Smoke and Snow: Yukness Ledges and Seven Veils Falls

At breakfast on the 12th the sky was overcast with mixed brightness. Will it rain? Joan and I set off for the Victoria Cutoff below Lake Oesa. Along the way we spotted dried and withered leaves of butterwort -- a carnivorous plant -- at a wet drainage (it was September). At Victoria Lake we took the cutoff,

and climbed up to the big intersection, passing a group of five, some newbies and some who hadn't been to O'Hara for ten years.

It was still cloudy but sans rain, so Joan and I decided to continue on the Yukness Ledges. These ledges aren't the highest at O'Hara, or the most difficult, but they do offer spectacular views.

This photo of the Group of Five coming along behind us offers some perspective on the first leg of the ledges.

As we proceeded we crossed the "midline" above Lake O'Hara.

We were graced with another pika audience.

The trail gradually bent south, bringing the Opabin Plateau and its golden larches into view.

We met an earnest photographer from Canmore who was lugging a menagerie of lenses. Then the sky began to spit. Joan and I did the right thing for once, and put our pack covers and rain paints on (it takes me a couple of minutes) and were truly squared away before a blast of wind and rain hit. Hurrah!

The Group of Five passed us, but several experienced difficulty with the boulder field at the western terminus of the Yukness Ledges trail, and so we leapfrogged them again. The air had turned quite cold, and I suggested to Joan that we have our trail lunch in our cabin rather than hunkered beneath our favorite shelter-trees on Opabin, and she agreed. Thus we had a dandy lunch on our cabin porch, out of the rain, about 2:00.

It was time to hang up gear to dry, which required more places to hang things than the cabin's hooks allowed, so we employed lamps and the edges of window frames in addition. Fortunately at this altitude things dried out quickly inside the warm cabin.

It was cloudy with occasional sun as Joan and I headed for breakfast the next day, the 13th. Plan A: if the weather continues to improve, we'll tackle Wiwaxy Gap to Huber Ledges to Lake Oesa. But it was starting to rain as we left breakfast, so discuss. Plan B: Linda Lake, a forested route rather than a high route that demands good footing. As we geared up and waited on the porch to see what would happen, it alternately showered and sprinkled in waves,
with a few minutes of cessation here and there. For a moment there was a rainbow, then more rain came, and it grew colder still. We adopted Plan C: to go up and down the two side trails of the Cataract, the outpouring of water from Lake O'Hara, followed by a loop around O'Hara to take in the new trail to the Seven Veils Falls.

Along the cataract Joan and I encountered a toppled tree's huge root mass.

A closer looks shows a botanical showcase hosted there, mosses and other green things (click on the image to enlarge).

Decades ago the Seven Veils Falls were along the way to Lake Oesa, but that section became so overused and degraded that the first stretch of the Oesa trail was relocated away from the falls. Just this year a new trail was opened to Seven Veils Falls, leading to two stonework terraces with stunning views, rain (today) or shine. There's even a bench at the upper terrace.

Joan and I returned to our cabin for lunch. Late in the day the weather began to clear.

The photographers emerged from their dens.

Our traveling companions appreciated the view; they don't care to hike in wet weather and didn't head out with us today.

Don't worry, piggies, tomorrow ought to be better!