It was raining when we left Jasper and the conditions just worsened as we drove the Icefields Parkway to Lake Louise (it was 1°C and snowing at one point). By the time we arrived in a rainy Lake Louise we were all pretty grumpy. We stopped at the visitor's center for up to date information and went to Lake Louise campground to get a site for four nights. It was still sprinkling, but just when we finished setting up camp it was blue skies and sunny. Could it really be?

We hastily made our way to Lake Louise to take advantage of the weather. We decided to do the short hike to Lake Agnes. It was only 7 km/4.4 miles round trip to Lake Agnes, so not too far if we had to retreat in the rain. We did have 400 m/1300 ft to climb though and it was a steady up. We reached the small but scenic Mirror Lake at 2.7 km/1.7 miles. Mirror Lake is a sink lake directly under the Big Beehive.