Lake O’Hara
On Monday 13th September I was lucky enough to snag a seat on the bus going into Lake O’Hara in Yoho National Park. It was a perfect Fall hiking day: a cold morning, fresh overnight snow on the peaks, the day warming up gradually. The larch were just starting to turn and we had sunny blue skies and no bugs.
It’s the second occasion I had to get to Lake O’Hara this summer. The love I have for the place made me think that it was worth a blog of its own. I could just fill the page with photos and you’d need nothing else to encourage you to visit, but let me fill you in a little on why the place is so special and how best to spend a day there.
Lake O’Hara is a very special place
Renowned for its magnificent network of hiking trails, Lake O’Hara is a rambler’s paradise. Most of these trails were built by botany professor George K. K. “Tommy” Link and Canmore coal miner Lawrence Grassi. There are gentle lakeside rambles, rigorous mountain passes, and airy alpine routes. Really there is something for everyone. These well maintained trails link the valley’s numerous lakes: icebound gems like Lake Oesa, larch-framed Schaffer Lake, and alpine tarns like Sleeping Poet’s Pond. The Lake O’Hara Trails Club, established in 1949, works hard to maintain and improve these trails.
Why it’s never crowded
Unlike many other renowned destinations in the Canadian Rockies, Lake O’Hara is never crowded. In the mid 1970s a master plan was created allowing only 250 visitors per day: 30 tents at the campground , 24 visitors each at the Alpine Club of Canada’s Elizabeth Parker Hut and Abbot Pass Hut (currently closed for repair) , 60 visitors at Lake O’Hara Lodge, and 42 day users. The area is large enough to absorb the visitors and leave lots of space for solitude. It also means that wildlife isn’t too badly stressed by our human presence.
How to get to Lake O’Hara
- Visit for the day. The Lake O’Hara shuttle takes visitors 11 km up to Lake O’Hara. Advanced reservations are required. A random draw reservation system is used to assign day-use bus reservations. Applications for the random draw are available online through the Parks Canada Reservation Service. In April 2021 you could submit date requests in the random ballot and successful applicants notified by early June. It’s worth always checking the website regularly as cancelled stays get offered on the website all season. There is a bus shuttle in at 8.30am and 10.30am. The bus comes out each day at 11.30, 2.30, 4.30 and 6.30 (don’t lose the green token they give you on the bus ride in or you have to pay to get out!)
- Camp for up to three nights. Reservations are required. Lake O’Hara campground operates from mid June to October. Camping reservations include the ability to reserve an ingoing bus ride.
- Overnight at the Elizabeth Parker Hut, book with the Alpine Club of Canada.
- Stay at beautiful fully catered Lake O’Hara Lodge. Pricey to say the least, with a huge waiting list for one of the 8 lakeside cabins or main lodge rooms. The lodge is not open to the public so, day visitors, don’t try to stop in for afternoon tea! Book on their website.
There is actually a 5th way – a very boring 11km walk up the access road and hope the bus isn’t full so you at least get a ride out for $15.
Sometimes there is a 6th way – turn up at bus shelter and hope there is an unfilled space on the bus. If people who reserved seats on the bus don’t show up the attendants sell tickets to those who arrived on a first come first served basis.
For more detail on planning a trip check here.
How to spend a day at Lake O’Hara
West Opabin / Yukness Ledges / Lake Oesa
Yukness Ledge
We took this route on a smoky July day on my first trip this year. From Le Relais (after tea, toilet and the best carrot cake ever) follow the Lakeshore trail to the right, anti clockwise to the trailhead for West Opabin. The trails climbs quickly to Mary Lake, follows the shore and then climbs steeply up an open talus slope for approximately 120 vertical metres until it mounts a grassy cleft onto the rolling terrain of Opabin Plateau. At this point, the All Soul’s Prospect Alpine Route joins the circuit on the right where we saw a big mountain billy goat happily grazing on the slope. Take a left at the next junction signed Opabin Prospect where a small path travels back out to the head of the cliff. Enjoy this loop as it’s a very minimal diversion and the views are phenomenal even on a smoky day. Continuing on the West Opabin trail past Hungabee Lake up to beautiful Opabin Lake we stopped for lunch.
