Lake O'Hara - Oct. 9/2022

October 22, 2022

Like the Twin Falls hike previously noted in my blog, the Lake O'Hara walk reminded me of the same hike I took with my family when I was fourteen (I'm guessing), my brother eleven and my sister seven.

Stats: Length - 25 km., Elevation gain - approximately 475 metres, Trail time - 5.5 hours

Trail - A shuttle bus takes hotel guests and hikers chosen from a lottery from June 24 to October 2nd this year. Our hike took place on the 9th, not that it mattered because we hadn't entered our names in the lottery.

At the centre of the valley lies Cataract Creek which rumbles below small sections of the road. A couple of signs greeted us at the beginning of the trail. One, that bikes are not allowed on the road. (Go figure.) Two, dogs are permitted but must be kept on leash. Within the first couple of kilmotres, we crossed paths with no people. Neither did we spy signs of bear, ie, scat (poo). So, we figured, what the hell, and let them off their leashes.

We established a rigorous pace of about 5 km/hr so the hike up and down with mountains rising on either side and meadows visible through the trees took about two hours. Lake O'Hara was amazing. The water perfectly mirrored the surrounding mountains that glowed in the late autumn light. We could not take enough pictures to capture the moment and perhaps lose it at the same time taking our pictures. Whatever the case, it was a glorious afternoon.

We did take one short detour up a steep slope at the opposite side of the lake to view the Seven Veils Waterfalls where we ate our lunch.

The walk down was a race to see how fast we could go. We spotted a young couple behind us at about the half-way mark. We waited for them to pass. A thirty-something guy caught up who said hello to our dogs which made them happy. Then, he waited for his female partner who mustn't have been interested in going any faster so that was the last we saw of them.

People - About two-thirds of the way up the road we were passed by a new Honda Odyssey driving down. (That would be the only vehicle we saw on the road.) The van stops and then backs up and I think, here we go, our dogs aren't on a leash but the pretty, thirty-something lady adds some spice to her admonition. She says, We saw a sow and her cub and so, it would be a good idea to put your dogs on the leash. Her son, or who I would assume was her son, sticks his head about the back window and concurs, that there is in fact, a sow and her cub up ahead. We never saw them, nor did I see any signs of bear although Nicola said she did but we did put our dogs on the leash.

The lady did scare the young lady walking behind us. She caught up with us and moved lock-in-step. I asked if she wanted to go ahead but she said she wanted to stay with us because I had bear spray and she wanted to be with us should we come across the bears. We never did but she did follow us up to the lake. She complained about the price of bear spray and I suggested that she could get a bear cracker instead which I carried as well. We asked where she was from and she said Edmonton and I told her that she could get a bear cracker at the key cutting desk in the Westend Canadian Tire. We made other meaningless chat but that wasn't her reason for being with us. We parted company at the lake.

We passed a young family coming down from the lake and another going up and, by the size of their packs, we figured that they were staying at the Alpine Cabin where beds could be rented at $40 a night.

Flora and Fauna - Nothing of note except we didn't reach the elevation where the larches began so we figured the climate must be a bit warmer.

Cocktail -