You may have seen in recent news that Parks Canada has decided to shut the road up to Moraine Lake off to private vehicles. In order to get to the famous lake now, you will have to book and take a bus shuttle up, of which there will probably be many running throughout the day during peak season. Bus shuttle services have always been an option, but now they will be the only way up.
Personally, I think this is a good thing. To anyone complaining about not being able to take their own car up to the lake, please realize that you were probably never going to be able to park there anyway unless you were cool with arriving at 2:30 AM, meaning that you’d have to leave Calgary near midnight to get there. You essentially have ZERO chance of finding a parking spot at Moraine Lake a any given time of the year. No, seriously, any local or park official will recommend arriving no later than 4 AM if you desire any remote chance of taking your own car there. Try it out for yourself if you don’t believe me, just be prepared to head back down the mountain.
Earlier this summer, my good friend Rob arrived in Alberta on vacation from Toronto, and one of the obvious locations he had to visit was Moraine Lake. Although I wanted to protest, you can’t blame an outsider for noting this spot as a must-do on a travel itinerary to the Canadian Rockies. Moraine Lake is nicknamed “Reddit Lake” after all, due to its (annoyingly, I must say) prevalence on social sites such as Reddit. One may think it is the only lake in the Rockies, having not visited before. It’s truly an incredible place and I can only imagine the awe its first discoverers must’ve had while walking upon it.
I, of course, was turned away at the entrance when I naively attempted to take my Corolla up, having to drive back to the bottom and find a shuttle somewhere in the town of Lake Louise to take me back to my waiting pal. It was too late in the day, however, and I had to call the whole thing off and meet up another time as no more buses were running. The problem with that at the moment? There is no cell service up at Moraine Lake, and Rob was there thinking I flaked out without telling him for the duration of his several-hour visit there.
Rob is a remarkably understanding guy, and he waited to get back within cell range before passing any judgment on me. Thankfully, he was up to going again the next day and we did what we should’ve done in the first place: Booked some seats on a shuttle bus from the nearby Lake Louise ski resort. Upon arrival the next day, we immediately saw the packed, and comically small parking lot. There isn’t a whole lot of suitable flat ground to build one up in the mountains, to be fair. Lines of buses emptying their fill of bored-looking tourists populated the lot.
Trying to take a photo of the lake felt futile. It ultimately was, as I physically could not frame up a shot that did not have a tourist wearing some flashy article of neon clothing getting in the way. Luckily, at the time I worked for Alberta Parks and a knowledgeable co-worker recommended a nearby hike to Consolation Lake, a beautiful spot that was accessible via a connecting trail near Moraine Lake. The hike was fairly easy, but likely too daunting for anyone wearing flip-flops or mint Air Jordans. This fact eliminated most visitors at Moraine from even attempting it, making the foray a pleasant one for us with proper hiking footwear.
Our experience at Moraine Lake was good overall. Don’t get me wrong, it legitimately is one of the most beautiful spots in the world; a bright blue lake almost surrounded by majestic evergreen forests and tall jagged mountains. But it’s people, man, people that ruin everything. Being surrounded by thousands of other visitors, most of whom were wearing jeans and sandals, obfuscated any semblance of “leaving the city”. Why else would you make a trip to the mountains?
Don’t even get me started about the visitor centre up there. Unless you like staying in a line a hundred people deep for a $10 cup of coffee, for the love of god, do not even go near it.
Am I a hypocrite for being one of those tourists that I complain so much about? Absolutely. But at least I’m acknowledging the issue and I haven’t gone back since. Am I saying that no person should be able to visit this absolute wonder of nature? No. Being a bit of a fan of the late, great, and notoriously crabby Edward Abbey, and seeing firsthand while working in a provincial park the way cars degrade natural surroundings (primarily via sound, pollution, and all the intrusive infrastructure needed to support cars ), I’m only saying that reducing the number of visitors and vehicles in a national park can and will greatly improve the intended reason for visiting, which should be an attempt to find some semblance of solace in the wild. The real wild, not just a concrete path with some trees around it.