Plain of Six Glaciers – Trekking to High Tea

This adventure, we are taking high tea to a new heights - specifically a tea house perched upon mountain slope at roughly 2500 m (8202 ft) elevation. One sunny weekend in July, a few friends and I hit the Trans-Canada highway heading west out of Calgary to the immensely popular Lake Louise area. If you haven’t been, it’s pretty spectacular to see the Chateau Lake Louise – a historic hotel that opened in 1911 – nestled between the jagged peaks of the Rocky Mountains and the turquoise blue waters of the lake. The breathtaking beauty of the scene is precisely why it is now overrun by a bascrilliondy tourists clamouring on rocks and benches for the perfect photo of serenity and solitude as their Instagram boyfriends elbow each other for position in between bitchily barked instructions and arching back hair flips while a giant family of visitors stands beneath the warming glow of a smartphone propped on a selfie stick yelling at the children to “smile for the camera”. [gallery ids="2611,2607" type="square" columns="2"] Not to worry – this crowd rarely ventures off the paved path directly in front of the hotel. As soon as we passed the lake front, we took the path for Mirror Lake and Lake Agnes up and the crowds were nearly gone. There are two ways to reach Plain of Six Glaciers from the Lake Louise parking area. Here’s an excellent brochure and map you can download for reference and for other hikes in the area. We took the Mirror Lake route to start, followed the Highline trail and came back along the Lakeshore Path for a loop of about 12.6 km total which took us 5.5 hours including a lunch break and tea time. 1) Mirror Lake We start on the Mirror Lake route, which diverges up to the right from the lakeshore in front of the Chateau. I found there was a steady stream of hikers on the path while still being less crowded than the lakeshore path. You will be tackling the 385 m or so elevation gain over the first 2.7 km but I promise it is worth it. This path has plateaus, wider/longer switchbacks and is under the tree line which means blessed shade during those hot summer days. Mirror Lake was quite a pretty little lake and worth a quick photo and snack stop. From here, you can go the roughly 1 km more up to Lake Agnes and the Lake Agnes Tea House and also take side trips to Big Beehive or Little Beehive – both lookouts. We planned on following the Highline trail to the Plain of Six Glaciers tea house, so skipped the extras. [gallery ids="2583,2584" type="square" columns="2"] The Highline trail was one of the highlights to me. Because we did most of our elevation initially, it was a fairly flat path in the trees halfway up the mountain which afforded amazing sneak peek views of the lake below. There’s one section that demands a photo stop – when you get to the well-maintained wood bridge, make sure you pause and look out through the trees for a view of the entire turquoise lake below, the Chateau, iconic red canoes on the water and mountain peaks above. [gallery ids="2586,2585,2587" type="square"] This path is longer, gains elevation more gently, has shade from the trees and offers beautiful views. Total length of this section before the paths converge is about 5.6 km. 2) Lakeshore Path The other option is to take the Lake Louise Lakeshore path which runs alongside the lake and remains fairly crowded with strollers pushing strollers. The Lakeshore path continues past the end of the lake and is clearly marked for Plain of Six Glaciers. Although the start of the path is quite flat, you will have to do most of the 365 m of elevation gain from about kilometre 3.3. You’ll be exposed to the elements (aka the hot ass sun) as you complete the elevation gain and your descent. We returned along the Lakeshore Path for variety and to check out the gushing, glacial river that feeds Lake Louise and gives it distinct milky blue colouring. The silt (rock flour) carried by the river is so fine that they become suspended in the water. There’s a popular climbing wall just at the end of the lake, so take a minute to look up. [gallery ids="2612,2603,2604,2606,2605" type="square"] This path is shorter, a little steeper and out in the open. Total length of this section before the paths converge is about 4.6 km. Where the Paths Converge Both paths converge with about 1.2 km left to go to reach the tea house. We stopped for lunch on a rocky crag just after the paths meet up. [gallery ids="2588,2590,2591" type="square"] From here, it's a beautiful section of open views of the mountains surrounding you and the river below. You'll also pass several sections of snow pack (we went in mid-July and yes there was still snow). It was super fun to witness a group of international tourists touch snow for the first time! The glacial and snow pack melting creates several little waterfalls running down the mountainside, which hollowed out a snow pack tunnel big enough for people to crawl through. [gallery ids="2589,2602,2601" type="square"] The final section is the steepest, gaining about 120 m up a ridge and a section of shorter switchbacks. But taking frequent breaks is worth it when you take in the views. [caption id="attachment_2592" align="aligncenter" width="250"] The view from the last switchback before reaching the Plain of Six Glaciers tea house[/caption] The Plain of Six Glaciers Tea House Once you come around the final corner, you are greeted with a pristine bubbling stream, high altitude meadow and, of course, six glaciers gracing surrounding mountains. Now it’s time for high tea! [gallery ids="2599,2597" type="square" columns="2"] It was tricky finding information about the tea house itself. From what I’ve gathered, it is open seasonally (usually the first week of June) an operates from about 8 am to 5 pm. It was built in 1924 by the Canadian Pacific Railway as a rest stop for guests. It’s a two-story stone and wood building with a wrap-around balcony and surrounding picnic tables. I chatted with a staff member at the tea house and she told me that most of the supplies are flown in by helicopter at the start of the season – lowering supplies from a long line with a net. Sometimes horses are used to bring in smaller supply runs. We did see horses on the trails, but they were carrying tourists instead of treats. The staff also hike in and out of the camp, carrying garbage and recycling out bringing supplies back. It can get busy during the summer, but we were lucky enough to snag a table. They have a pretty fulsome menu with soup, sandwiches, tea snacks, an extensive tea list and other beverages. Much more variety than I thought possible! I had tea biscuits with jam and honey (which were okay) and some sort of raspberryaide which was a red powdered watery drink. I don’t know what I was expecting… Be advised the tea house accepts Canadian cash only. There are outhouses available, for which I stood in line for 20 minutes. Women can never escape a line for the bathroom, even on top of a mountain. [gallery ids="2593,2594" type="square" columns="2"] There was time for a quick selfie before we had to hustle our bustles back to the parking lot to catch the long shuttle back to the overflow parking lot.   A Note About Parking Be advised that you can almost NEVER park up at Lake Louise itself as the lots fill up by 8 am or so in the summer months (according to the shuttle bus driver). We were lucky enough to see the road signs advising us to park in the overflow lot and take the shuttle – seems like the signs were turned on less than 15 minutes before we arrived. If we had missed them, I’m sure driving up the main road and getting stuck in a loop of traffic trying to get back down to the overflow lot would have slowed us down by a good hour or more. I’d advise to plan to pull in the overflow lot for parking information even if the highway signs aren’t on. Hopping on one of the frequent cheese wagon shuttles, we were dropped off in the main day-use parking lot and set off for the lakeshore. The ride was about 15 minutes. It would be a long way to walk, so don’t miss the last bus! The last shuttle back from the Lake Louise parking lot departs at 4:45, so plan accordingly. [gallery ids="2608,2609" type="square" columns="2"]