A Walk above the Larches (O’Hara High-Line Routes)

Over the years I’ve done many hikes and scrambles in the Lake O’Hara region. As the 2026 hiking and scrambling season inexorably moved to a close, I decided to take a Thursday off in late September to repeat a trip I’d done 16 years previous into the Lake O’Hara area of Yoho National Park. Back in 2010 it was easier to book the Elizabeth Parker ACC Hut than it is nowadays - I booked it at the very last minute at the height of larch season, no problem. I spent a few glorious days wandering the area, including ascents of Mount Schaffer and Wiwaxy East Peak and hiking the All Soul’s Prospect and Lake O’Hara Alpine Circuit. Of course I also had a bus ride in and out of the area thanks to my hut booking.

Despite having a relatively easy-to-ride access road, it is strictly forbidden to pedal the 11 kilometers and 500 meters of gain from the busy parking lot. I know someone who tried it years ago and they were in deep doo-doo when they got caught. 🚵💩🚳 The only options for the road are walking it or catching a bus ride up and down it. Good luck to ya with either option. The former is a long 22 km return on foot (on a very boring hardpack road) and the latter is impossible to book ahead of time thanks to the sheer numbers of other, interested parties that are just as lazy with walking the boring road as you are. 🚶🛣️ I’ve been lucky catching an unreserved ride back down the road over the years but this is a hail-Mary and can’t be counted on.

Over two decades ago in 2006, I scrambled Mount Yukness with Wietse and Sonny. We managed to get a bus ride up and down despite no advanced bookings - again in the height of larch season. Times have most certainly changed over the past twenty years! In 2007 I climbed Mount Victoria and Huber with Kev Barton - we approached via Lake Oesa and exited the complex Huber Ledges. We had a chopper land behind us at the Wiwaxy col and a warden ask if we were ok. This was followed by a ride down the long access road from Lake O’Hara, courtesy of another helpful ranger. Talk about service! I was back near Lake O’Hara in 2011 with So Nakagawa on a gorgeous ascent of Cathedral Mountain.

I still wasn’t done with the Lake O’Hara region. In 2016 I completed not one, but two trips into the area. On September 16 I scrambled Park Mountain over Lake McArthur with Mike Mitchell, Anton Baser and Eric Coulthard. We walked up the approach road and got a ride back down on the bus. I was back only a few days later on September 21 to hike up Walter Feuz Peak (Little Odaray) in a lot of fresh snow. I walked in and out along the road from the parking lot.

Finally, in 2017, Wietse and I hiked up Consummation Peak, again in fresh snow on September 23rd. We managed to get a ride back on the bus despite being told that over 80 people had walked the road up on this particular day. Already ten years ago O’Hara was rife with bipedals disturbing the goats and marmots. Phew! That’s a lot of time spent in the Lake O’Hara environs over the past 20 years for me. But why wouldn’t I spend so much time in one of the most spectacular areas of the Canadian Rockies?

There’s no walk-up option to book a ride up the road, so I woke early and was hiking briskly up the road at first light at 07:00. I was expecting to see more people on the road despite it being a weekday but it was only me for the first 4 kilometers. As I stepped back onto the road after taking some photos of Odaray reflecting in a small pond under Cathedral Mountain I was surprised to see another hiker outpacing me by a good margin. We chatted briefly as she strode by, her destination was Wiwaxy East. Any illusions I might have had re: my fitness were quickly dashed as she became a tiny dot. (As I get old this happens more and more often. 🧑‍🦯) And then I was all alone once again on the endless, hardpack road.

Walking the O’Hara road is an interesting experience. Depending on mood and expectations it is either an endless, hellish, boring walk or a long, peaceful, meditative one. I was 80% the latter and 20% the former. Contributing to the 20% were the kilometer markers posted on trees along the route. You’d think this would be helpful but until “9” or “10” showed up, these only reminded me how much further I had to go just to start my freaking day.

Despite several large signs with dire warnings that I’d never make it up the road in less than 2 hours (and likely would take 4), I proved Parks Canada wrong by hiking up to the Le Relais shelter from the parking lot in 1 hour, 50 minutes. Take that Parks! You can have your freaking buses, I don’t need ‘em. 🚌

I strode past a long line of people (presumably just off the bus) at the biffies near Le Relais before once again hiking solo on a quiet trail to the EP hut and Schaffer Lake. That’s the nice part of this area. Despite a LOT of people camping, day tripping and lodging here, there are still long sections of solitary hiking if you want it. Of course you’re going to see dozens of folks out and about along the way but most people are quiet and leave you alone if that’s your vibe. I passed a porcupine munching a larch tree at Schaffer Lake before following an unofficial trail up a steep NW rubble bowl beneath Mount Schaffer.

