No trip to Banff National Park is complete without an early morning visit to Moraine Lake. To me, it is the iconic location, even though Lake Louise (about 30 minutes east) gets all of the press and many more visitors. Don't get me wrong, during the summer season, Moraine Lake's parking lot is completely full, and you need to board a bus to get there. If you get there in the early morning hours, parking should not be a problem.
The reason I love this location is more about the mountains that surround the lake. There are ten mountain peaks that surround the lake, and the area is known as The Valley of the Ten Peaks. There are several popular places to shoot the lake, but I like the trail to the top of the rock pile that is the view that is shown in this photo. The only thing that I could have asked for this morning would be still waters that would have allowed for great reflections of the mountain peaks. I guess I will just have to go back to get them.