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| Hiking | 13.70 Miles |
3,620 AEG |
| | Hiking | 13.70 Miles | 7 Hrs 20 Mns | | 2.28 mph |
| 3,620 ft AEG | 1 Hour 20 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | The Lake O'Hara area, located in the Yoho National Park, has a collection of alpine lakes, peaks and valleys. It is pristine because Parks Canada limit the number of visitors per day. The trail head is 11 km (about 7 mi) from the entrance. Unauthorized vehicles are prohibited on this forest road that accesses the trail head. From June 19 through Oct 4, the park service runs one school bus in to the trail head in the morning and 3 buses out from the trail head in the afternoon (at 1430, 1630, 1830). The reservations for inbound morning bus tickets start at 0800 Alberta Time on April 20. All bus ticket reservations are booked out for the entire summer months within 5-10 seconds after reservations open at 0800. Of course we didn't score the tickets. So we would have to hike the 7-mi fire road in to start our hike from the actual trail head.
We got to the entrance at 6:30 and there was one girl waiting at the bus stop trying to see whether there would be any cancellations so she could get on the bus. We decided not risk wasting 2 hours only to find out that we couldn't get on the bus. So we hiked in, which proved to be the right choice because she later told us that she was the only one allowed to get on the bus among the several other people who did not have reservations and later showed up and waited for the bus. It took us 2.5 hrs to hike in to the trail head. Because of the early morning and the higher elevation, it was really brisk to the point of being a bit chilly at times, which was perfect for hiking. And the beauty even along the forest road made it go fast. The bus which took off at 0830 did pass us right before we got to the warden cabin. No hitch-hiking in this park!
We explored the area by O'Hara for a while before heading east along the north shoreline to hook up to the Wiwaxy Gap alpine trail. It was non-stop climbing all the way up, with a couple of sections a bit exposed. But the view just got better and better as we gained elevation. The emerald color of O'Hara really started to pop. We took a snack break on the pass on top of the Wiwaxy Gap, which is the saddle between the Wiwaxy Peaks and Mount Huber, admiring the views of the peaks and lakes all around us.
We then took the Huber Ledges Alpine Route and traversed over and down to Lake Oesa. The traverse really offered great views of the Yukness Ledges, Mount Huber, Mount Lefroy, Glacier Peak, Yukness Lake, Victoria Lake, Lefroy Lake and Lake Oesa, which was still largely frozen. It was a great view of it sitting at the bottom surrounded by Glacier Peak, Mount Lefroy and Yukness Mountain.
Our original plan was to do the entire alpine circuit that would include the Opabin Plateau Circuit, which would skirt around Yukness Mountain, go by Opabin Lake, Hungabee Lake, and Mary Lake to return to the southwest side of Lake O'Hara. But the rangers warned us that long sections on the Yukness Alpine Circuit had feet of snow and ice and would not be passable. It was very tempting to try to complete the entire alpine circuit, but the prospect of possibly not being able to catch the outgoing bus and having to hike the 7 miles back out once we were done was not appealing at all, especially to my wife. We would just have to come back here again perhaps for a few days to thoroughly explore the area! So we took the Lake Oesa trail back down to the northeast side of O'Hara and completed a smaller loop.
We caught one of the afternoon outgoing buses. No reservation is needed for outgoing bus, but it's based on an honor system of first come first serve, with priorities given to people who were bused in in the morning (they were given a token). Among the 25 or so people who did not have a token waiting there, 16 got on. We were lucky to be able to take the school bus back out. I definitely will have to come back to this area to fully explore a few days!
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