You've probably seen this slice of paradise before, either in a commercial for some rugged SUV or as a screensaver on your smart TV. It's as beautiful in person as it looks (all these pictures are 100% unedited!), and it was totally worth the effort to go to see it.
Moraine Lake is a 124-acre lake tucked among ten gorgeous peaks of the Canadian Rockies. It's fed by Fay Glacier and, as we learned with Yoho National Park's Emerald Lake, a beautiful green-blue color due to the sunlight's refraction of rock flour hanging out in the glacial water. This water is absolutely gorgeous, and with the reflection of the nearby mountains and glaciers, it's really picture-perfect. It really isn't hard to see why Moraine Lake is the most photographed lake and place in all of Canada.
Because the 14-kilometer road from town is closed to private vehicles, we had to take a tour bus to get to the lake. The drive is about half an hour from the Lake Louise Ski Lodge, which every shuttle company uses for pick-ups. Luckily we didn't get car sick: the drive was very slow due to bicyclists on the road. The views along the way were lovely, but nothing beat the views of Moraine Lake and the Ten Peaks.
First, we hiked up what is called the Rockpiles Trail to overlook the lake from.... a pile of rocks. Then we walked along the shore and sat and enjoyed the water with a bunch of other tourists doing the same thing. There were kayakers, paddle boarders, brave swimmers, and sunbathers. We hiked more than five miles before we decided we had our fill of Moraine Lake for the day. I'll definitely have to get back at some point, though, because if this wasn't the most beautiful place on Earth, I don't know what is.
One last bit of excitement of the day was seeing a black bear off the side of the road on the drive back. Unfortunately, it was too quick to grab a photo, but it was a great spotting to add to the list of animals we saw on our Canadian road trip!