Very strenuous walk & The Emerald Lake

We had a dreadful night sleep. A small creature has invaded the camper. It can only get to the cupboards under the sink (we hope) however these held some rather noisy packages which it had a thorough nibble of which woke me up many many times. By the morning there was nothing left in any of our lower drawers (I’d moved them all in the night, it didn’t eat them all) and a hardened resolve to eliminate our little issue for good. 

We started the day with a short hike from Illecillewaet campground, which ended up probably being the most difficult one we’ve done. A pretty special view over the surrounding mountains was our reward and it definitely woke us up from the terrible night sleep we had so on balance was a pretty good way to start to the day. 

Our excellent planning (luck) led us to the Kicking Horse Campground in Yoho National Park, which coincidentally was 15 minutes from both the Emerald Lake and Takkakaw Falls. But before getting there we made an essential stop off in Golden (a town) to do Amelia’s favourite job (poo chute), fuel up, get some marshmallows and, most essentially, get mouse deterrents. After extensive consultation with a unenthusiastic employee at Ace Hardware I went for mousetraps, I didn’t realise poison took 3 days to kick in and we really can’t deal with another 3 nights dreadful sleep. This done we headed for the Emerald Lake. 

On the stunning drive the clouds finally parted and we were bathed in glorious sunshine for the first time in a while. The Emerald Lakes are the most ‘touristy’ place we’ve visited so far, which slightly diminished what is a outrageously beautiful setting. I can imagine in the high season it gets packed, there was still gaggles if people taking selfies, doing impromptu photoshoots and dragging children along by a scarf (an odd sight while we ate lunch). As the name suggests, the water is green which, according to Amelia, is because of something to do with limestone. I’m an excellent listener.

When discussing what our favourite part of the trip has been thus far we both agreed that Garibaldi Lake is our favourite, perhaps only beating the Emerald Lake because of two reasons; first it’s very touristy, with lodges to stay in dotted around the lake and secondly, it’s very easy to get to, there is no effort to reward ratio. Although Amelia loves the benches here. This is a big factor in the evaluation criteria. 

Easily popping around the corner to our campsite I attempted to make a fire and failed, very damp wood and no firelighters made for a slightly damp squib. How embarrassing. Finally laid the mousetraps in anticipation of an excellent night sleep.