Yoho is the smallest of the "Big Four" National Parks but still packed with spectacular scenery. Our main objective here was hiking around Lake O'Hara, an "alpine circuit" which our guidebook raved about, rating it as one of the most beautiful hikes in the Rockies, with exposed paths cut into the rock cirques above the lake and constant views... So it would have been rude not to do it! However, access to the lake (via a 12 km track) is strictly controlled, with only 40 bus places per day which book out 3 months in advance (within an hour of each day's release!). However, there are no restrictions on people walking in, so it was up at 4 am to slog up the forest road!
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| It was still very early as we hit the lake and began the climb up... |
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| Slogging up to the Wiwaxy Gap, an exposed col with excellent views and lots of marmots! |
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| The Huber Ledges, an exposed path cut into the rock cirque above the lake |
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| The icy cold Lake Oesa (2300m) |
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| Heading around to the Yukness Ledges |
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| The lake becomes a more and more vivid blue as the sun climbs |
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| Cool paths! |
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| Back down to the lake after completing the high "alpine circuit" |
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| Crystal clear waters and looking back to where we'd just walked |
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| A final few shots of the beautiful lake before getting the bus back down... oops did I just admit we took the bus?! |
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| Natural Rock Arch... |
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| The banks of which served as a pretty cool picnic spot... |
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| The pretty little boat house at Emerald Lake |
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| A pleasant stroll around the lake, it was very photogenic! |
Next stop was another "must do" from our guidebook - the Iceline Summit Trail, billed as another "outstanding" hike amongst glacial moraine, lakes and glaciers... Again our trusty guidebook did not let us down!
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| We started early to beat the crowds and heat, not seeing another soul all the way to the summit |
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| One for the geologists - glacially scoured limestone slabs... |
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| More textbook geological formations... wavy Lasagne layers... |
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| The view from the summit |
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| The miracle of nature - how on earth do flowers survive up here? |
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| Takakkaw Falls and its glacial source in the background |
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| White water rafters launching into the river - looked pretty scary to me! |
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| You can just about see the different colours meeting, the grey is beating the blue at the moment though! |
Our final trip here was to the Hoodoos, some strange rock formations perched on the side of a steep valley...
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| Freaky hoodoo rock formations... What are they? That's my confused and pensive pose... |
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| Why are the boulders on the top? |
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| The burnt out trees on the path up added to the weird X-files feel to the place! |
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