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.

Canada (2019) Part Three

Time again for reporting on our September 2019 trip to the Canadian Rockies. This is the third post (the first post is here) and will cover the third and fourth of our five days at Lake O'Hara. There was, of course, no 2020 trip.

September 10th began with low clouds and variable rain.

Joan and I decided to climb the Big Larches trail, after a brief stop at scenic Mary Lake.

The Big Larches trail is a favorite because of its views and the good chances for seeing a pika or marmot, but there was no such excitement today. Our legs felt tired on the climb up to Schaeffer Lake; perhaps it was due to the five prior days of hiking! Deciding a more relaxed day might be appropriate, Joan and I continued through the meadow and then turned around, taking the boring but expedient Schaeffer Lake trail down through innumerable switchbacks and past the Elizabeth Parker alpine hut,

Reservations thru the Alpine Club of Canada

to reach our cabin and enjoy a porch lunch while we dried out.

The volume of rain continued to go up and down. After lunch we shoved off on a counter-clockwise route around O'Hara, observing diminutive and proximate nature, including mushrooms and this mossy log on the edge of the lake, rather than distant vistas.

We took the spur trail to the Seven Veils falls, seeing dippers and fungi along the way. These falls had been off-limits for years to prevent further damage, but a new route had recently opened complete with a small terraced viewpoint.

 

Or, as seen with an assist from DeepDreamGenerator.

These waters orginate from the heights above, including Lake Oesa, and travel largely invisible under thick layers of scree but emerge after hitting an impermeable layer.

Zooming in ...

A video visit to the rushing waters ...


Rejoining the main trail we soon passed a submerged tree, ripped out of the ground and cast into the waters by last winter's avalanches.

Joan and I took a short side trip before completing the O'Hara loop, heading down a trail paralleling the outlet stream, going as far as the first large pond, where we saw several ducks.

This completed a soggy but interesting day.

On September 11th Joan and I got off to a late start, 10:00, and headed for the West Opabin trail again. If the weather held we hoped to climb to Sleeping Poets Pool.

A Lake O'Hara panorama along the way.

The canoes tied up at Lake O'Hara seemed to float on air.

We had good duck sightings on Lake Mary before the climb up to the plateau.

Looking back at Lakes Mary and O'Hara after gaining some altitude.

 We had better pika sightings than last time!

Rather than detour to the prospect we continued south on the West trail, through the rock formations we call the "wrestling marmot stadium" after an encounter during one of our first visits to O'Hara. Joan and I bee-lined for Opabin Lake and gave it a good look.

The vista back through the plateau wasn't bad either.

Click on the image to enlarge; the west trail is just left of the lake.

We returned down the East trail just far enough to catch the Yukness Ledges junction. We executed the boulder-hopping that began this alpine trail, and then tackled the steep, unofficial and unmarked goat track up to Sleeping Poet's Pool. With careful footing and a hiking pole in each hand we eventually reached the ledge containing two small seasonal pools and the larger Sleeping Poet.

GPS reports that we're at 7900 feet. There are a few short ledges before the sheer drop, offering good sit-spots.

 Joan and I settled in for a lunch with a view.

Our sandwiches were in plastic tubs with a green lid, preventing any leakage while hiking. A ground squirrel was attracted to Joan's green lid, but after a couple of squirrel snatches Joan rescued it for good.

The would-be thief.

The only way off was to backtrack, tenderly and carefully, to the Yukness Ledges, a somewhat retrograde motion. From there we continued on the much wider and gentler official alpine trail, heading towards Lake Oesa and treated to a continually changing panorama.

A view down to the Opabin Plateau and Prospect.

From a vantage point further along, Lake O'Hara spread out beneath us.

Zooming in, the trail around O'Hara and up towards Oesa is easily visible.

We continued until reaching the Lake Victoria cutoff; the main trail heads off to the right to reach Lake Oesa. The day was getting late, so we took the shortcut.

It winds down to the left through boulders until reaching Victoria, one of a chain of small lakes fed by the outflow from Oesa.

Proof we were there.

We arrived back at our cabin after 4:00 and gladly put up our sticks and cleaned up for dinner. Tonight's tablemates were good for conversation, and so as often was, we were one of the last two tables to leave the dining room!

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!