Canadian Rockies (4) - Lake O\'Hara

There were two buses going to Lake O'Hara in the morning (8:30am and 10:30am), and three buses coming out in the afternoon (2:30pm, 4:30pm and 6:30pm). We took the 10:30am bus, figured it would give us a good 5+ hours for hiking. The weather forecast for the day was: -2 degrees Celsius for the high, and -8 degrees Celsius for the low. It was the coldest day we have ever hiked.

Our 10:30am bus carried only 12 people, 10 of them were campers, we were the only day hikers. Clearly many people didn't show up for the bus. The bus driver even waited an extra 5 minutes for them.

1. The 11km road to Lake O'Hara was steep at some places and covered in snow, so we had to switch bus at mid-point, to a bus that had chains.


2. Switching buses.


The bus ride took about 30 minutes. It dropped us in front of a small heated shelter that offered trails map (free), hot drinks, snacks, and souvenirs etc. (cash only). There was also a bin outside that held some old ski poles, walking sticks in case people need it. No modern bathrooms, only outhouses.

3. Lake O'Hara.


4. Lake O'Hara.


5. Lake O'Hara.


6. Start our hike.


The day before, at Yoho National Park's visitor center in Field, a lady who worked there recommended a good hiking route to us: from Lake O'Hara hike to Lake Oesa (2 miles one way), then follow the Yukness Ledge Alpine Route to Opabin Lake, there were several trails in the area that we could hike, then we could come back to Lake O'Hara via the West Opabin trail. But with the weather condition today, all the Alpine Routes were closed, so we decided we would just hike to Lake Oesa, then back to Lake O'Hara and circled the lake.

7. Lake O'Hara Trails Map.

Image from Internet

8. Lake O'Hara.


9. Lake O'Hara.


10. Lake O'Hara.


11. Once Lake Oesa trail broke off from Lake O'Hara Shoreline Trail, we were surprised to find out that there was no one on the trail today. We had to break the trail ourselves.


It was getting harder and harder to find where the trail was, especially when we had to cross boulder fields. Luckily, there were two hikers behind us. Just from their equipment, I could tell they were experienced hikers, so I told Dave: let us wait here, let them pass, so we can follow their footprints :)

12. Following two local hikers to Lake Oesa. Later we found out that, they were from Canmore. They hiked to Abbot Pass where the snow was 40cm deep and turned back.


13. Lake O'Hara.


14. Lake Yukness.


15. Lake Oesa trail.


16. Lake Oesa trail.


17. From Lake Oesa trail.


18. From Lake Oesa trail.


19. From Lake Oesa trail.


20. After reaching Lake Oesa, the two local hikers continuing on their hike.


21. Lake Oesa.


22. Coming back from Lake Oesa.


23. Crossing one of the boulder fields.


Not long after taking this photo, our brand new camera (Sony a6000) locked up after taking some videos. The display says: "data recovery, please wait". We waited an hour (it was snowing hard anyway), it still said the same thing, so we pulled the battery and the memory card out, put a 2nd memory card in, and the battery back in. The camera worked again. Later when we got home, we were able to retrieve all the photos and videos on the 1st memory card using a card reader, but during the trip, we had no idea if they were intact or damaged. And it seems this problem has been happening on Sony cameras (different models) for years. I can't believe they haven't fixed it.

(To be continued)