EMERALD LAKE
Azure magic in the mountains
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Two of Canada's most famous national parks are Banff and Jasper, located in Alberta. Their popularity completely overshadows Yoho National Park located next to them on the British Columbia side. But this “modest fellow” is absolutely in no way inferior to them in the beauty and grandeur of his nature, and sometimes even surpasses them. Today's story on our blog is dedicated to Emerald Lake - a real pearl of Canada.
We found ourselves on the shores of Lake Emerald on an incredibly rainy day. Surprisingly, the magical color of the lake did not disappear under clouds and pouring rain, as happens on many lakes that we saw earlier. The lake, even in bad weather, was still emerald.
There is a funny story behind the name, which has to do with the first non-Indigenous visitor to the lake, whose name was Tom Wilson. In 1882, several of his horses ran away and in his search he came out into a valley with a beautiful lake, which he immediately named Emerald. And the funny thing about this fact is that earlier in the same year he had already discovered a similar lake and also called it Emerald. For some time, two emerald lakes coexisted with the same names, but soon the first was renamed Lake Louise and our today's hero became the only Emerald in the vicinity of the Rocky Mountain National Parks.
Red canoes decorate the lake. Their bright color contrasts with the azure waters of the Emerald and makes photographs from there more attractive and memorable.
In this photo, I still hope that by hiding the phone in my pocket, I will save it from getting wet. In half an hour we will be carrying our phones in the pouring rain near Emerald Lake.
The next photo was taken from the bridge leading to the Emerald Lake Lodge, just on the other side of the lake. Since the mountains are not visible from this side, there is no feeling that this is a high-mountain lake, which is located at an altitude of 1301 meters above sea level. For comparison, the level of our high-mountain lake Synevyr in Ukraine is 989 meters above sea level.
We crossed the bridge and walked along the peninsula. Heavy gray clouds continue to pour endless rain all around. But Emerald Lake is beautiful even in this weather.
We took the next few photos by wiping our phone lenses with wet sleeves, and we hope you appreciate our heroic efforts ☺️☺️☺️
British Columbia's wildflowers are masterpieces of natural architecture that deserve special attention from travelers.
Along each path we found new plants, new flowers that pleased our eyes.
On the one hand, we were a little sad about the endless rain that greeted us at Lake Emerald, but on the other hand, without the rain we would not have been able to take such touching photographs with droplets on the leaves. Absolute beauty of nature!
The first building on the peninsula is the Cilantro On The Lake restaurant. A colorful building with tiles and a chimney, perhaps the most recognizable structure on Lake Emerald.
Behind the restaurant is the Emerald Lake Lodge, where rooms must be booked well in advance of the visit, since during the peak season it is very difficult to find a free house, despite the huge prices for accommodation.
You can live in Yoho National Park only in three cases:
1. You are a tourist who has booked a room here.
2. You are a national park employee.
3. You are a business owner in a national park.
Moreover, permits to conduct business here, as a rule, were issued many years ago and it is very difficult to obtain a new one, since the approval of the Government of Canada is necessary.
The most famous building on the peninsula is the historic lodge building, which was built in the twenties of the last century and restored in the nineteen eighties.
The historic lodge is the main man-made, not natural, attraction of the lake.
While we were taking selfies, some kind tourists who had been visiting the historic lodge approached us and offered to take a photo of our couple with Emerald Lake in the background. We could not refuse them this desire, since we ourselves were ready to ask someone to take such a photograph.
There was a fire pit nearby and we imagined how tired travelers would sit here in the evenings and admire the evening mountains and the sunset lake with the crackling of firewood and hot tea.
Around the peninsula there is a bay that turns into a turbulent river.
We were not too lazy and walked along the shore to a small bridge, where the water from a quiet lake turns into a stormy river. The landscapes that open there are simply fantastic: mountains, clouds, tall spruce trees and a noisy mountain river. To see such beauty, isn’t that happiness?
The clouds were settling lower and lower on the tops of the spruсe trees, the rain continued to pour tons of water on us, and we decided that it was time to return from the beautiful, but incredibly rainy peninsula.
We took another selfie and started walking to our car, which was the only shelter from the downpour. We had to forget about the picnic, which we usually like to have in places with incredible views.
From the shore we kept looking at the lodge and photographing it from all angles.
A cheerful log lying on the shore told us that despite the bad weather we shouldn’t be sad. And if even the log near Lake Emerald was in a joyful mood, then what can we say about us? After all, we were able to touch the emerald miracle of British Columbia.
Each of us has experienced moments of touching beauty. Like in this photo, when there is a magical moment where the waters of a mountain river and the waters of a lake do not mix. According to our internal rules, such natural wonders must be photographed. ☺️
And in the next photo I am in seventh heaven that I discovered Emerald Lake. And my new dream is to see it on a bright sunny day, when the color of the water will be even more emerald. Thank you world for the opportunity to see such beauty!
By tradition, we are attaching a route map of our trip so that our readers can also get to Lake Emerald and be impressed by its beauty.
Emerald Lake, Yoho National Park, British Columbia, Canada, planet Earth. We are happy to share with you the joys that we have seen ourselves. Be sure to travel!
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