Smoke and Snow: On to Lake O'Hara

September 9th was a transition day. Joan and I left Canmore headed for Cathedral Mountain Lodge (CML), at the foot of Kicking Horse Pass, where we'd spend the night before going up to the Lake O'Hara parking area for the morning bus.

The air was still smoky, but not as bad as the day before. Rain began to spit and mist as we approached Lake Louise, and then began to sprinkle as we headed north on the Icefields Parkway, but we still expected to hike at Bow Lake. Unfortunately it began to rain in earnest shortly before we arrived. We waited, reading local newspapers in the car, but it continued to pour. We drove north to Waterfowl Lake and ate lunch in the car.

We also saw a couple emerge from the lake. Intrepid swimmers, eh?

It continued to rain. We drove back down to the Trans Canada Highway, then through the work on the "twinning," or expansion from two lanes to four, divided, of the Trans Canada through Kicking Horse Pass. How they will get two more lanes carved into those mountain slopes strains the imagination.

Joan and I continued on to the town of Field, just past the CML turn, and browsed in the Visitor's Centre. We checked in at CML at 3:00; during the afternoon and evening there were several waves of rain. Of course, the rain was a blessing in many ways, clearing the smoke from the air and dousing the wildfires. The temperature was dropping.

The next morning was cloudy but with a hope-inducing forecast and glimpses of blue sky. We drove back up Kicking Horse Pass to the Lake O'Hara turnoff, and joined the folks waiting for a morning bus; there's a Parks Canada bus, which gets booked way in advance, and the Lodge bus. Lorraine, the Parks Canada greeter at the bus stop, was enthusiastic and informative. Joan and I were surprised at how many people were choosing to walk the 11 kilometers / 7 miles uphill on a fire road to Lake O'Hara, the only option if you don't have a place on a bus. (No bikes, no private vehicles.) Lorraine said that nonetheless there were so many walk-ins this year that Parks Canada was debating the need for further restrictions to protect the fragile alpine environment of O'Hara from an excess of visitors. We learned that Lake O'Hara had made the "must see" list of some Asian publications, and many of the walk-ins were Japanese or Chinese. I'm sure not all of them made it, especially those with wheeled luggage instead of backpacks!

After learning our assigned cabin (available after 1pm) and picking up our packed lunches, Joan and I set out for Lake Oesa. It was cold at first as we traveled at a moderate pace, on the lookout for birds, marmots, or pikas. We did encounter a flock of golden-crowned kinglets.

The lower reaches of the trail still harbored signs of last spring's avalanches. One tree across the O'Hara lakeside trail was there today, but gone thereafter. Higher up the slopes, the downed timber remained, silent snow witnesses.

The Oesa route also passes through rock fields; here's a look back the way we'd come so far.

The larches were beginning to turn. They're monochromatic compared to a mixed deciduous forest in the fall, but they're a bright splash of color in the mountains.

Especially pretty contrasted with the turquoise ponds.

Joan and I were excited to spot a male mountain goat on our first day in the high country. Lorraine, the Parks greeter, hadn't seen one yet this year. I needed to zoom and crop to turn him into anything other than a white dot, and that's we always take our binoculars.

Closer to us was this squirrel.

As we approached Lake Oesa the weather continued to improve.

The lake was not nearly as crowded as I expected. It's always a fabulous place to lunch, and today we had our choice of the best sitting rocks.

We decided to return via the start of the Yukness Ledges alpine route and then take the Victoria Lake cutoff back to the Oesa trail.

Looking back at Lefroy and Oesa from the Yukness Ledges.

This couple was absorbing the view from just off the Oesa trail, as it starts a major descent alongside the water.

Looking back at that spot, quite a perch, from below.

The Opabin Plateau was also illuminated with a crown of larches, here as seen from the Oesa trail.

Joan and I were becoming fatigued on the way back, but we still had to unpack and clean up. After a great dinner (they always are at the Lake O'Hara Lodge) we slept hard. The weather forecast for tomorrow was promising. Tomorrow ...