I remembered (and rated) my previous ascent of Mount Schaffer as “SC5”, so I was surprised to end up on fairly serious scrambling terrain up the SW ridge of the small peak from the lower SW shoulder to the summit.

I could see easier lines to my left as I ascended, but I was following cairns and having fun so I wasn’t too concerned. There were more than a few exposed, “no fall” zones on the ridge - totally unexpected but made the ascent much more engaging than I expected.

Traversing in a direct line to the summit from the upper NW ridge was also more difficult than I remembered, but again, there were much easier options on return (further south of my approach line).

As I completed the first hours of my day I was disappointed to be under thin cloud cover. The larches were popping their fall colors but without direct sunlight they weren’t exactly “exploding” color the way I had experienced years previous. Views from the summit were sublime, as usual. After snapping some nice panoramas I turned my attention to the next part of my day - a descent to Lake McArthur.

Thankfully I found and followed much easier lines down the SW ridge on descent than I’d ascended and soon I was stumbling and bumbling my way directly down south rubble slopes to Lake McArthur below.

The lake was quite busy but I managed to find some solitude right at the shore and snapped some great photos despite the sun being directly in my line of sight. The deep blue of this lake is always surprising to me. It’s one of my favorite colored alpine lakes in the Rockies for some reason. If I had to pick one color for a fresh water body of water this would be that color. 💙

Next up was a traverse back to Schaffer Lake to the All Soul’s Alpine Route. I briefly debated attempting a shortcut across Mount Schaffer’s lower NW flanks but this didn’t seem worth the hassles when I got there. I descended through gorgeous larches to the lake before starting slowly up the well marked alpine route leading to a shoulder on the north side of Mount Schaffer. (There’s a 5th class line up the peak from near here.) I was on my own on this section with small groups far enough ahead and behind that I couldn’t hear them.

I made the summit of the prospect and dipped to my favorite photo spot just down from it on a small perch high above Mary Lake and Lake O’Hara.

This perch grants an incredible panoramic view from Mount Biddle to Hungabee, Ringrose, Yukness, Huber, Victoria, Wiwaxy, Cathedral and Odaray over all the core lakes of the O’Hara region except McArthur. The one catch with the perch is its exposure. A slip here is very ill-advised. The sun came out very briefly as I sat in solitude, lighting up the larches and tarns as I panned them with my camera.

As I descended the prospect I passed a few groups and meditated (not for the first time), how intimate the O’Hara landscape is once you’re in it. Sure! There’s many kilometers of distance and many hundreds of meters of elevation change along the way, but once you’re committed to the circuit all the attractions are surprisingly enclosed.

Before long I was hiking past the small lakes and tarns on the Opabin Plateau (Moor Lakes) towards Hungabee Lake.

My only regret was I didn’t have enough time to get onto the plateau proper to experience the magic of the larches and larch needles in these ponds and tarns. There is limited daylight in late September and I knew I was going to be pushing it as it was.

From Hungabee Lake I ascended and traversed above Opabin Lake before descending back to the west end of Hungabee Lake.

From the lake I ascended and started along my favorite of all the official Lake O’Hara trails - Yukness Ledges to Lake Oesa.

It was 1530 as I started the excellent ledges route around the west and NW end of Yukness Mountain with excellent views over the core O’Hara landscapes. I still had time to complete my circuit but remember - I had 2 hours to hike down the access road at the end of all this fun. This implied I should be back at Le Relais no later than 1800 hours to beat darkness to the parking lot at 2000. I had time, but not endless amounts of it.

I followed the route as it progressed over the stunning colors of Victoria and Lefroy Lakes towards Lake Oesa.

I recalled fondly my one and only time in the Abbott Hut as I debated what route to follow next. I had two choices. I could descend directly to Lake O’Hara or I could follow the Huber Ledges / Wiwaxy route towards the east tower of Wiwaxy Peak and descend steeply to Lake O’Hara from there. The issue with the latter option was that I had to gain at least 200 meters of elevation from Lake Oesa before plunging down to Lake O’Hara. I thought I could likely make it work, so I settled on continuing my highline circuit towards Wiwaxy.

About half way up I regretted my decision. That happens more often than you’d think to me. 😀 Well, I was here now, so I kept at it, topping out at the Huber col at 1720. I had 40 minutes to get my 🫏 down to Lake O’Hara.

I gave it my best but the descent was brutally steep and I just missed my target. It was 1808 as I started back down the road to the parking lot. In hindsight I likely could have scored a seat on the last bus but I was in the mood for a long walk for some reason.

Once again I had regrets about halfway but that seemed to be my modus operandi for today. 🤷 I turned on a podcast as I walked past the “8 KM” sign. This helped to pass the time as daylight waned.

Just before dark I wandered into a quiet parking lot to end a long, satisfying day above the many ponds, lakes, tarns and larches of the magical Lake O’Hara environs.