Lake O’Hara is very close to Lake Louise and Lake Moraine, separated only by the Opabeen Pass. But if everyone has heard the names Louise and Moraine – there are huge parking lots near these lakes, and tourists arrive there by hundreds (if not thousands) of cars and buses a day, then few people have heard about the most beautiful lake in the area – O’Hara, because it is quite difficult to reach it.
And that means we have to get to Lake O’Hare for sure.
Lake O’Hare is located in Yoho National Park. There are over 80 miles of terrific trails around the lake. And there’s even a dirt road leading to it from Route 1, but it’s not at all easy to get to the lake.
This part of the Rocky Mountains has a quota for limited visits to these areas so that people do not interfere with the natural life and migration of wildlife. For this reason, during the season, which is only 3 months long, there are only 2 trips to the lake on a special bus, and only 20 tickets are sold for each trip. Another option is to rent a house, at least for 2 days, in an expensive lodge.
It’s almost unreal to buy tickets for this bus – when they start selling tickets Canadians are on the direct phone for two or three hours, and luck is if you manage to snag one ticket for some day at the end of the season. And we needed 5 tickets, and for a particular day.
But there is another option. You can walk to Lake O’Hare. It’s only 11 km, with a 500 meter climb – from the parking lot. And back – there’s a pretty good chance of leaving on the same buses. There are 5 return trips a day, and they don’t take 20 people, but fill the whole bus. Naturally, the first to board are those who already have a token for the trip.
Anyway, that’s how we set up – to go the 11 kilometers there ( and back if we’re not lucky) and to do a short trail for 6-7 kilometers around the lake. The main thing was that the weather was good this day – no rain.
Therefore we got up very early, at 6 am, without having breakfast, jumped in the car and drove to the lake. On a parking place we cooked porridge, had breakfast. And we hit the road.
About halfway there – there is a table where we settled down to brew and drink coffee. About this time the first bus drove past us.
After coffee – moving on. The morning fog is slowly parting and the mountains appear. At the 10th kilometer to the right of the road there’s a camping site. There’s a limitation here too – no more than 30 people at a time, and you can stay for no more than 3 nights.
We can’t see the lake yet, but the plateau Opabin, where we are going to climb, is already well visible below the surrounding peaks.
Those campers who arrived early are either settling in at the campsite, or have already left for the trails – if they’re going back today. And the second bus hasn’t even arrived yet.
The best views of Lake O’Hare are from above. And for that you have to climb the Opabeen Plateau – that wall in the photo on the left.