Today was one of those days in the mountains that we will talk about for years to come.
Lake O'Hara sits right on the border between Alberta and British Columbia. If you were to hike over the glacier at the back of Lake Louise, you would find yourself overlooking Lake O'Hara. In a bizarre twist, most of the locals (Calgarians) have no idea what so ever where it is or that it even exists. It suits me fine. It's a bit different to many of the other heavily populated sights in the Rocky Mountain Parks and for a good reason. The Lake O'Hara Basin is an important wildlife corridor so Parks Canada limit the number of people in the area each day. Private vehicle and tour buses aren't allowed past the car park 11 kms down the valley. The only way to get there is to hike in, or catch one of the limited O'Hara buses into the area. We booked our seats on the bus 3 months ago.
We were on the 8.30 bus and set off for our day hike in the area. The original plan was to hike the 2.8 kms around the lake & then up to the Opabin Plateau some 250m above Lake O'Hara. The lake shore was in shade early on and made photography challenging to say the least. Some turned out fairly well.
Lake O'Hara's outlet stream.
Wiwaxy Peaks
We decided that it would be better to climb the trail up to the plateau while it was still nice and cool. It turned out to be a good call.
Mary Lake
We passed Mary Lake just after leaving the Lake O'Hara circuit. Mary Lake sits beside Lake O'Hara separated only by a thin line of trees. As we climbed, the views of the O'Hara Basin became more and more picturesque. We we started to catch glimpses of Mary Lake by the time we were a quarter of the way up the climb. By half way up we were treated to the view above. To the left is Odaray Mountain; centre is Cathedral Mountain and to the right is Wiwaxy Peaks. Lake O'Hara was still obstructed to the right of shot.
Near to the top of the climb, I spotted one of my fury little friends that have seemed to follow me around this year. The marmot wasn't alone either. Her young one was with her. I managed to get a picturesque shot with the two animals on the rock in front of me.
Just in case your eyes aren't so great, here's a close up of the fury little family.
The only thing that marred our day in the alpine region was the mosquitoes and horse flies. You can see the 4 mozzies around the marmot. As soon as we stopped moving, the little blighters were on us! The other pests were the horse flies. The Canadian locals reading would be well aware of these aggressive insects, but for the readers down under, the Canadian horse fly is as close to a march fly as you are going to get and bite just as hard!
After the climb up the escarpment, this is the pay off. What a fantastic view!! The rock ledge at the top of the cliff has totally unobstructed views of the O'Hara Basin.
The view includes the three mountain peaks I mentioned before plus Mary Lake & beautiful Lake O'Hara (turquoise lake to the right). The area between the lakes & the distant Cathedral Mountain is a no people zone to allow the wildlife to feed & migrate in peace. Great idea! Canadians take their natural resources for granted & There should be more of this in the mountains, particularly in B.C.
Lake O'Hara & Wiwaxy Peaks
At one point I was thinking I was a big girl's blouse for not wanting to walk out on the ledge that Kerri is standing on in this photo. I found out soon after I took this shot that a the time, she had no idea how far down it was from this shear ledge. I'm pretty sure she wouldn't have gone out there if she'd known.
The Opabin Plateau
The Opabin Plateau is approximately 2200m above sea level. The vegetation is quite different at that elevation. The dense spruce forest gives way to open larch groves (above). The sparse forest allows you to see more of the surrounding scenery. Once the Fall hits, the needles on the larch trees turn golden and make for fantastic photography opportunities (apparently).
To me it doesn't really matter. The amazing sights we saw today were brilliant regardless of the colour of the larch needles. The peak in the background is called Mount Huber.
The Opabin Plateau was so different to anything I've seen so far in Canada. I'm sure it's not unique, but there don't appear to be any places like it that are so accessible.
The Opabin Plateau has the full set of tricks. Aside from the larch forests, it has streams, small waterfalls, ponds, lakes, shear cliff walls grassy meadows, rocky outcrops... Everywhere you turn, there's something else to take in.
We spent a few hours wandering around the plateau checking out all that we could find. I'm pretty sure we missed a few things as well. Most of the streams & lakes had the typical Rocky Mountain turquoise tint to them.
Lake Hungabee
After we'd wandered around for a while we reached Hungabee Lake toward the head of the valley (foreground). We headed up the last incline to our ultimate destination, Opabin Lake. (below).Once again you can see Odaray Mountain, Cathedral Mountain & Wiwaxy Peaks. You'll also notice another 3 little lakes down the valley from Hungabee.
Opabin Lake
Another lake and another pretty setting. Opabin Lake was the highest of the lakes we visited (2285m above sea level). The peak at centre is Hungabee Mountain & just to the left of that Ringrose Peak.
In order to not retrace our steps and, more importantly, see everything we could, we took the east trail back toward Lake O'Hara, the East Opabin Plateau Trail. The photo above is the start of it next to Opabin Lake.
We stopped for lunch just down the hill from Opabin Lake. The dining view is pretty hard to beat, don't you think? Again the lake in the foreground is Hungabee.
This imposing wall was visible pretty much all the time we were walking around the Opabin Plateau. Unless you're actually there it's difficult to put it's shear size into perspective. (Hungabee Lake in the foreground again).
Even the most insignificant pond was an opportunity for a postcard shot.
Lake O'Hara
The above photos is most certainly not the pick of the photos for the day, but it allows me to tell explain our day's adventure. The bump in the middle of shot is Opabin Prospect. We started the day by hiking up it's right side and returned to Lake O'Hara to the left. We had overlooked the entire valley from the top middle.
Postcards, fridge magnets and calendar photos of Lake O'Hara are little scarce because it's unknown to the mainstream tourist rabble. This one is about as close to a "Lake O'Hara" tourist shot as you will see. The only flaw in the picture is me!
After the decent from the Opabin Plateau, we followed the Lake O'Hara shoreline back to the Lodge. All the way around, the scenery was ever changing & no less interesting than what we'd seen earlier in the day.
The lake trail is the busiest in the area but some of the wildlife was still willing to greet us. This chipmunk was too focused on collecting pine nuts than wondering about what we were up to.
Across Lake O'Hara in the photo above, you will notice a few cabins. They are part of the Lake O'Hara Lodge. There are only a dozen or so cabins in the complex and cost about $500 CAD per night. Despite the high cost, they are very popular and you basically have to book a year ahead.
Here's another shot of Lake O'Hara's outlet stream. I'm always astounded by how much different times of day and lighting conditions can change the scenery.
After 10 kms & 5-1/2 hours of hiking, we were back at the place we started. And guess what? Another great photo opportunity! Who would have thought??
We had enough time before our return bus to explore down the hill a little. There wasn't much of interest where we went but we didn't have time to venture further toward Cathedral Mountain.
The locals were keeping a close eye on our movements.
If you are ever in the Canadian Rockies (in summer), set aside a day to explore this beautiful part of the world. You won't be disappointed.
