Valley of the Ten Peaks

Up before dawn to climb to the top of the terminal moraine rocks for a photo opportunity - 

Sunrise lights up the peaks and the ridge opposite.

Putting it all together gives a panorama:

Clever stuff huh?

Return to the lodge for breakfast buffet, we felt we deserved it - a selection of yummie goodies and at last a proper cup of tea! 

Late afternoon and following our outing to the Lake Louise Gondola (see next blog item) we returned to the terminal moraine pile for a picnic and some more photos. 

Eric admiring Moraine Lake and some of the Ten Peaks - we really need at least a lens hood on the camera!  Lots of more professional looking photographers and the Japanese tourists are using graduated filters. 

Some fantastic rock formations.

Eric also stopped to admire some clever balancing of stones on rocks, he wondered if it was an 'inukshuk' - an Inuit marker - all that time in Quebec has gone to his head. If he'd looked carefully he could have seen there were no horizontal stones representing arms, so it's just a pile of stones!

In amongst  the rocks we heard this Pica (pronounced pie ka). It's also called a rock rabbit, and was running around collecting bits of grass, putting them on a rock platform to dry ready to use as bedding. In the first photo it was sitting on a rock shouting at us, or making an alarm call to it's mates. 

A closer look shows what big ears it has, and no tail...

Here it is collecting the grass

We also saw this ground squirrel - we think it is Golden Mantled one, or it may be a Least Chipmunk. Different people keep telling us different things! 

This Least Chipmunk and Clark's Nutcraker seemed completely unaware of each other as they were feeding, both were startled when they finally realised (or that's what it looked like anthropomorphically speaking). 

Another American Robin as seen from the terminal moraine pile.

At the other end of the day we tramped along the Moraine Lake shore to where the glacial meltwater enters.  There were complimentary canoes we could use - but we didn't fancy ending up immersed in the icy waters so chickened out on that. 

An arrete on one of the peaks with the Wenkchemna hanging glacier behind.