We filled our day at Lake Louise with 10 hours of hiking 20 kilometers from Lake Louise to Mirror Lake, to Lake Agnes Tea House, to Little Beehive, to Big Beehive, to the Plain of Six Glaciers, and then all the way back to Lake Louise. It was awesome to hike all the way down the glacial valley from Lake Louise to face the mountain peak we viewed the sunrise glow on earlier that morning.

 

Hike Lake Louise To Lake Agnes

The hike to Lake Agnes is quite quick, taking only about 30 minutes from Lake Louise. You’ll pass by Mirror Lake which is small but charming, and (fittingly) very reflective. At Lake Agnes, you can’t miss the Lake Agnes Tea House, where you can order a cup of tea ($4.50) and biscuits (2 for $8.00) or a variety of other drinks and nibbles. The Lake Agnes Tea House staff hike up to the tea house every day, carrying all the needed supplies and ingredients with them.

Hike Lake Agnes To Little Beehive And Big Beehive

The hike from Lake Agnes to Little Beehive took us about 1 hour round trip (the trail departs from, U-turns, and returns back to Lake Agnes). Once back to Lake Agnes Tea House, we continued on the counter-clockwise loop around Lake Agnes and took the extra 1km detour to Big Beehive. If you don’t have enough time to do the hikes to both Little and Big Beehives and if you are up for about 20 minutes of steep switchbacks, I recommend skipping Little Beehive and going straight for Big Beehive instead for better views. Don’t get me wrong — Little Beehive offered good views of Lake Louise but I think Big Beehive’s view is just a bit better and is from higher up.

Hike Lake Agnes To The Plain Of Six Glaciers

After finishing the Big Beehive hike and returning to Lake Agnes, you have the option of hiking back to Lake Louise or continuing on. We decided to continue on the Highline Trail to get to the Plain of Six Glaciers! In hindsight, we should have refilled our water bottles before embarking on this next leg of the journey. The Plain of Six Glaciers is 5km one way from Lake Agnes and the vast majority of the trek is in unsheltered sun. Even though we were in Canadian mountains surrounded by glaciers, July sun is hot and we got extremely dehydrated by the end.

The Plain of Six Glaciers hike takes you through fields of grasses and wildflowers, past babbling glacier streams, a really (and literally!) cool ice cave, and climbs up to a large open area that I can only imagine used to be home to six magnificent glaciers. Much of the glacial ice had melted and shrunk away quite significantly. We witnessed several avalanches which were amazing to both see and hear.

Along this trail you will come upon another mountainous tea house: the Plain of Six Glaciers Teahouse! It’s a little crazy to think about the logistics of operating a cafe restaurant in the mountains. Staff hike to the teahouse on the same trails visitors use, carrying supplies with them, and stay at the teahouse to work for 4-5 days at a time before hiking back out of the mountains when their rotation is finished.

The last bit of the hike is a grueling push along an elevated (again, extremely exposed) ridge and up an incline with shifting rocks and gravel, but keep at it and you’ll be rewarded with views of the glacial planes! We were beyond grateful for our hiking poles on this trail. Shoe warning: wear proper hiking boots, unless you are part mountain goat and have no fear. Showers of loose gravel and small stones were rolling down the steep mountain faces. I highly recommend both proper hiking boots and hiking poles to protect you on this trek.

Lake Louise Campground

That evening we stayed in our DIY camper van at the Lake Louise Campground which straddles Bow River. This campground has hot showers and electricity at the RV sites. The campground is divided into a tent side and a “hard camper only” RV side. The tent portion of the campground is protected by an electric fence to keep bears and other wildlife out of the area. The RV side of the campground is restricted to hard-sided vehicles and campers only, and I suppose in this area campers are on their own to fend off the bears.

We also enjoyed lots of campground-cooked meals during our stay here!