CR2015: All Souls' Prospect

July 29th was our last day at Lake O'Hara, but our afternoon bus didn't leave until 4:00. Knuckles and Pierre were eager to take another, albeit shorter, hike.

Along the shore of Lake O'Hara a hermit thrush had caught breakfast.

The morning started out promising but quickly clouded over and began to sprinkle as we climbed the West Opabin trail, headed for All Souls' Prospect. That's the kind of week it was. The mountain goats were grazing yet again on the flanks of Mount Schäffer.

The rain intensified as we began the boulder-strewn stairsteps where All Souls' splits from West Opabin. Soon we reached the section of All Souls' trail that had been rerouted this year; the steepest, slipperiest, and most overtaxed section near Opabin had been replaced with a more gradual ascent. This photo looks back from the trail towards the Opabin Plateau, nestled between the peaks.

At one point we were almost directly above the mountain goats. (This picture was taken with zoom, of course.)

All Souls' Prospect offers a great panorama, but catches the wind and does not encourage hikers to linger overlong. Click on the image to enlarge.

A young couple, just visible in the look-back photo above, caught up to us. They had been married one year, with a wedding gift of one set of parents' slot for Lake O'Hara this year. They started down a couple of minutes before we did, as clouds began to spill over McArthur Pass.

When we were about halfway down a gale blew in with horizontal rain and a wicked wind chill. Conditions were better by the time Joan and I reached the junction with the Big Larches trail, but rather than linger outdoors any longer, we decided to return to the lodge for afternoon tea. In this picture the goodies have not yet been set out, but we were content to sit in a dry, warm place until the snacks appeared.

The weather was greatly improved when it was time to board the bus.

On the 11 km drive down to the parking area we heard a remarkable story about over-reliance on electronic devices and the ensuing selective blindness. The ranger ("warden" in Canada-speak) had unlocked the fire road gate that morning to drive up to the warden's cabin. After moving her truck but before she could re-lock the gate a man drove past all the Parking and No Access signs and proceeded all the way up the closed road to the lodge. He was to meet someone "at Lake O'Hara" and his GPS told him to keep going. Needless to say he was ordered back down the road.

A mystery was also resolved. The night before we had heard helicopter noise, but couldn't see anything through our cabin window. It turns out that a couple had walked in for a day visit to Lake O'Hara, and then one had injured an ankle. They missed the parks bus back down, had no campground reservations, and couldn't walk out. Ouch! I expect the helicopter ride wasn't cheap.

We went on to spend the night at Cathedral Mountain Lodge, not far away. There was another heavy shower during dinner, followed by the return of the sun. We repacked to prepare for tomorrow's adventure, which we knew would include a drive we had not yet taken in the Canadian Rockies. There was also to be a spur-of-the-moment extension.