Anniversary Trip: Emerald Lake

We're almost done with anniversary trip posts.  Yay!  Just this one and then one more to go and you don't have to see anymore pictures of the Canadian Rockies...until the next time we go back, because we seriously love us some Canada!  In fact, I'm actually traveling to Montreal in May for work, which I am super stoked about.

Anyway, back to our anniversary trip...  The last place we stayed at during our trip (besides the awesome Hotel Clique near the airport, seriously so nice that I wish there were more of these hotels throughout Canada and the US!) was the Emerald Lake Lodge in Yoho National Park.  I really wanted to stay in a lodge within one of the parks, and I was especially drawn to Emerald Lake Lodge because it kind of reminded me of Lake Crescent Lodge in Olympic National Park (which Antoine and I loved and you can read more about here).   When I was reading reviews from Emerald Lake Lodge I was surprised that they were very mixed.  People raved about the surrounding area and the beauty of the lake, but said that everything else was kind of lack luster.  Antoine and I decided to give it a shot and see what we thought...

To say that the lake was gorgeous would be a gigantic understatement!  A pristine, tranquil lake, surrounded by mountains, what's not to like?  We had absolutely no complaints about the lake itself.  The lodge on the other hand did leave a little to be desired.

The fact that the lodge and cabins sit on a little piece of land in the middle of the lake that isn't really even accessible by car, except for the lodge's shuttle?  Cool as hell!  The run-down nature of the cabins themselves and the fact that none of the cabins had tv or wifi...not as cool.  I get the idea that when you're surrounded by nature you should enjoy it and not need a tv.  But Antoine and I are the type of people, who after a long day of hiking and exploring like to veg out and take load off (in front of a tv)...especially near the end of our trip.  But that was poor planning on my part.

Our cabin was on the left and upstairs and overlooked the more secluded side of the lake.  A little run down, but not horrible.  It did have a nice little balcony to sit on and enjoy the lake, however the bugs were pretty horrendous, so we didn't use it to its full potential!

The side of the lake that our cabin looked out on, though this is not our view.

There were canoe rentals, but they weren't available just yet as it was too early in the season.

Would I recommend the lodge/cabins to people?  Eh.  The cabins were definitely run down, the food was ok (though expensive, just like all park lodges like that), and the no tv/no wifi was kind of a killjoy for us.  But the lake itself...beautiful and totally worth a visit and a little hike around it (or canoe rental, if it's in season)!