Canadian Rockies 2025: Yukness Ledges

Thursday, July 24th, began with a long breakfast as we engaged with table-mates on topics ranging from novice hikers to senior care. Then Joan and I geared up to tackle the Yukness Ledges, crossing from the Oesa side to the Opabin side. Uncertain of the weather, we brought our waterproof backpacks. (In the end, we didn't need them.)

Ascending the Oesa trail, we soon encountered a marmot youngster. (Click on any image to enlarge.)

The ascent passes by the plaque honoring Lawrence Grassi.

We continued climbing towards the Lake Victoria cutoff.

Moments later, another marmot appeared, feeding upon the greenery.

Then, a bloom of Glentiana glauca, commonly know as  pale gentian or glaucous gentian.

At one point Joan chatted with a young park staff member, waxing so enthusiastic about the Yukness Ledges that he turned around to try them for himself. Then we crossed the Victoria outlet on stepping stones and followed the cutoff, clambering through boulder fields to this intersection. We're almost to the Yukness Ledges route. 

It's still an uphill stretch to the ledges. 

With maximum zoom, my camera caught these hikers on Wiwaxy Gap, far away.

The main attraction of the ledges is the views,

but sometimes there are intriguing plants or rock formations as you weave along, following trail blazes through tumbled pieces of mountain. A closeup ...

The scene constantly shifts.

The path began to bend towards Opabin.

The Opabin prospect was easy to spot.

On reaching the Opabin plateau, we spotted a pika.

Not having yet traveled the Opabin highline on this visit, we set it as our next goal. Our direction was generally south.

Passing by the Moor lakes, we saw a stunning reflection.

On the highline trail, there are locations overlooking the streams and, on the far side, more trails, including the West Opabin descent to O'Hara.

Descending on the west trail, we stopped and talked to several Spanish youth and their group leader. They had walked up from the O'Hara parking area -- 11 km or 7 miles -- to reach the trailhead! Having reached this point, it was now time to start their return leg. One of their first comments was how wonderful it was that we seniors/elders were out doing so much hiking. Mmm, thank you. Perhaps the image of the Spanish grandmother dressed in black lingers back in the Iberian Peninsula!

 

The O'Hara cabins usually come with flowers; this one caught my eye.

Our traveling pigs, Pudgy and Poppy, were glad to see us but disappointed that they had not been brought along. (The waterproof daypacks don't have pockets for them to ride in.)

 

Friday, July 25th, was our final day at O'Hara. We needed to be packed up and out of our cabin by 10:00, and would take the afternoon bus down to the parking area. It was a wet day. Joan and I hiked through showers back to Lake McArthur; upon reaching the trail's crest and seeing the lake, we decided that was good enough. We hiked back down to O'Hara and ate our packed lunches indoors; the afternoon tea at the lodge held lots of visitors. Later, after boarding the lodge bus and being reunited with our rental car, we drove to Cathedral Mountain Lodge for the next two nights.

Canada 2024: Yukness Ledges Snow Stomping

On July 12, 2024, Joan and I set out to hike the Yukness Ledges alpine route. We headed for the East Opabin trail, the shortest way to reach the west end of the Yukness Ledges route. But our way was blocked by red tape -- snow melt was flooding a creek outlet. (Click on any image to enlarge.)

We turned around and ascended on the West Opabin path instead, encountering both a marmot

and a pika!

So that detour worked very well indeed. We swung past the prospect for a view,

and as we continued on, the theme for the day developed -- meeting people and engaging in conversation. Soon, we encountered a group, some of whom were from Taiwan, and they asked for our help. They had no map; how far was the prospect? An older man (father? grandfather?) is waiting further back for news on which way to go. Joan gave him the best advice.

We crossed to the Highline and were rewarded with an expansive view of the Yukness Ledges.

Joan and I crossed over to the East Opabin trail and thence to the west end of the Yukness Ledges route. The beginning is adventurous, following blazes uphill through a boulder field until a trail is reached. In this panoramic shot, the boulder field is at the left, next to Lake Hungabee, and the trail is on the right.

After a short distance, the Opabin Prospect came into view on our left.

A least weasel carted across behind us; we were in awe of its speed as it dashed over, under, and through these boulder fields.

