Banff in late September, after the crowds

The summer crowds at Lake Louise are real — fifteen thousand people a day in July, the parking lot full by seven in the morning, the canoe rental sold out by nine. Late September is the trick. The shuttle to Moraine Lake is still running, but the line is shorter. The larches in the Larch Valley turn gold for ten days in mid-September — a brief native fall color in a province otherwise dominated by spruce and fir. The high-elevation hotels drop their rates the week after Labour Day. You can stand at the edge of Lake Louise at eight in the morning and hear only the wind and the loons.