Canada 2024: Sights and Sounds on the Opabin Plateau

July 14, 2024, was our last day at Lake O'Hara. Joan and I would be taking the 4:00 bus down to parking and, as we often do, chose to explore the Opabin Plateau. This would leave us plenty of time to catch the bus. To mix things up, we went clockwise around O'Hara from our cabin. (Click on any image to enlarge.)

Near the lakeshore, plenty of flowers were in bloom. Here's a delicate rusty saxifrage.

And then, a Davidson's penstemon.

We began to climb the switchbacks of the East trail. It is usually a boring trail, but today we were treated early to the singing of a winter wren. Soon, on our right, the Opabin outflow thundered down.

The red object is somebody's lost water bottle.

A photo towards the west as we trod deeper into the plateau.

Joan and I found a congenial spot for a half-lunch on the High Line route, with good views for our binoculars. Looking down, 

we spotted hikers descending the rockpile.

Then we turned our gaze to the west and the All Souls alpine route, perhaps our least favorite due to the dodgy scree slope between the prospect and the Opabin plateau. This year, there were also remaining snow patches. One couple was attempting it,

but not without the occasional misstep and slide.

Then we continued on to Lake Opabin, now free of ice, for the other half of our lunch.

A ground squirrel was keeping an eye on us, hoping for a discarded morsel.

Patches of snow hosted snow algae.

Joan and I looked at the unofficial and virtually vertical beaten path up to Sleeping Poets Pool. For us, not this year -- we'd been up there in 2012 and 2019.

From the lip of the western descent from Opabin, Hungabee Lake and much of the plateau were spread out before us.

Soon after reaching the bottom, we were treated to a marmot appearance.

Looks pretty young.

All too soon, we reached the descent on the West Opabin trail.

We encountered an Eastern European couple climbing up the trail. The guy was scrambling off-trail, and the gal was distressed at the difficulty of the climb. She asked, "How much further?" Joan and I tried to help, but they had no map and seemed utterly unprepared.

 

Then -- what a treat -- we encountered a pika, harvesting greenery for next winter's food. It seemed to mind us not at all.

Joan and I reached the lodge in plenty of time to take a break and then board the departing bus. Reunited with our car, Moz, we drove down Kicking Horse Pass to the Cathedral Mountain Lodge. The next hike aims for Takakkaw/Twin Falls; our previous visit to these sights preceded this blog by several years, and it was time to visit again. 

Back to Canada: Opabin Plateau and Low Pressure

July 20th, 2022, was our last day at Lake O'Hara. Joan and I had signed up for the afternoon (4pm) bus, making room for one more hike. We chose to stay closer to O'Hara and aimed for the Opabin Plateau, in the lower center of this map. (Click on the image to enlarge.)

As you can see, several trails crisscross the plateau's varied terrain. We started by skirting Mary Lake on the West Opabin trail, and it soon began a rocky climb, where a marmot spotted us.

He was busy foraging and ignored us.

Joan and I pulled up our binoculars and zoomed in.

Partway up, I took this look back toward O'Hara.

Joan and I decided to go a short way along the All Souls alpine route, to visit the stretch of rocky tableland that precedes the slopes of Mount Schaffer. This photo is of the trail intersection. Hikers headed towards the All Souls prospect proceed up among the rocks following alpine route blazes, blue paint patches with two yellow bars embedded.

We clambered up the stones and reached the "top,"

Looking back the way we came

and meandered until we found a congenial spot to look down on O'Hara. The wooded plateau on the right is the Opabin prospect.

A host of  landmarks were visible from this spot, including Wiwaxy gap, in the saddle above and beyond Opabin. The air was so clear that, with binoculars, we could see hikers there. (Click on the image to enlarge.)

Joan and I returned to the trail intersection and walked to the tip of the Opabin prospect. Here's the view:

Many trails explore Opabin, as the map at the start of this post shows. We continued from the prospect and emerged to a viewpoint overlooking the streams, ponds, and lakes flowing down the plateau.

Those boulders and bluffs on the far side are a portion of the Highline trail, one of our favorites. We descended to the streams and crossed at the next bridge. Looking back, Joan and I could see our descent route.

