Mini Adventures in Yoho and Banff

After checking out the Natural Bridge, we decided to follow the road up to Emerald Lake. I have visited a few times in the summer and fall, but never when it was covered in a blanket of fluffy snow.

We parked alongside a few other vehicles in the parking lot and decided to give the Hamilton Falls Trail a try. It’s a short little 0.7km trail up to the falls with the opportunity to continue on to the lake.

As luck would have it, there weren’t any other fresh tracks on the trail, we were the first ones there for the day. It was a true winter wonderland, and any step off of the packed trail would land you over your knees in powder.

My dogs have spent the whole winter in the prairies, where our snow is quickly packed down and hardened by the wind, so they gleefully bounded through the fluff.

We made our way to the falls and then waded through the powder to get a closer look at the ice, and after snapping a few photos we made our way back to the parking lot.

Back down at the vehicle we decided to take a look at Emerald Lake. A few more vehicles had accumulated in the parking lot and cross country skiers were getting set up.

We did a small loop around and got some very important dog cuddles in before hopping back in the vehicle to head to our next adventure spot.

Our drive didn’t last long before we were stopped by a park warden at Field who informed us that there was an accident up ahead, and the road would be closed for at least another hour. It was nearly lunch time anyways, so we decided to go to the Truffle Pig Bistro while we waited for the road to clear.

While we enjoyed a drink and some mac and cheese, our server informed us that she had just heard that the road may be blocked for up to five hours. We discussed our options and brainstormed some other places that we could explore while we waited.

After leaving the restaurant, we stopped in at Velvet Antler Pottery to pass some more time. This house, converted to a gorgeous pottery shop, was established in 1982, and is filled to the brim with treasures.

Field isn’t a very big place, and after visiting the restaurant and pottery shop we were running out of places to go. We decided to try driving down the highway to see exactly how far we could get before we were stopped by the accident.

Much to our surprise, we drove along without ever seeing evidence of an accident or traffic backlog. Whatever it was must have been cleared up sooner than we thought, and we made it back to Lake Louise without a problem. There was still some time left before we were supposed to pick up my boyfriend and his brother who were skiing at the mountain, so we drove to the lake for one last adventure.

As to be expected, the lake was busy with people walking, skating, and enjoying the warm weather. An ice castle sculpture framed the skating rink creating a magical photo opportunity.

We decided to start walking up the Lake Agnes Tea House Trail and turn around whenever we got a text that the skiers were done for the day. We made it up about halfway before we got a message that they were ready to head home.

The dogs were having a blast, but we could tell that June was starting to feel a little sore after all of the fun, so we agreed that it was the perfect time to turn back. Megan’s dog, Taylor, disagreed. She had done this trail many times before, and knew that we weren’t at the end yet. She dug her feet in and stubbornly refused to turn around while we giggled at her commitment to the hike.

Eventually, with the help of some treats, she agreed to let us turn around and we made our way back to the vehicle.

We packed up our tired dogs, picked up the tired skiers, and made our way back to Canmore. What a wonderful day it was!

Happy Exploring!