Lake Moraine starting at 5:25 a.m.!!

After a long day of beautiful wandering at Lake Louise yesterday, we vowed to take a day off to recover. But the weather was supposed to be great and our new hiking buddies, Jill and Mike, convinced us to meet them at Moraine Lake. Because there is only one small parking lot at Moraine, this is a more difficult place to hike. The ranger had told us that the 50 spaces have been filling up by 5:30 a.m., and then they close the road that leads to the lake. So for the second morning in a row we are up VERY early as we make the 22 minute drive from our campground up the mountain to Moraine Lake. The sun was just lighting up the top peaks of the mountains around us when we successfully pulled into one of those coveted parking spaces at 5:25 a.m.

A long line of cars was right behind us, and we certainly hoped that Jill and Mike were one of those. But we were very sad to see that out of 50 spaces here at Moraine Lake, they were car #53 to arrive. Rats! They didn't get a parking space. We were so disappointed for them, because they had driven an hour to get here this morning. We decided to give them our spot, but we had no phone service to reach them. We figured we had more time and less distance to travel to try this another morning. But we had no way to let them know that as the other cars continued to circle in a futile attempt to park.

So we were forced to go on with the planned hike for the day, but without our new hiking buddies who had convinced us to get up this early and go on this hike in the first place. Like most of our hikes these days, the Trail of Ten Peaks started with a steady elevation gain. We found ways to entertain ourselves through these endless switchbacks. For instance, we took pictures sitting in the curved trunk tree,

and pictures with the resident wildflowers. But all those distractions were really just excuses to stop and catch our breath in this thin mountain air.

We caught sight of movement in the trees above us, and for a moment Denisa thought it was the color of a brown grizzly. But instead it was a much kinder and gentler animal.

This buck looks especially nice framed in the corner of a picture with the bright turquoise waters of Moraine Lake.

During the first part of the hike, we could see that lovely water that almost matched Denisa's blouse this day.

By 7:30 we were seeing fewer trees, and we were at eye level with the glaciers on the mountain across from us.

By 8:00 we were officially in the Valley of the Ten Peaks--the name of our trail today.

As we walk beside the peaks, we can't help but take too many pictures.

We have surely wandered into another of God's most impressive wonders today.

Besides majestic mountain peaks, we are also treated to a fine display of wildflowers. Sometimes the two are combined into one picture.

Among the usually daisies and paint brushes, we have a new wildflower on this trail. Denisa has decided to call it "the bad hair day" flower. But this bad hair has a beautiful blue drop of dew on the top.

Mark has named it "Thing 1" and "Thing 2" and "Thing etc" from the Dr. Seuss books. We later looked it up and found it be the western anemone seed head. Yeah, we like our names better too.

We celebrated the beauty around us with a picture together, thanks to a fellow hiker.

The next section of the trail takes us out of the green forest and flowers and dumps us into a valley of scree. We have to walk across some snow, but isn't everyone doing that this summer?

That would lead to some snowball exchange this cool summer day in the Canadian Rockies.

By 11:00 we can see all ten peaks at once. It's hard to get them all in one picture, but a narrow panorama shot can try.

We are hiking to Eiffel Lake. After all the beautiful lakes we have seen in the mountains, this is one of the less impressive. In fact, it's a little hard to even see the lake from the trail.

But it reflects the snow-speckled peaks nicely in its dark waters, and it makes for a good turn-around spot after a trail snack.

We are hiking slowly today, hoping that Jill and Mike can catch a shuttle and join us for this beautiful hike. We are obviously taking way too many pictures during this slow hike.

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But as we turn back towards the trail head, it looks like they weren't successful in that quest for a later parking spot. So we'll have to enjoy the wildflowers,

and the views, without them today.

As we head back down the switchbacks, we can once again see the turquoise water of Moraine Lake below us.

After a little rest and lunch break back at the still-busy parking lot, we are ready for part 2 of our Moraine Lake activities. We carried our inflatable boat to the water's edge and launched.

Once again, the clouds have gathered this afternoon. So our first pictures of the glaciers at the end of the lake don't have that spectacular blue sky we have enjoyed today.

It's hard to describe the color of the water of Moraine Lake, but neon turquoise comes to mind.

Even with that deep color, the water itself is perfectly clear against our kayak paddle.

As we look back behind us, we can see the "Rock Pile" on the left that we climbed to see the lake when we were here with Denisa's sisters and mother. That pile of rocks is sure small when compared to the massive mountains around it.

We rowed to the far end of the lake to see the water rushing in from the glaciers overhead.

We took way too many pictures, but wandering in God's wonders makes that happen.

We are joined by many other boaters, who rented those expensive canoes to have this privilege. Our inflatable kayak has paid for itself by now.

After a few sprinkles of rain, the clouds began dissipating, and we finally got a blue sky picture of some of the ten peaks from the lake.

It's been another epic day in the Canadian Rockies, and we are loving our summer. We are sad that our hiking buddies couldn't join us this day, because we love Moraine Lake. We have been truly blessed!