Rocky Mountain 2021 Road Trip – Lake O’Hara
Summary;
For this year, with the limited travel and since we always wanted to, we booked a hike to the Burgess Shale. This got cancelled due to low air quiality brought on by the BC Wildfires. We took advantage of low tourist numbers and spent some time in Lake Louise. Also we were able to book two nights in Lake O’Hara Lodge due to a cancellation to do three days of hiking. We then checked out the Valemount Bike park and the nice network at Candle creek in Clearwater.
Lake O’Hara.
Lake Louise and Canmore || Lake O’hara Hiking || Valemount and Clearwater.
This place is very tough to get into as Parks Canada limits the number of people that can camp and/or get a bus ride into. The private Lake O’Hara Lodge is fully booked, mostly by returnees. We were able to book two nights after being on a waiting list for cancellations. Others have gotten a spot in the lodge after cancellations by calling everyday… It’s expensive, but the Lodge is nice, food is amazing and the staff are great. There is no internet or cell service at the lodge so it is a true remote luxury experience.
The weather for our days was ok, cloudy, but no smoke or rain. While blue skies would have been nice, the magesty of the place did present itself to us.
Day 1 we did the Morning Glory, Linda Lake Hike. Nice forested hike to beautiful alpine lakes.
Day 2 we did the bigger hike of Wiwazy gap, Huber Ledges to Oesa Lake, then Yukness Ledges. From here I went down East Opabin Trail back to O’hara Lodge, Lee continued on the All Souls route to Schaffer Lake and out Lake McArthur trail.
Day 3 we hiked out Big Larches trail to McArthur lake and back along the Lake McArthur trail. This is probably the classic Lake O’Hara hike.
These are nice easier hikes that give you a good tour of the Lake O’Hara area.
We also hiked around the lake each night after dinner with another friend from Vancouver, Doug Pope and his family, who booked for 5 days at the Lodge!
Very worthwhile experience and lots of options for bigger objectives and not as crowded as Lake Louise which is one valley over!
Lake O’Hara Lodge
Linda Lake
Morning Glory Lake
Linda Lake
Lake O’Hara Lodge
Lake O’Hara
Breakfast at Lake O’Hara Lodge
Cabin views
Creek outlet of Lake O’Hara
Wiwazy hike
Wiwazy hike
Wiwazy hike
Lake O’Hara from Wiwaxy Gap
Huber Ledges Trail from Wiwaxy Gap
Huber Ledges
Oesa Lake
View of Lake O’Hara
Wiwaxy Trail view from Schaffer
East Opabin Trail
Amazing Dinners at Lake O’Hara Lodge
Evening Canoe on Lake O’Hara
McArthur Lake view from Big Larch Trail
Lake McArthur
Lake McArthur
Hike Logs on Trailforks