41. Mount St. Piran

Distance:13km return
Elevation gain: 920 m

On July 8, 2015, the day after hiking to Helen Lake, we thought we might be able to hike Mount St. Piran.

 It can be seen behind the Little Beehive above Lake Agnes.The first half of the trail is up to the tea house at Lake Agnes.

It is steady,gradually up and I appreciated the encouragement Herm gave me by gently pulling me forward.
The first lovely stop was Mirror Lake.

 It is a great place to rest for all the weary tourists hiking to the tea house. The Big Bee Hive dominates this area but soon we would be looking down on it.

 We turned up the mountainside just before Little Beehive and all my energy for the hike surfaced. There were flowers everywhere with moderately ascending switchbacks and full view of the mountains around us and the lake below. Glaciers and more mountains appeared as we climbed.

One very beautiful, abundant flower was the gentian.

As we climbed we could see the Little Bee Hive, Lake Louise and Chateau even through the smoky haze from the numerous forest fires.

Finally we reached the peak and had our picture taken while we gazed at Mount Fairview across the lake and at the numerous glaciers on surrounding mountains.

Even I could identify some of the sights below us - Lake Agnes, Lake Louise,Big Bee Hive, Mount Fairview.

 The weather was beautifully warm and sunny but when a gust of wind blew, it was cold. Hence the rock shelters built up on top. Our timing was perfect and others vacated this dining area as we arrived.

We sat on chairs with backs, set our food on the table and gave thanks to God for his goodness. In the adjacent dining room was the same Japanese hiker  we had met on top of Mount Fairview a few years earlier. After a satisfying lunch in the sun, it was time for a snooze while Herm took more pictures.

Our last planned stop was a detour to the tea house/Lake Agnes to eat a snack by the lake. As we looked for a place to sit someone called us from the patio. Christine, a former home stay student, was there with her parents. So we enjoyed our snack with them as we caught up on each other's lives and encouraged them to try this hike some day.