The weather forecast for July 17th included a chance of rain, so Joan and I opted to hike on the Opabin Plateau, which has much to see but is less exposed than many other trails, and doesn't take us as far from O'Hara. We chose the West Opabin trail, more likely to reveal pikas or marmots than the East trail.
This trail again took us past Mary Lake, but on the other side. Of course, there were flowers along the way.
The trail began to climb more steeply, and we emerged from the woods, climbing near the base of the plateau through rocky areas.
After briefly spotting an elusive pika, Joan and I admired a stoic pika looking the other way. It's still shedding its winter coat! (Click on the image to enlarge.)
On reaching the edge of the plateau we had a choice of paths, and decided to visit the prospect first.
Joan and I walked around to the heights above and to the west of the lower stretch of ponds and river.
From a high spot, before descending to the waters, I took this photo that shows two trails, the Yukness Ledges alpine route (indicated by a red arrow, bottom right), and the very unofficial Sleeping Poets Pool track (green arrow). Yukness Ledges is level but not flat, that is, you don't gain altitude but you go up and down a lot. The Poets Pool, on a wide ledge above the Yukness route, is reached by a very steep and sketchy path, a bit of work going up and demanding careful foot placement going down. (Please click on the image to enlarge.)
As we climbed the final hill to Opabin Lake on the west-side trail, I took this photo looking back. The large lake is Hungabee Lake, and the Moor Lakes lie beyond.
Joan and I settled down for lunch near the east end of Opabin Lake.
There we met a woman who worked for the Alberta Provincial Parks, and had discussions about ever-changing park budgets and regulations. At one point we spotted a golden eagle and studied it as well as we could as it flew on.
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| Lots of trails, lots of exploration up on Opabin. |
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| A yellow columbine poking up above the rest. |
Returning on the east side, another photo down to Hungabee.
We returned on the highline trail, between the east and west trails. There were good views down to the other trails.
From our perch we saw glimpses of marmots, but none held still long enough for me to grab a photo.
For the sake of variety we took the east trail back down to O'Hara, and along the shoreline spring pollen had accumulated in downwind areas.
There was plenty of admire along the lakeshore, including creeping beardtongue,
and an orchid, a northern twayblade.
All in all, a satisfying and rain-free day!
