Taylor Lake – Banff
Heyooo!!! Back to Shelli n’ Debbie’s hiking adventures!!!This blog has a little bit of ADD + slacker style to it. I can’t keep consecutive with blog posts + I jump all over the place. So I’m back to continuing the Canadian Rocky adventures of Debbie the NY City Mouse.
When I met Debbie in Los Angeles she was so city, her knowledge of wildlife was pigeons + cockroaches. We went hiking at Griffith Park – I was much more fit back then + Debbie was gasping within 10 minutes of hiking. Fast forward to this summer, Debbie had walked Scotland’s West Highland Way + I my hiking legs have gotten SOFT!!! Debbie’s visit got me my hiking legs back + lord knows how I loved getting back into it!
I had read about a couple hikes that were of interest, but alas they had been washed out by the floods. I asked a park ranger at the Banff information center what hike would be similar to what I was looking for + she suggested Taylor Lake. The trailhead parking lot is about a 15 minute drive east of Lake Louise on highway 1.
Not knowing what to expect, we headed out with our explorer caps on.
City Mouse was loving it!!!
The trail is a steady uphill. Most hikes in the Rockies are wooded trails with nothing much to look at. We just determinedly climbed up + up + up + up, huffing + puffing. It wasn’t until maybe 2 hours of going uphill that we saw a family coming down. “It’s so worth it! Only 15 more minutes to go!” they encouraged. Oh thank Zeus, because we weren’t sure what in the heck was going on!
Once you break through the wooded trail, it’s always like, “AAAAAAAHHHHH”!!!
That’s supposed to be like a chorus of angels singing.
A beautiful woodland meadow!!! AAAAAAAHHHH!!!
Debbie trying to bust out her camera.
Oh my turquoise blue!
Glacier fed waters.
The reason for the bright blue colored water in the lakes is due to the glacial runoff, called “rock flour”. The rock flour flows into the lake + these particles are what give off the bright blue pizzazz!
Debbie + I brought snacks + found a perfect little spot to have lunch.
It was lovely, until…..
Illustrated by Perry Shirley
We were getting EATEN ALIIIIIIVE!!!! Pay attention, people – BUG SPRAY! ALBERTA! SUMMER! GOOD! We were literally being tortured by the evil scavengers to a point where we hitting ourselves over + over + kind of looked like violent crack addicts on a bad trip.
Goodbye Taylor Lake!!! Down the hill we escaped from the vicious blood suckers.
On the drive back to Canmore we stopped by to grab a coconut water + a power aide at the Castle Mountain Chalet General Store cuz we drank all of our water + were dying for electrolytes. What a view!
I definitely want to go back to Taylor Lake + spend the day up there lounging around! There were campsites available + nice picnic tables up there for your enjoyment as well!!! Have an awesome weekend everyone!!! XOXO
how's it going, eh? 
They grow them mosquitos big in the northern climates! I was just in Minnesota, and I said I saw one that was roughly the size and ferocity of a small but extremely feral kitten. Still, it doesn’t change my opinion that I NEED TO GET TO BANFF.
Yes!!! What Canada lacks in a lot of things, it makes up for in it’s natural beauty! It’s insane how beautiful it is up here!!!!
HOLLA HOLLA, que pasa Nan, again terrific photos of
God’s Country, Wow, sum spectacular scene’s!!!!! good
stuff U got the eye of the tiger…..LOL !!!!! well it looks
like U and Deb had a AWsuM day in the Rockies except
the squits were killing U….hehehe!!!!! take care, Dad’s
Thanks dad!!!! Chip off the ol’ block!
Beautiful! I’ve never been up there…I’ll have to add it to the list! How long did it take, round trip?
It was a winner winner chicken dinner!!! Round trip was four hours??? But we didn’t take any breaks + were walking really fast!!! I’d say 5-6 hours at a leisurely pace!