After the initial climb, the Highline trail turns into a tabletop meander with its own views.

Joan and I saw marmots on the Highline, both up at our altitude and down below. We found a good roost for our light lunch, with a browsing marmot on the valley floor providing a show. Then we decided it was time to begin our return to O'Hara, with time for a tea-hour stop at the lodge before boarding the bus for an 11km ride down to the parking area.

 

We descended and hiked to the stream crossing, where we noticed a cluster of people on the far side. Joan and I continued over and discovered an accident scene. A woman had fallen and hit her head on one of the flat stones forming the trail, and she was unconscious and bleeding. It was a multi-generational family group, including mom, who had fallen, and her adult daughter. The daughter's husband had already begun a run for help. An additional hiker was there with an emergency radio beacon, and a helicopter had been summoned by pressing its red button. There was nothing Joan and I could contribute in those circumstances, so we continued on and descended by the west trail.

A helicopter flew in and landed briefly, out of our view, perhaps delivering an emergency responder. A bit later, a larger helicopter flew in and landed for several minutes, doubtless loading the injured woman and maybe a family member. Due to the altitude, this helicopter circled the plateau twice, climbing all the while, and then disappeared over Abbot Pass (9600') headed east. Joan and I drew closer to O'Hara, and a helicopter arrived at the warden's cabin, perhaps to pick up the husband and/or the family's gear.

After a brief respite at the lodge, we boarded the bus to the O'Hara parking lot. There we hauled our luggage to the rental car, drove to the Trans-Canada Highway, and headed for our next accommodation, Storm Mountain Lodge and Cabins, 38 km/24 mi away.

"TING!" the car announced. Unequal tire pressure, according to the light on the dash. Crap. The car wasn't pulling to either side, so we continued to Storm Mountain. At dinner, I borrowed a tire gauge from another guest, and the front right tire barely pushed it to 14 lb. of pressure, while the other three were over-inflated to 40 lb. We asked the waitstaff if anyone at Storm Mountain could check and inflate the tire? Yes -- the chef, Gary, once he had a break! He adjusted all four tires.

But should we trust the tire? Our vehicle's trunk held a temporary spare, but it was rated for only 50 miles at 50mph. That was not an option. To make a very long story shorter, I'll just report that after several phone calls to Enterprise, including the closest location (Banff) remarking that "national doesn't know what it's talking about," we arranged, through the goodwill of the staff there, to exchange vehicles the next day. Banff is not a major location for Enterprise and usually has no cars to spare.

 

As an aside, I'm weighing whether to be superstitious about July 20th. That's when I had a major bicycle accident in 1996, the day my father passed away in 2009, and now the events of today!

Tomorrow would begin with the drive to Banff, about half an hour away.

Back to Canada: Opabin Plateau

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.

Lots of trails, lots of exploration up on Opabin.

This trail again took us past Mary Lake, but on the other side. Of course, there were flowers along the way.

A yellow columbine poking up above the rest.

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.

 

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!

Canada (2019) Part Two -- and Post #500

Now it's time to resume reporting on our September 2019 trip to the Canadian Rockies. This is the second post and will cover the first part of our five days at Lake O'Hara; the first post is here. There was, of course, no 2020 trip.

This is also post #500, yes, the five-hundredth of this blog; the first post was in June of 2009. That's roughly one post every eight days. Who would have thought I'd stick with it so long?

Lake Oesa ...

Joan and I drove up Kicking Horse Pass and reached the parking area for Lake O'Hara in good time. A warden, Lorraine, was there to explain maps, options, the lodge bus vs the campground bus, and the 11km walk uphill to the lake if you hadn't already booked a spot -- with no guarantee of a bus ride back. No bicycles. Even so, Lorraine informed us, during the long summer weekends there were up to 140 walk-ins a day!

Joan and I had a lakeside cabin, which wouldn't be available until 1pm. We picked up a bag lunch at the lodge and took what is a traditional first-day hike for us, up to Lake Oesa. We hoped to see mountain goats at some point during our visit, but to our gleeful amazement they were visible on the Yukness Ledges from the Oesa trail.

