Beauty All Around at Moraine Lake, Banff National Park, Alberta

When you go to Moraine Lake, what do you notice?

On June 1st, 2025 the shuttle service to Moraine Lake and Lake Louise in Banff National Park began for the season. I knew I wanted to get out there early because I had this thought that going on a Monday at the beginning of the season wouldn't be as busy. Haha, joke was on me. But, that's OK because both of these destinations are beautiful and I knew I could find a quiet spot somewhere.

We arrived just after 10am to Moraine Lake and headed to the Rock Pile. It wasn't too crazy busy and we managed to find some key spots to take some of the famous pictures you see all over Instagram and the Internet of Moraine Lake. The sun was shining and it wasn't too hot. It was a really nice time to be there.

Moraine Lake

A little reflection

Moraine Lake early spring. The lake will fill up eventually :-)

As we headed down to the edge of the lake, that's when things started to get busy. A couple of tour buses must have arrived at the same time because there was actually a long line up to get up to the top of the pile. I have to say, I have never seen a lineup to get to the top, but I am not usually there in the middle of the summer.

All of a sudden I felt a little crowded and quickly headed to the lake. Phew, there was already more space. As we walked towards the back of the lake there were definitely less people. It was so nice and it felt like we had huge areas to ourselves. We sat by the lake, Sydney threw rocks and I just looked around.

Kerplunk!

I reminded myself that my goal this year was to not just take the "Instagram" picture but also look around me to find the more intimate landscapes and zoom into nature at these popular destinations.

It wasn't really hard to see the beauty around me once I just settled, quieted my mind and relaxed. I started looking at the mountain across from me and saw the trees growing out of the rock, the yellow shades and the pretty patterns within.

Mountain Side

I looked down at the lake and saw the glistening of the sun reflecting the water creating little stars, suns and patterns. It looked like a magical underworld to me. This photo was inspired by a picture I did see on Instagram.

The Underworld

I then looked behind me to see this dead tree beside the pines. Now, if you know my photography you know how much I like dead trees these days haha.

I then looked to the avalanche shoot to see the contrast between the snow and the pine trees in front of it. I knew when I took this picture that black and white would be the best way for me to showcase it.

Avalanche Shoot

We walked to the back of the lake where we could hear the rushing of the spring runoff as it slowly began to fill the lake. I had never been back there before and was excited to see something new. There were a few people back there having their lunch while sitting on rocks. There was a little girl making "soup" in a hole that had filled up with water that was still. I sat on a rock and just watched the water rush in and to take a couple of pictures. By now the light was quite harsh but I figured I could fix it later on.

The back of Moraine Lake

The harsh light against the water created pretty sparkles behind this plant. I love how this one ball of light was bouncing off the leaves.

Bouncing Light

This gentleman enjoyed the view from the back of the lake. The one mountain looks like a cartoon dog sleeping on its back.

Time for a break

Rocks and Glaciers, oh my!

It ended up that we spent over 2 hours just exploring by the lake. It was a beautiful sunny day and it was nice to have a slow pace just to enjoy the area without hurrying to the next place. However, I will admit that my plan was to go to Moraine Lake for a little bit, hop on the bus, head to Lake Louise and climb up to Lake Agnes and maybe even Big Beehive. It would have been a great day getting that check list marked off. But, the plans turned out differently and we were inspired just to slow down.

You can't access Moraine Lake anymore with your car. This has been for a few years. Only people with special permits can drive down.

At 8am two days prior to your anticipated visit to Lake Louise, Parks Canada releases a bunch of tickets for all of the times for the shuttle. Here's the LINK. "Select Day Use." You can either choose to go to Lake Louise first or Moraine Lake. You have to be quick, like concert tickets, as they go fast. I think if you are one or two people you can snatch tickets pretty quickly, but bigger groups you really need to be on the ball. Make sure you have signed into your Parks Canada account before you start looking for tickets. The tickets cost $8.00 each. I just saw parking at Lake Louise is now $36.75 per day. The shuttle is easy to use and runs every 20 minutes. If you choose to go to Moraine Lake first, you can then catch the shuttle to Lake Louise and then back to the parking lot. Vice versa if you choose to go to Lake Louise first. It was just after 11am when we walked down the rock pile at Moraine Lake and there was a lineup going up. I imagine there's a sweet spot time in the morning in between when the people who are there for sunrise are gone and before the tour buses start arriving. I have been there a couple of times in the past just before 10am where it didn't feel as crowed on the Rock Pile. I am not guaranteeing anything, just my own experience.

I would highly recommend taking a walk along the lake to the back if you have time. Soon the water will be high enough for the canoe rentals and there will be lineups there. However, you can find space and more bubble room as you wander. The same thing for Lake Louise...it's a big place, you just need to walk a bit to feel like you have some room. Personally, I do love going to Moraine Lake in September and you can find beauty in the off season at Lake Louise when it is less busy.

I hope that my summer will take me to new places in the rockies. My friend has a list of places we should discover. I hope we can cross some of those places off. Only time will tell.

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I will not be as active on Socials starting now until September. Maybe twice a week. I feel like I need a bit of a break and hopefully the downtime will inspire me to create in "new to me" ways. I spent most of the winter being very active on Socials because I wanted to be a positive light in someone's scroll. With such intensity out there I just wanted to maybe bring a bit of joy. I hope I did that for some of you. Now that the summer is here I figured nature and being outdoors could take care of that "positive light" roll for me :-)

I will be at the Canmore Market this summer on the following dates with my cards, prints, journals and magnets! The magnets were a good little seller yesterday at the Art on the Lawn market in Okotoks. You can purchase magnets HERE on my website

Thursdays from 10am to 6pm

June 12, 26, July 10, 24, August 7, 14, September 4 and 11th. These are confirmed dates. I might do more if at the last minute I decide to go and they have space for me. I will let you know incase you are in town.

Wishing a beautiful month of June.

Thank you for taking the time to visit here.