Sunday, January 29, 2017

CR2016: Opabin Plateau and Yukness Ledges

The next day started clear and bright, and stayed that way.
Joan and I headed for the Opabin Plateau via the West Opabin trail.
Before the route began to climb I captured this shot over Mary Lake, towards All Souls Prospect and the moon.
The trail threaded along the flanks of the plateau, relentlessly headed up.
Looking back we saw a sharp demarcation between the sunny slopes and those lingering in shade.
When we reached the lip of the plateau, the valley of the west side opened up ahead of us.
We followed the west trail and then veered east towards the Terrace Pools.
Along the way the setting moon aligned with Schäffer ridge.
A ground squirrel greeted us at the edge of the pools.
A fat young american dipper was following a parent around, begging for food.
If you haven't seen a dipper at work before, or even if you have, its choreography is remarkable.

From the ponds we backtracked to the Opabin Prospect.
Although not as high as some of the surrounding prospects, Opabin still has a marvelous view.
This shot was taken from the prospect, with some of its slabs in view, over towards All Souls. That prospect is located at the shelf where the light gray and tan rocks yield to the dark gray cliffs.
Joan and I then decided to head up the plateau on the west trail, even though that meant some minor repeats.
This photo shows the layout of the ponds and cascades we had skirted earlier.
Soon we encountered the rock pile where two years before we had been charmed by several baby marmots. It happened again; this place must be a good marmot nursery.
A somewhat fuzzy closeup.
There was a final climb up to the level of Opabin Lake. This photo is of the view looking back, with the west trail and Hungabee Lake as prominent features.
Joan and I rested overlooking Opabin Lake. It was a good spot to eat the first half of our lunch.
An american pipit wondered what we were doing.
The next photo captures two trails. Below the tall bluffs is the Yukness Ledges trail, and scrambling uphill below the cliff on the right is the route to Sleeping Poets Pool, which we visited in 2015. Click on the image to enlarge.
After a short stretch on the east Opabin trail we picked up the Yukness Ledges path, which at first winds up through the boulder field hinted at in the lower right corner. We're on our way to Lake Oesa, taking the ledges counter-clockwise this time.
From the higher elevation of the ledges the Opabin Prospect looks like a thumb in the landscape.
At this western end the trail hardly needs alpine route blazes, except for the boulder field at the start.
As it rounds the first corner the route becomes rockier, more up-and-down, and the blazes become more useful.
About a third of the way across the ledges Joan and I paused to finish our lunch. There we also chatted with a young couple who had just come down from the (now defunct) Abbot Hut, a steep, challenging climb that demands gear such as a helmet and rope. The woman was glad to have done it, but never again; several times she'd been in tears at being unable to make progress up the vertiginous scree.

This is what I consider one of the classic Lake O'Hara perspectives, from the Yukness Ledges trail at the midpoint of the lake.
By now it was warm in the sun if the breeze wasn't blowing. But the breeze did deter any bugs fostered by the previous two weeks of wet weather.

This alpine route has a sharp climb or drop, depending on your direction of travel, as it rounds the eastern corner. This photo looks back at the assemblage of blazes and rocky guidelines that steer hikers approaching or leaving the edge of the climb/drop.
This brilliantly illuminated slab bore both the old-style (orange/red) and new style (two yellow bars on blue) alpine blazes. Lake Oesa is in the background.
A hiker passing the other way advised us not to miss the ducks in Lefroy Lake, the pool just below Oesa. Joan and I could see them from the ledges trail, and the water was so clear we could see the paddling feet. (I had forgotten my binoculars today, but Joan would lend me hers from time to time.) The distance was a challenge for my camera.

Lake Oesa was in full sun this afternoon.
From the edge of the lake's basin there was a grand view back to the eastern corner of the Yukness Ledges.
This map shows how the two trails, Yukness and Oesa, form a pocket whose sides face each other.
A stairway begins the trip back down to Lake O'Hara.
The ducks were still at Lefroy Lake, but most of them had hauled out onto rocks.
Then we continued on the familiar trail down to Lake O'Hara, a shower, and dinner.

Saturday, January 21, 2017

CR2016: Lake McArthur and Schäffer Lake

The view from our cabin at Lake O'Hara on July 25th, capped by a hazy sky.
After breakfast our hiking pigs were ready to go.
Our destination was Lake McArthur, via the Big Larches route. This is much more scenic than the trail that goes up from the Elizabeth Parker Hut.
The Big Larches trail works its way through the woods until shortly after Mary Lake, when it skirts the edges of a big rockfall zone under Mount Schäffer.
Often hoary marmots and pikas can be seen here, and after some initial frustration, we did.
This pika kept playing hide-and-seek with us.
Then another marmot showed up.
The Big Larches trail has several uphill stretches, some with stone steps, some not.
Big Larches then passes by the trail to All Souls Prospect, and joins the alternate trail at Schäffer Lake.
We heard pip-pip sounds and located their source, a spotted sandpiper foraging in the shallow water. With this memorable shorebird the male takes the lead in raising the young. 
At Schäffer we also saw some Clark's nutcrackers.

Rather than take the meadow trail, as a change-up Joan and I continued on the higher trail, which at first is like a staircase.
Here the trail is approaching the split between the high level and low level routes.
Another young marmot! Today is a good wildlife day.
The high level trail hugs the steep mountainside.
Another pika sighting! As always, we have our binoculars handy. Now which is cuter, a pika of any age, or a young marmot?
The first of two points in the route that require stepping up.
Here we're approaching the second step.
Soon the trail switched back and Joan and I were climbing through sparse woods.
A small meadow and the last bluff before reaching the lip of the lake basin. In this grassy zone there were several diggings where grizzlies had been clawing ground squirrels out of their dens.

The lake is set back against the walls of an old cirque. There was yet a small walk to get closer.
Near Lake McArthur is an area full of hillocks and rocky slabs, good places to sit and to eat.
A frozen remnant of the ancestral glacier hangs on below Mt. Biddle. The edge reveals layers as if cut by a knife -- click on the image to enlarge.
This wider panorama gives a better view of the ramparts on both sides of the cirque.
We could have returned the way we came,
but we left by the low level trail, making a loop. After wandering through a meadow the low level plunges down into the valley ... and then back up again!
Another marmot visited us.
Arriving back at Schäffer Lake, we saw three baby spotted sandpipers. By now our flower count included moss campion and twisted loosestrife.
Joan and I then decided to go partway up the trail to All Souls Prospect, perhaps to the first bench to offer a good view. We huffed and puffed uphill past white, yellow, and pink heather, and passed a group of women coming back down. Then we arrived at a bench, not really the one we had in mind, but we had fun exploring it nonetheless.
On our return to the foot of All Souls we met the group of women again, who were taking a break. They were members of the Shuswap Lady Striders of Salmon Arm, British Columbia, about 200 miles west of Lake O'Hara. The conversation turned to the upcoming election in the U.S., and by the end, they were offering us a place to stay in Salmon Arm.

Joan and I continued our return along the Big Larches route, and then the Lady Striders caught up to us and passed us. Several commented that this was the first time they had been the passer rather than the passed!

Although the weather had been overcast and unsettled, it was another excellent day at Lake O'Hara.