 

After finding a congenial spot, we sat down for lunch. A group of young women passed by and stopped to chat. They asked, How long have we been married? One of them took this next photo. Then a newlywed couple came up and asked us how long we'd been married. The theme was continued ...

We had not coordinated our outfits ...

The north-facing slope, rarely seeing direct sunlight, was where the snow traps were lurking. At first, they were merely close to the trail. The blue-and-yellow trail blaze is in the middle of the green circle in this photo. (Click on any image to enlarge.)

Another snowy view.

At the midpoint, hikers traveling in the other direction warned us of a dicey stretch, which we soon encountered. Snow was across the trail over a dip where it wiggled through talus and broken boulders. The terrain, we knew, had voids within the tumbled rock where a misstep could cause serious injury, but we could not see them. Joan and I continued cautiously, gripping our poles tightly, and did not come to any harm; however, I did not indulge in photography there.

We continued on and the snow intrusions withdrew. The path turned a corner and we began to draw closer to Lake Oesa.

Before the final hop up to the lake level, more snow was hidden on the approach. It's all about shadows and sunlight.

The near lake shore was snow-free, and the ice on the water had begun to retreat.

Returning to O'Hara on the Oesa trail, we encountered this snowbound sign and trail at the Victoria Lake cutoff. The snow wasn't through with us yet, but this was its last hurrah.

The series of ponds and lakes we'd passed gave way here to a torrent of melting snow.

Looking back the way we'd come.

From a lower altitude, here's a last look at the Yukness Ledges that we'd just navigated.

Joan and I reached our cabin just before 5:00pm. We were seated with Bob and Brenda again at dinner, replete with tales of their time in Malaysia. A fitting wrap-up of today's conversational theme!

Hiking Canada 2023: Yukness Ledges and Opabin Highline

Day 10

On July 20th, Joan and I traversed the Yukness Ledges and Opabin Highline. We chose to do this clockwise, starting up the trail to Lake Oesa from Lake O'Hara.

After an hour and a quarter, we arrived at the Victoria Cutoff. By taking this shortcut, we'd save time and energy otherwise spent going on to Lake Oesa and then back to the far end of the shortcut. This photo was taken at the start of the cutoff. Note the alpine trail marker (two yellow stripes on a blue background) at the left side of the large boulder. We'd be following these. (I added a green circle; click on any image to enlarge.)

After rock-hopping across the outflow stream from Victoria Lake, the next portion was also rocky. This photo looks towards that lake.

Then the real climb began.

At the foot of the climb, another trail marker adorned a square block, the first of many marking the way to thread up the slope.

The view looking back after we'd climbed partway up.

Four minutes later, we saw these blooms.

Thankfully, there's a sign where the routes meet. (Photo from 2017).

The path winds through rocks, gravel, and roots, depending on which stretch you're in. It dips up and down through gullies, sometimes with steps, sometimes not. Joan and I soon encountered a group of young women from the campground on an "alpine circuit" ledge for the first time. We gave them a thumbs-up on the Yukness and let them go ahead. The "Gully," known for its steep dip, had stairs now for most parts, but we could overhear that one of the girls was frightened. But they remained ahead of us and eventually were out of sight.

The only constant characteristic of the Yukness ledges is the marvelous nature of the views.

Looking back, we saw other hikers, which gave us a sense of scale. (This is also a 2017 image.)

As we continued along the trail, the Opabin plateau and its prospect (the rocky bit that sticks out in the middle distance) came into view.

This view back towards O'Hara revealed a relatively benign (if narrow) stretch of the trail. The Opabin prospect was still much lower than we were.

Eventually we descended through another boulder field, following the alpine blazes, and were deposited next to Hungabee Lake. (Opabin Lake is behind the rise on the far side.)

Joan and I chose to wander among the elevated terrain in the middle of the plateau. This yielded a scenic lunch spot.

Afterward, we decided to return to the O'Hara lakeshore via the East Opabin descent, most of which is a rather dull, switchback-filled route but quick. From there, we took the O'Hara loop trail counter-clockwise to the short spur trail for the Seven Veils Falls.

Much of the water coming down from the heights around Lake Oesa emerges from the rocks here.

Here's a zoom-in look.

This was our last full day at O'Hara, but we weren't leaving until tomorrow's afternoon bus (4 pm), so there was one more hike to choose.