To get to Lake O'Hara one must travel down the 11km unpaved access road, sounds easy enough right? Well, the trick is that the road is not open to the public. The only traffic allowed down the road is the Parks Canada shuttle bus and the Lake O'Hara Lodge shuttle bus, both of which can only seat a certain amount of people per day. There is, of course, the option of walking up the access road but that would take quite awhile and blow a significant amount of time that could otherwise be spent on the stunning hiking trails.
In order to get a seat on the shuttle bus you must do one of the following:
1) Call Parks Canada exactly three months to the day on which you wish to be on the bus. Even then it is very difficult to get a spot. Here is the Parks Canada website with all the details Parks Canada: Lake O'Hara
2) Book lodging at the Lake O'Hara Lodge (will cost you a small fortune), at the Elizabeth Parker Hut (requires an Alpine Club of Canada membership and you are bunking in one room with about 20 strangers) or book a campsite at the Lake O'Hara campground (these are just as hard to obtain as a spot on the bud). If you have a reservation at one of these places you are guaranteed a spot on the shuttle bus. Capacity at each site is very small and there is a high demand so call at reserve as early as possible.
3) Show up at the shuttle spot on the day that you wish to travel and hope that somebody with a reserved spot doesn't show.
When planning this trip Dad and I had decided to try for a spot at the campground. Alas, we were unable to get a spot. Dad called Parks Canada every day for a week trying to get a reservation and could not get us in at all. Eventually, he decided to see if he could get us in at the Elizabeth Parker Hut. Luckily, he was able to get us one night in the hut (we would have preferred two). In order to stay here he had to purchase an Alpine Club of Canada membership. In the end it ended up costing us $200 to spend one night in the hut after we included the price of membership, the shuttle bus fee, and the overnight backcountry permit. After visiting Dad said he would pay much more to enjoy the splendor of Lake O'Hara.
The day to visit Lake O'Hara finally arrived, I was so excited! We had a reservation for the 10:30 bus but I suggested to Dad that we show up early and try and get a spot on the 8:30 bus.
The Lake O'Hara parking lot and shuttle stop are located right off the TransCanada Highway. Dad and I were among the first to arrive to wait for the shuttle. There were a few other people there who had no reservations whatsoever and were hoping to luck out and have a spot open up.
Right around 8:15 a Parks Canada staff member showed up to start organizing everybody. She confirmed that Dad and I could get on the 8:30 bus since we had a reservation at the Alpine Hut. Some of the people without reservations were lucky and were able to get on the bus and some were not. We saw those who didn't make it on start the long walk up the access road.
The bus you ride up is a yellow school bus. They put all the bags in the back of the bus and hand you a token that you must hold onto as it is your ticket back on the return shuttle.
The drive up to Lake O'Hara is bumpy and unremarkable but it passes quickly.
The bus drops you off at the Le Relaid day shelter. This shelter sells maps, t-shirts and a small selection of drinks and snacks. There is also a public bathroom located here.
Dad and I grabbed our bags and started the trek to the Elizabeth Parker Hut. The hut is a 1km hike from the day shelter and is located in a meadow with fantastic views of the surrounding mountains.
We dropped our sleeping bags off in a corner of the hut in order to be out of the way of the people who were still there from the previous night and then went off to start our day of hiking.
We decided to tackle the Lake McArthur trail first as the trailhead was right near the hut.
At the start of the hike you pass Schaffer Lake, it didn't look like much at this time of the day due to the lighting but on the return trip we were greeted with a dazzling sight.
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| Schaffer Lake |
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| Schaffer Lake |
As we were scrambling up a rocky portion of the trail we glimpsed an adorable pika. They are sometimes hard to spot as they are quick and they blend right in with the rocks.
The entire hike was gorgeous, be prepared for photo overload.
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| Schaffer Lake in the distance |
We came across a friendly marmot. He was not bothered by us at all.
We had the option of taking the Lower Trail or the Upper Trail to get to Lake McArthur. We decided to take the slightly more challenging Upper Trail as it offered better views.
Another pika!
Approaching Lake McArthur. The water was a dazzling blue. The colour doesn't translate well in the photos due to the slight haze that day and due to the angle of the sun.
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| Lake McArthur |
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| Lake McArthur |
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| Lake McArthur |
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| Lake McArthur |
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| Lake McArthur |
Dad and I grabbed a spot overlooking the lake to rest and to enjoy our lunch. Some friendly ground squirrels decided to join us. They never came too close but they were definitely interested in what we were doing.
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| Lake McArthur |
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| Lake McArthur |
You can walk the trail along the shore of the lake, be careful not to slip and fall in, I bet it is cold!
We opted to take the Lower Trail on the way back to see what we had missed on the way in.
We arrived back at Schaffer Lake and it was looking much prettier now that the day had progressed and the lighting was better.
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| Schaffer Lake |
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| Schaffer Lake |
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| Schaffer Lake |
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| Schaffer Lake |
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| Schaffer Lake |
We arrived back at the Elizabeth Parker Hut and decided to take a small break here and try and pick a spot together on the shared bunk for our sleeping bags.
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| Elizabeth Parker Hut |
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