Life Abundant

Larch Valley Hike

Living in northwestern Montana has its incredible benefits and also its challenges.  Perhaps the biggest benefit is the abounding natural beauty that still takes our breath away after being here for a year and a half. We are blessed to live on the shore of the gorgeous Flathead Lake and to look across at a wall of the jagged Swan Mountain range (part of the Rocky Mountains). We’re also an hour from Glacier National Park, and about a 2-hour drive from Canada.

On the other hand, we’re far away from our family (who are based in Pennsylvania), we live in a little town of about 2,600 people in a fairly remote part of the country, and we have to drive about 25 minutes to the nearest shopping center and our church and are several hours from the nearest city.

Since we live so close to two of Canada’s most famous national parks, we decided to take advantage of the extended Labor Day weekend and made the 6-hour drive to Banff National Park. Banff was the perfect place to enjoy the end of Summer, with beautiful weather and countless acres of nature’s finest to explore. After our visit, we can confidently say that Banff National Park is one of the most beautiful national parks we’ve ever had the privilege to explore.

We chose a few different hikes to do during our time at Banff. Two of our favorites were Larch Valley and Eiffel Lake. These trails both start from Moraine Lake and share the same first few miles along 11 graded switchbacks that eventually fork into one direction or the other. Because our time in the park was short, we decided to do both trails in one day so we could see as much as possible.

The Larch Valley Trail is also known as the “Valley of Gold”, as the Larch tree is the only one in the evergreen family that changes color in the fall. We were a little early to see the Valley of Gold in its full glory, but we were able to see a few of the Larch trees and underbrush change color as we were there for the start of fall.

The trail leads to a beautiful valley “The Valley Of Ten Peaks” where you can literally see 10 different mountain peaks that rise up around you, with Mount Temple and Pinnacle Mountain being the most prominent. If you continue through the valley another 1.55 miles and up another 656 ft of elevation gain you’ll reach Sentinel Pass.

Eiffel Lake Trail

We still had some energy left after hiking through Larch Valley, so we decided to continue on and hike the Eiffel Lake Trail, which takes you high along the side of the valley to panoramic views overlooking Eiffel Lake and the Valley of the Ten Peaks.  It’s absolutely stunning! If you hike to Eiffel Lake from the trails starting point at Moraine Lake, it’s 7 miles round trip, but from the junction, it’s about 3.5 miles.

The narrow trail winds its way along the valley, through trees and shale fields with beautiful views ten peaks the whole time. We reached Eiffel lake, climbed up off the path to a ledge that overlooked the valley to eat our lunch, and were joined by this adorable chipmunk, who wanted us to share.

Lake Louise

Meet Lake Louise. It’s probably the most famous lake in Banff National Park for its incredible natural beauty, the stunning Fairmount Chateau hotel that sits along its shores, and because of its accessibility for all visitors (since you don’t have to hike to get to it). There are beautiful gardens surrounding the chateau during the summer and fall, and a lovely pathway that around one side of the lake.

This area gets very crowded during the day, so if you’re looking for some quieter time enjoying this view, we would recommend getting up early and going to watch the sunrise light up the peaks of the mountains that dramatically dive down to touch Lake Louise’s crystal blue waters.

We camped at the Lake Louise Campground, just a few short miles from the lake. The campground is very nice and is situated right along this beautiful stream (pictured above), with great campsites with fire pits, and an electric “bear fence” that surrounds it, which made us feel a bit safer. We enjoyed our time camping and made some great meals over our camp stove.

Mant people choose to stay in the town of Banff, which is adorable, but a little too touristy for our taste. We did go into Banff one night for dinner, and ate at a seriously amazing restaurant called Coyotes Southwestern Grill, which was a serious treat after a long day of hiking! We’d definitely recommend a visit.  If you do, get a glass of wine, an order of their home-made cornbread, and our favorite dish the Tagliatelle With Wild Mushrooms and Pancetta.

Moraine Lake

Moraine Lake is by far one of the most beautiful and blue lake’s I’ve ever seen! The peaks that surround this lake are stunning and so dramatic as they stretch high towards the sky and then dive down straight into the bright blue water. Because of its popularity, the small parking lot fills up quickly, so if you want a parking spot show up early.

We woke up one morning to watch the sunrise from the shore of this lake.  Chris made breakfast and coffee on our camp stove in the parking lot and then we climbed the large pile of rocks (which you can see in the picture above) to set up for the perfect picture taking spot. Unfortunately, we weren’t the only ones with this idea. Soon many other photographers showed up to take their best shot at capturing the beauty of the lake at it’s stillest in the soft morning light.

If you’re looking to hike, shoot photography, or simply sit along this lakes beautiful shores, arrive early, as the parking lot fills up quickly and you might even get stuck in some traffic on the narrow windy road that leads to this gorgeous natural wonder. As mentioned before, Moraine Lake is also the starting point to both the Larch Valley Hike, and Eiffel Lake Hike.

Lake Agnes Tea House

The Lake Agnes Tea House hike is also an absolute gem!  It is for sure one that you definitely shouldn’t miss if you ever visit Banff. This tea house is one of two that you can hike to in the park. It’s the more popular of the two because the hike is a bit shorter and less strenuous than the other tea house (called the Plain of Six Glaciers Tea House).  A 4.5-mile (1,312ft elevation gain) round-trip hike takes you to Agnes Lake Tea House that is perched high at 7,005 feet. We chose this hike because we only had a half-day before we had to start our 6-hour drive back to Montana.

We would strongly recommend waking up early for this hike. We had heard rumors that the tea house got busy quickly because of its popularity, so we were on the trail soon after sunrise. We were the second people to arrive at Lake Agnes and the Tea House, which meant that we caught the lake during its morning stillness.

The sun was glimmering on the waters of Lake Agnes with a backdrop of the misty mountain peaks was so worth the 5:30 am wake-up call!  We also got to take our pick of the tables on the tea house’s covered porch.

The Agnes Lake Tea House was built in 1901 and started serving tea in 1905 and to this day has no running water or electricity (which means you can’t pay for treats with a credit card, only cash or traveler’s checks). In fact, all of the supplies have to either be carried up by workers, on horseback or dropped off by helicopter. We loved spending some significant time there, enjoying the view and tasting some delicious tea and baked goods from the tea house.

They offer over 100 different varieties of loose leaf tea and fresh-baked goodies to replenish your blood sugar after the arduous descent. During our visit, we chose a lavender green tea and chocolate mint tea to go along with our freshly baked biscuits & jam, and mountain bar (pictured above).  All of it was absolutely delicious! You can check out the rest of their menu here.

If you’re into exploring National Parks and you enjoy the great outdoors, we’d recommend that you put Banff on your list for sure! We’ll be back someday to explore more of the unreal beauty that it has to offer!