Taylor Lake where fall meets winter

I was worried that I missed fall when I saw pictures of the snow in Alberta the night before I was to board a plane to Calgary from Halifax.

I was still enjoying a late summer in Nova Scotia so I wasn’t yet mentally prepared to embrace winter. Besides I didn’t want to miss the short window for the larch trees.

Thankfully the snow was just a short blast of things to come.

While I am usually drawn to mountain peaks, I changed my mind after seeing Milene’s photos of Taylor Lake on Strava. I don’t generally run around lakes because I like to to summit peaks. But since I am not running right now, I thought it looked magnificent.

Kate joined me on a Monday after my trip to Nova Scotia. She was game for exploring at my extremely slow-recovering-from-a-broken ankle pace. It was a longer than usual drive for me to just past Castle Junction between Banff and Lake Louise. We parked at the Taylor Creek Day Use Area before beginning our trek up a quiet forested area.

There was a chill to the air and I overdressed as usual. Time flew as we chatted and hiked our way to Taylor Lake. There wasn’t much to see but trees until we finally reached a meadow just before the lake.

I felt like we stepped into a postcard. The contrast between the vibrant orange larch trees set against the pristine snow was amazing like we were caught between the hues of autumn and onset of winter. What a lovely surprise. All the larches and none of the crowds.

Reaching the lake didn’t take too long so we decided to explore a little further. We reached the Panorama Ridge where we walked around another tarn before turning around.

Perfect day to reset after being away from the mountains for nearly a month.