gnilma's Hiking Adventures 90 - Moraine Lake \ stacker news ~alter

This week we head to Moraine Lake. There are hiking trails around the lake, but through the two times we visited the lake, we never really went hiking around the lake. The first time we went was back in October 2017, when it was still possible for private vehicles to drive to the lake's parking lot. Since it was during autumn during our visit, there was quite a bit of snow on the mountains behind the lake. We also arrived at the lake quite late in the day, so we had limited daylight remaining for the day and only chill for a little bit at the lake beach before heading back. Fun fact, Moraine Lake was the scene on the back of the Canadian $20 bill for their Scenes of Canada Series, which was in circulation between 1969-1979.

We visited the lake again in early September 2021, during which the lake's parking lot was no longer accessible to private vehicles. In order to access the lake, you either had to hike down or take a shuttle bus / tour bus with a permit. There were much less snow on the mountains on our second visit because we were visiting the lake near the end of summer. We also had more time during our second visit, so we walked up a stairwell to a higher vantage point where we could observe the lake from above. When we were done at the higher vantage point, we went down to the beach to let the kids play in the water before taking the shuttle bus back to the overflow parking lot.

Driving down Moraine Lake Road. This road was closed to private vehicles in recent years due to the popularity of the lake and the parking lot being too small.