Photos of Eiffel Lake Trail View
About Eiffel Lake Trail View
Eiffel Lake Trail runs west from Moraine Lake along the north side of the Valley of the Ten Peaks, in Banff National Park. Once the switchbacks are behind you and the trail steps out of the trees onto open slope the view is incredible. From there you're looking across the valley at the full wall of the Ten Peaks with nothing in the way, no trees, no shoulder, no haze off the lake. Mount Allen sits dead centre, peak six of the ten, and since it's one of the taller ones the middle of your frame is also the high point of the line. If you can shoot it wide, that lets the ridge run corner to corner of your frame. Or you can go with a long lens and pull single peaks out of the line, since the faces are covered with ice the detail holds up under a telephoto. Morning is when this viewpoint really shines. That wall faces north, so it glows in low early sun but throughout the middle of the day it sits in its own shadow. Mid September into early October is another amazingwindow, when the larches along the trail turn gold and create a foreground covering in colour. Getting there takes some advanced planning. Moraine Lake Road is closed to private cars, so you'll need to use the Parks Canada shuttle, Roam transit, a commercial operator or your own bike, and the shuttle books up fast. Plus the road is only open from early summer through to the Thanksgiving weekend. From the lake it's around six kilometres out, with alot of climbing in the switchbacks near the beginning of the trail then it evens out for the rest of the hike. You will have to pay park the admission fee to access this trail. Since this is grizzly country, a sign at the trailhead tells you whether hiking in a tight group of four is mandatory or just advised. The warning vs mandatory changes from day to day based on the season and bear activity in the area. It's recommended that you carry bear spray either way. You don't have to hike all the lake since the view holds the the majority of the hike so stop wherever the light is working for your shooting style. Plan to leave enough time to continue on and capture the lake while you are out this way. (Lake Louise, Alberta, Canada)