Lake Oesa
After lunch
Head back from Lake Opabin to the Yukeness Ledges Alpine Route towards Lake Oesa. There is a bit of elevation gain but then it’s a pretty flat, spectacular, occasionally exposed ledge walk with more outstanding views. We stopped at Lake Oesa for afternoon tea and the coldest swim ever (well, I took photos of others ‘enjoying’ the coldest swim ever). Return back down Lake Oesa Trail passing some of the loveliest small blue and green jewel coloured ponds and little lakes, down some of Lawrence Grassi’s famous stone steps, joining the Lake O’Hara lakeshore circuit. We were too late to get the 4.30 bus so we took a left, clockwise taking in the Seven Veils Falls on a circuit of the Lake. After a nosy around the lakeshore cabins and yet more photos of the iconic Glacier Peak behind Lake O’Hara, one more cup of tea at Le Relais saw us on the 6.30 bus out. A stop at Truffle Pigs restaurant in Field on the way home finished the perfect day. Please please make a stop here – it’s a fantastic restaurant you don’t want to miss on any trip to Yoho.
Schaffer Lake and Lake McArthur
This was the hike I did on September 13th, keen to enjoy the Fall colours. A moderate hike, 1.6km to Schaffer Lake with 160m elevation gain and a further 2km and 70m elevation to Lake McArthur. Give yourself around 4 hours plus time for lunch and tea.
Elizabeth Parker Hut
From behind Le Relais head up past the ACC Elizabeth Parker Hut on Alpine Meadows climbing steadily through beautiful forest with mossy banks to Schaffer Lake. Take the McArthur High-level through meadows, around boulders and over a rockslide up to Lake McArthur (the second largest lake in Yoho). Lunch at Lake McArthur was amazing. The different colours of blue and green on the Lake were flat like mirrors. Above from Park Mountain the noise of rockfalls occasionally broke the peace.
After lunch
After lunch we descended via McArthur low-level down through amazing boulder filled forests, boulders so large they looked as though they’d been split in half by giant knives. Back at Schaffer Lake I took Big Larches trail down. It’s quite a steep, rocky route but very open and scenic over the Devil’s slide and of course full of larches. They had just started to turn yellow when I was there – bright and highlighted against the solid black trunks and branches. With the yellow of the larch and the gradual reddening of the ground shrubs I just can’t tell you how gorgeous the colours were. 
An alternative rather than take Big Larches back down to Lake O’Hara is to take All-Souls Alpine Route. Along with Wiwaxy, Huber Ledges and Yukness Ledges this is one of the elements of the Alpine Route. The pose a higher degree of difficulty due to substantial elevation gain and loss, proximity to cliffs and drops, exposure, unstable hiking surfaces and some need for route-finding skills. This Route gains 250m in 1.8km. It’s a slightly exposed route offering great views of Lake O’Hara, the Opabin Valley and Wiwaxy Peaks. It does involve some clambering over boulders and a short stretch of scrambling up a scree slope. There is a traverse to a spectacular viewpoint at All Soul’s Prospect. You can continue East to join the West Opabin trail and descend to Lake O’Hara via Mary Lake. This will add at least an hour to the 4 hours going up to Lake McArthur and down via Big Larches.
If you’re short on time or have time to kill before the bus then walk the easy 2.8km loop around Lake O’Hara (also called the Link trail). This gently rolling trail circles Lake O’Hara offering wonderful lake views and the peaks reflected in it. Halfway round is Seven Veils Falls which you can climb up closer to if you feel energetic.
Click here for more Lake O’Hara trail descriptions
Tips
- if you want to walk against everyone, walk anti-clockwise
- don’t rush, stop and enjoy the views at every opportunity
- watch out for wolverine , one of the few places I’ve seen one
- take cash – Le Relais where you buy tea, carrot cake, gifts etc only takes cash
- go on, have the carrot cake
Winter at Lake O’Hara
During the winter months skiing is the only way to get into Lake O’Hara and it takes approximately 3-4 hours each way. The 11 km access road is groomed weekly for cross-country skiers. On weekends the lodge offers soup, salad, dessert, and coffee or tea between 12 pm and 2 pm, cash only. I’ll keep you posted!
Wow the pictures look awesome. Until now I only know Switzerland, its high mountains and one or another Park Hotel. But these Blog makes definitely Lust for Canada.