Lake O'Hara reflecting Mout Odaray
We got up early today and leaving the trailer in Lake Louise, drove to the parking area for the bus ride to Lake O’Hara. We got there by about 7:30, so we were in lots of time. There was some road construction between Lake Louise and Lake O’Hara, so it was fortunate that we didn’t get held up for long.
After the fifteen minute bus ride up to the campsite we were given a brief introduction by the park officer. We set up our ten in site 19, which is just about the farthest tent site from the kitchen, but up high and seems level. It was a nice day, so after we were set up we set off on a hike to Lake Oesa. The trip map we have says it is one of the “must see” hikes, and it is very nice.
One of the most spectacular parts of the trip is man made. Lawrence Grassi spent many years of his life constructing stone trails around Lake O’Hara, and this is one of them. He levered great blocks of rock into place to make steep stone steps past Victoria Falls. As well there are many areas where he built stone paths out of huge flat sheets of rock, many of which must have weighed several hundred kilograms. There is a plaque honoring him at the steps past the falls.
Enid did not go beyond this point of the stairs, but I walked up to the lake at the top. The lake was still at least half ice covered. Strangely there was a rubber inflatable boat on the lake with two men. I assumed they must have been fishing, but that night in speaking to one of the other campers learned that they were researchers investigating the turbidity of the water.
There was a ptarmigan here and she had several chicks, though they hid before I could photograph them. She sat atop a high rock clucking at them. I didn’t stay too long at the lake, but headed back down to where I met Enid, and we walked back to the campsite. Enid lay down in the tent and had a short nap. I dozed on the picnic table bench. Just before we rested we heard a massive crash and roar. We assumed it must have been an icefall from the glacier, and another camper confirmed that night that he had seen it while hiking in the area.
We met Kim Heidel and his cousin at the bus stop this morning, and so we talked to them quite a bit. Neither of us could remember if I taught him, though I definitely remember him at Carlton years ago. They are only able to stay for one night, as they booked in over another person’s cancellation.
We ate our supper of chicken and dumplings. It was far too much so we ended up throwing some of it away. After supper we went to an interpretive session with the park interpreter about the Burgess Shale. There was a very heavy thunderstorm during this session, and we walked back in light rain as the storm eased. Our tent was dry inside, but there was a lot of water standing around.