CR2013: Lake Oesa and Yukness Ledges

It was Sunday, September 1st, and Joan and I were excited, as we always are on the day we're going to Lake O'Hara. But first was breakfast where we were staying, at the Kicking Horse Lodge.

Saturday night must have been exciting for the staff. Or rough. Or both. We showed up for breakfast a few minutes after opening time, and the service was glacially slow. It was as if they were searching for a henhouse to raid for eggs. Joan and I always leave a margin of safety for getting to the Lake O'Hara parking area, and today we needed all of it. We arrived in good time -- but just a couple of minutes before the lodge bus. (You cannot drive to Lake O'Hara; instead, you must either walk/ski in or take a lodge or Parks Canada bus, depending on whether you are a lodge guest.)

As we rode the bus up, rental car left behind, our tensions began to melt away. We disembarked at the lodge office to check in and pick up prepacked trail lunches. Today we would hike up to Lake Oesa and cross the Yukness Ledges.

This photo was taken near the outlet where Lake O'Hara pours out into Cataract Creek. Lake Oesa is nestled at the foot of the high mountains on the left, and the Yukness Ledges trail crosses the flank of Yukness Mountain, center.

On a clear day such as today, there are stunning views in all directions as you gain altitude. Here we are looking west towards Mount Schaeffer.

I documented the hike up to Lake Oesa in detail in this 2012 post, so I'll jump to this view of the lake.

The scale is deceptive in the above photo; the lake is larger than it looks. Here's a video clip scanning it.   A researcher is on the lake, taking measurements.

Most people enjoy  lingering here if the weather permits.

After eating our lunch we continued on to the Yukness Ledges trail. This view looks back to Lake Oesa just before it disappears.

Looking across to the Huber Ledges trail, which descends from Wiwaxy Gap to Lake Oesa, Joan and I spotted a group taking a rest break. They are just left of center, near the top. Click to enlarge, and look for the orange or turquoise jackets!

The Yukness Ledges route may not be the highest trail in the Lake O'Hara system, but it offers some of the best views of the lake and its surrounding mountains, including Odaray Mountain, upper center. Lake O'Hara is a stunning blue, while the much smaller and shallower Yukness Lake is tinted with green.

Here's a closer look. When walking past this lake on the way to or from Oesa you can easily study its bottom.

Now what's that up ahead? A hoary marmot on watch!

He's even more absorbed in the vista (and catching some sunshine) than we are.

Shortly thereafter we saw a creature that Joan and I had been hoping to see in each of the ten previous years and hadn't, a wolverine. This powerful animal was bounding along the terrace of Yukness Mountain below ours, moving quickly towards the Opabin Plateau. It was clearly nothing we had seen before; from its size, color, and gait we speculated that it was a wolverine. It traveled too fast for me to grab a picture. Later we saw a wolverine photo after a presentation at Le Relais, and confirmed that it was a wolverine. We mentioned this at the office and it turns out that there have been at least a dozen sightings this summer, so many that there is some concern that this wolverine is perhaps becoming too habituated to people!

The Yukness Ledges trail ends at the edge of the Opabin Plateau. Joan and I spotted some hikers heading up to Sleeping Poet's Pool as we looked back the way we had come. That trail can be very steep at times.

Heading along the plateau towards the descent to Lake O'Hara, we were greeted by yet another creature of the mountains, a pika. Eeeep! as they say.

My final picture from this day is what we refer to as "Bob's Bench," after Bob of Bob and Valerie at Canadian Artisans Bed and Breakfast. There is a fascinating,  33-year-old story behind this bench. From 1980 to 2002 the Sufi Movement in Canada (SMIC) met annually at Lake O'Hara, and at some point this bench was created and dedicated to the leader, Murshid Hidayat Inayat-Khan. (There is an older photo of this bench here.) Bob was an attendee at many of these retreats and had a strong hand in its construction.

Over the years the bench had deteriorated. Last year, 2012, at Bob's request we took rubbings of the central star, which was a wooden incision in the heart shape, which was itself carved into the bench's back. Bob, earlier in 2013, then rehabbed the bench, repainting the wooden surfaces and inserting a hand-made glass star inside the heart, using the dimensions from our rubbings. But he forgot to take a picture of the fruits of his work! We were glad to oblige him with pictures from several angles.

The evening included the reliably excellent dinner at the lodge, and we slept well in our cabin at 2115 meters (6900') altitude and 51° 21' N latitude.