The food offered at the teahouses are not exemplary, and I believe it is cash only as well.

5. Lip balm. It was very dry.

6. Camera. I wanted to take some really good photos but I'm not a very good photographer so trying to figure out how to work the lighting settings proved too difficult. In the end, my phone took better photos than my camera did.

Overall thought:

I have been to Lake Louise many times over the years and stayed at the Fairmont, and have always wondered what the mountains were like in the back. Nobody in my family liked to hike so we never explored but since I was on my own this time, I was so glad to be able to go see for myself.

I loved walking in the rocky alpines with looming mountains all around and not much trees to cover anything. It reminded me of Sound of Music a lot. I would suggest to go early to avoid human traffic jam due to the narrow trails, but to be honest, not a lot of people try to make the journey past the first teahouse anyways. This is definitely a trail I want to bring my friends on when they come visit because everything is so scenic and calm. It is a nice break from city life.

Final note: there are two outhouses on this trail.