A truly spectacular lake in the Valley of the Ten Peaks. My favourite hike of the trip, the Eiffel Lake trail, has exhilarating views across the valley.
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We stayed at the lovely Moraine Lake Lodge, right on the lakeshore and had a really nice room with a balcony overlooking the lake.
One of the great things about staying at the Lodge is that only residents can drive their cars there. Also the road closes early evening so you have the place to yourself - it is so peaceful.
There are a good number of trails starting at or near to the lodge. The shortest by far was to the Rockpile at the north end of the lake, a mere 0.8 km round trip from the lodge. We went up there at dawn one morning to see the sun rise over the lake, absolutely beautiful.
A slightly longer and very easy walk is along the lakeshore, 3 km round trip. This takes you down the western shore of the lake to about half way along the southern shore.
We also walked along the lakeshore at dawn one morning with no-one else around as the sun rose on the mountains.
The lodge has canoes which are free to residents who can take them out for as long as they want. We did go kayaking on the lake one afternoon, it was lovely paddling down to the far end of the lake and back again, quite a different perspective.
This hike was my favourite of the whole trip.
At first we though the trail was closed as there was a board at the start of the track saying "Area Closed", but when we went back to hotel reception for ideas for an alternative hike there was a trail guide there who said that, in fact, the trail was not closed. A large area was closed because a bear and her cub had killed a mountain goat and they needed to be given time and space to feed for a few days, but the Eiffel Lake Trail was not within this area. So we set off again.
It's 11.2 km round trip on the north side of the Valley of the Ten Peaks, quite tough, with a steep start on ten switchbacks before levelling out to a gentle incline after 2.4 km.
A slightly tricky area is the scree field that has to be crossed, very loose stones on a slope and no discernible path, but it's not too difficult to get to the other side.
There were several rock falls on the opposite side of the valley while we were there; one quite spectacular, a long, low rumble and a large cloud of dust rising from the scree above the lake.
We had brought a packed lunch, provided by the hotel, and plenty of water. We sat above Eiffel Lake to eat and just take in the fabulous view.
The larches were just beginning to turn yellow, in another couple of weeks they will probably look spectacular.
