Plain of 6 Glaciers & Beehive

Top of Beehive or top of the world.

Hiking over to overlook of Plain of 6 Glaciers

At the Base-In Front of Lake Louise. We climbed back to the right.

GLORIOUS DAY! We began the day thinking we were going to do an "EASY" Hike (according to the book). I don't know who wrote the book-but it must have been a mountain goat. We started at Lake Louise to hike 8.6 miles to the Plain of 6 Glaciers. The first part was a stroll around the shore of the lake and then you start up. We did not take our trekking poles thinking this would be easy. WRONG! You need the poles to not just help you pull yourself along, but also to help with balance-especially on loose rocks. The trail was beautiful - through lots of beautiful forest-but more challenging than we thought it would be. We hiked up to The Teahouse which was a full view of all 6 glaciers. Had a rest at that point before going on the last mile + to the mountain top overlooking the glacier below. BEAUTIFUL We had lunch on the side of the mountain sitting on rocks since all there is that high is rock. As we started back down, we discussed that we were not that tired and there was another way down which took you to the top of Beehive. Well why not since we were all good to go. Off we went. The first part of the trail was switchbacks but a slow progression always up-not TOO bad. Then we came to the next fork where you continued up and the fun began! This was a very narrow trail which lead straight up at a very sharp incline. We would have to stop every switchback and rest. THIS WAS VERY DIFFICULT! We kept meeting hikers coming down who would tell us it was 15 more minutes. THEY DID NOT TELL THE TRUTH! We we finally reached the summit-WOW WAS IT WORTH IT! The view overlooked two different lakes-Lake Louise & Lake Agnes. It was spectacular and we were so far up! Could not believe how high. We stopped and enjoyed the view of God's creation. Incredible! The trip down the mountain again involved lots of switchbacks, but was much easier than going up. We stopped at another Teahouse on the way down and refreshed with water. We all did not take enough water today since it was hot, but have learned a lesson..Babs did spot a bear while driving to the trailhead,but everyone else missed it. We haven't worried too much since we try to keep Sonja laughing which is music to our ears. We also spotted elk grazing right by the hotel and the deer are just commonplace.

Two interesting bits of trivia-

They have overpasses over the highway for the animals.

We saw them transporting the barrels of sewerage fromthe top of the mountain by helicoptor.

TOTAL MILEAGE TODAY 11.6-TIRED LEGS