Please note: There is an entrance fee for this park!
Mount Fairview is a 2744m mountain situated beside Lake Louise. It was named by Walter D. Wilcox in 1894 for the more-than-fair view from the summit. On days when the weather cooperates, you can see Mt. Temple, Mt. Victoria, Mt. Aberdeen, Lake Louise (way down below), and up and down the Bow Valley. On the day I hid this cache, however, the summit was in a cloud so no panoramas from that day are available.
The cache is reached by taking the maintained trail from the Lake Louise parking lot to The Saddle, and then up a scree slope to the summit. It is a 5.2m hike to the summit, with 1000m of elevation gain. This is a very popular hike (16 people were on the mountain the snowy day I went up), and you should have no problem staying on the trail.
You may find these waypoints handy:
- N51 24.914 W116 12.907 (1750m): Parking
- N51 23.626 W116 12.952 (2339m): The Saddle (trail junction to Fairview Mountain)
- N51 23.966 W116 13.478 (2757m): The Summit
- N51 23.952 W116 13.506 (2751m): The Cache
The cache is a normal sized tupperware container, stuffed with some books, CDs, and some Finder's Cards (including a coveted FTF card). It is stuffed under a large quartzite rock, guarded by a rabbit. Bonus karma points if you post a picture of your party on the summit.
More information for Fairview Mountain can be found at these links:
A cardio comparison with other geocaches in the area:
But, that's just my opinion.
The good photos are courtesy of j2d2.