With binos the sight was even better.

We pointed the goats out to other hikers and we all had a good look, passing binoculars around.

Along the way we admired the late-blooming flowers, including harebells, and various fungi. In September the birds were silent and the marmots were hiding, maybe hibernating already, but the autumn has its own charms. The larches turning yellow are the counterpart of the autumn colors back east.

Lake Oesa spread out before us. The weather graciously permitted us to eat our lunches perched on a flat rock, a treasured spot up here; today wasn't crowded.

Joan and I decided to return via the initial stretch of the Yukness Ledges alpine trail and the Victoria cutoff. This photo looks back at the Oesa outflow after descending to the alpine trail.

We met several people on the trail, including a German couple who got separated when she went ahead while he took photos and chatted with us. When she couldn't find him on the Yukness Ledges, she decided to pursue the Victoria Cutoff, where we also went. Then he backtracked, she spotted and called to him, and I wish I understood German ... but they went on to complete the Ledges after having hiked in from the parking area and up Wiwaxy Pass and along the Huber Ledges to reach Oesa. Whew! Young, strong, and well-trained they were.

Not far from Victoria Lake the outflow transforms into a tumbling cascade.

From here we spotted our 9th mountain goat, a solitary male.

We finished our hike by completing the loop around Lake O'Hara itself. This photo looks up from that path to the Seven Veils falls.

Then we reached cabin #4 and began unpacking. That evening at dinner we swapped stories with our table-mates about hiking glaciers, biking, and so forth, plus Lake O'Hara tales.

Opabin Prospect ...

The next day (September 9th) began with rain showers teasing us, off and on, during breakfast.

Joan and I decided to hike to the Opabin Plateau and see how the weather developed; Opabin is lower than other destinations, and it's usually easier to bail out from there. Because of the precip the kids decided to stay behind.

"We'll be fine, thanks!"

We started for the west trail, which skirts Mary Lake by just a few feet. Mount Schaffer had its head in the clouds.

This is a look at the lower part of the west trail, which hugs the bluffs of the plateau. Click on the image to enlarge, and you may spot the path, starting about 1/3 of the way up the left-hand side.

The marmots may be dozing, but the pikas were still out harvesting. They are so fast, though, that getting a sharp picture isn't easy when they are dashing back to add to their larder.

From the west trail we went across to the Opabin Prospect, which usually offers a spectacular view, but not today. The Prospect consists of large blocks with cracks and gaps in between and a sheer drop at the edge. Joan slipped on wet lichen on one slab, banging her shin, but didn't fall into a crevice or suffer any serious harm. We began walking up the plateau. This photo looks back towards O'Hara, but you can't see anything beyond our surroundings.

From above the Moor Lakes we spotted a couple of american dippers, hurrah! This bird feeds on various invertebrates by walking and swimming underwater.

Joan and I crossed the lakes

Pop down from here to cross to the central ridge.

on a footbridge and headed up the plateau on the Highline trail. Showers came and went, light and sparse, and then grew heavier and steadier. Joan and I reached our favorite rainy-day lunch spot up here, a small clump of trees split by the path, only to discover that it was already occupied. We continued past the Yukness Ledges terminus and reached Lake Opabin in a steady rain.

We paused momentarily to absorb the view, then returned and found the lunch spot open. Two of our table-mates from last night, Greg and Nancy, trod by as we ate. Joan and I were astonished to learn that they were attempting the entire Alpine Circuit today, Lake O'Hara > All Souls Prospect > Opabin Plateau > Yukness Ledges > Lake Oesa > Huber Ledges > Wiwaxy Gap > Lake O'Hara. Bad weather for it, we thought, but perhaps this was their last chance.

We returned to Lake O'Hara by the east trail, boring compared to the west but only a stone's throw away, and hence the quicker choice. Back at the cabin we spread things out to dry -- there are never enough hooks -- and at dinner had a new set of table-mates. At O'Hara your dinner partners are changed by the management nightly, unless you have a request otherwise. Joan calls it speed dating.

We'll see what tomorrow's weather brings.