Olive Lake in Kootenay National Park

Aptly named Olive Lake is right off of the Windemere - Banff highway through Kootenay National Park in British Columbia, Canada. It's up in the mountain pass between two valleys in the Canadian Rocky Mountains between the Kootenay and Columbia rivers.

This is a great spot to stop and stretch ones legs if they are driving from Calgary to their cottage in Invermere. The trail is short and it is well maintained. If you are going to stop, make sure to have a Parks Canada Pass since the rangers will check to see if you're permitted. And no feeding the bears apples.

The boardwalk is slippery when wet. We watched some kids who were running wipe out. Since this is in BC it's far more lush and green when compared to Alberta. For some reason, whenever we pass through here, it has recently rained.

The lake is less than 100m from where you park your car. One could also stop on the side of the road and see the lake if they are truly lazy but they have a restroom here and better views. It's not recommended to stop on the side of the road anyways since this is in a Mountain pass and there are signs all over telling people not to stop at the side of the road for pictures or to see animals.

The lake is Spring fed, since it is at the top of the mountain pass, there isn't anything dirty flowing into here. You could drink the pure water with a simple filter to get rid of bacteria. When still, the water is incredibly clear and you can see fish swimming around in the lake.

There are two places to view the lake from, we prefered the view that wasn't directly staring at the road like this one. The lake does change colours from different angles and it's less than a hundred meters from one side to the other.

The fish are small but plentiful. Back in the day they used to stock lakes with brook trout for sport fishing, but nowadays they leave it up to nature. The fish still thrive here and you can probably fish with a license. Just not this year because they are trying to slow the spread of some whirling disease. You are not even allowed paddle boards or small rafts in the lakes.

While this does look like the perfect fishing hole, it's just as enjoyable to sit here and take it all in without a fishing rod. We come by here at least once a year and will continue doing so. These photos were taken on Canada Day, July 1st and there is no better way to celebrate Canada day than at a lake in the middle of nature.

Thank you for reading and hope you enjoyed the Summer as much as we did. The next time you are passing through to check out the Hot Springs in Radium or enjoying the national parks near Banff, stop by Olive Lake on the 93 Kootenay highway.

All photos taken with an s24 and are unfiltered