Hiking the Iceline Trail

November 24, 2023July 11, 2024 / Maria / 1 Comment

We’d already hiked both the Rockwall Trail and Lake O’Hara, but we still had time for one more adventure before leaving the Rockies. The first half of the trip was centered around Kootenay National Park and the second half was centered around Yoho National Park, so I wanted to do another iconic hike in Yoho. The other hike everyone seems to mention is the Iceline Trail. It’s fairly popular, but I’d never heard about it until this year, so I was happy to check it out.

It’s a 20km trail, so it’s a full day commitment. There are several camping options along the trail, so you can turn it into a multi day trip, but we hadn’t booked any sites in advance and by this point, we’d had enough camping. So we decided to tackle the entire trail as a day hike.

We got up early in Golden to a very foggy morning. The rain was finally gone from the forecast and we were hoping for sun later in the day, but early on we couldn’t really see anything through the fog. We decided to go anyways and drove back through the park to get to the trailhead. It was pretty empty when we arrived and Takakkaw Falls (which is where the trail starts) was pretty must lost in the fog. But it was definitely thinning and we could see the sun starting to shine through.

We started hiking around 9am. The nice thing about the Iceline Trail is that, even though it’s long, it’s a loop trail, so you don’t have to repeat any terrain. We decided to start with the big climb up to the alpine. As we climbed up through the trees, the fog continued to thin until eventually we got above the clouds and could see the surrounding mountains, glaciers, and Takakkaw Falls. It’s pretty easy to guess where the Iceline Trail takes it’s name from because you’re basically hiking along all the facets of the Emerald Glacier for several hours.

You start with about 550m of elevation gain over 4km, but it doesn’t take long to get above the treeline and once you hit the alpine, there’s ~8km of exposed trail with gorgeous views. I think this would be a tough hike on a really hot day because there’s absolutely no shade anywhere, but it was September and still really cool, so we didn’t have any problems with the heat and wore long sleeves and pants all day.

After we got up to the alpine, we took a short break and Brandon eyed up the glaciers while I had a snack. You can’t actually touch any of the glaciers on the hike and he was really keen to hike closer to them. We debated the merits of this and what approach to take for a while. I’m pretty risk adverse and my gut reaction is always to decline any risky kind of exploration. But I couldn’t deny that I wanted to get closer to them as well. The problem is that there’s no trail up to the glaciers and the terrain is a bit challenging.

From afar, the terrain looks like a series of giant steps. You can tell that up close it’s likely a lot more varied than it looks from a far, so we debated how to tackle the problem. I agreed to make an attempt at it and we gave ourselves an hour to mess around before continuing the hike (it’s a 20km trail, so we didn’t want to run out of daylight later). We decided to approach the glaciers from the left side because the terrain looked less steep that way. Brandon wanted to hike up closer, than hike along the edge of the glaciers and then exit back to the trail on the other side. I know there’s no frame of reference for those who haven’t been there, so I’ve included my GPS track from this section.

Once we hit the large rock steps, we did find a series of cairns, so we decided to follow them up the rock. There are a few sections where you need to use your hands to climb, but there was only one spot where I was like “this isn’t going to be fun on the way down” (pictured above). Eventually, we made it to the top of the stone steps. We still weren’t close enough to touch the glaciers, but this isn’t advised anyways because they are on steep terrain and the ice can calve at any point. So we had a bit of a photoshoot before deciding what to do next.

Like I said, Brandon wanted to continue along the top of the stone steps and approach the glacier further down, but I was really unsure what the terrain would look like from there (there might be more steep areas where we couldn’t get down). So I decided I’d pushed my comfort level enough for one day and insisted we go back the way we’d come. We followed the cairns back through the worst section, and then cut across the alpine to get back to the trail.

We didn’t see very many people on the way up, but it was around noon at this point and the trail was definitely getting busier. More day hikers were coming up and we also passed a bunch of backpackers on their way out. The alpine is absolutely beautiful and we took our time hiking along the rocks and exploring the different viewpoints and lakes.

After awhile I got a bit nervous because some mean looking clouds were starting to move in. I learned a valuable lesson about rain pants at Lake O’Hara and it was quite cold, so I was keen to avoid getting wet in the exposed alpine. There are some shale fields up there and Brandon wanted to look around for fossils, but I hurried him through the rest of the alpine. We took another break at the last alpine lake before you start to head down. It never did rain, but better safe than sorry I guess.

We hit the edge of the alpine around the 11km mark. Since we’d done a bit of a detour to the glacier, we figured we were still only at the half point of the hike. But the second half of the hike is all downhill or flat, so it’s much easier than the alpine section. We hiked down to little Yoho Valley until we reached the meadows. There’s another ACC hut on this trail called the Stanley Mitchell Hut. You have to have a booking to go in, so we just stopped at some of the picnic tables to have a snack and rest our feet. My plantar fasciitis injury was doing surprisingly well, but Brandon was having a bit of trouble with his ankle.

From the ACC hut, you can hike 1km further through the valley to a Parks Canada site called Little Yoho Valley, but we opted to skip it and continued the hike down the valley. It’s all in the trees from this point along the Little Yoho River. It looks like there were a few avalanches in the winter, so we had to detour through some blowdown.

At 18km, we came to the Laughing Falls Campground. From there, it’s only 5km back to the parking lot, so I think it would make for a great beginner backpacking trip. The falls are nice and there’s some lovely campsites along the river. The reservations were all sold out when we visited, but the campground was still mostly empty.

From there, it’s 5km of mostly flat walking back to the trailhead. 1km before the parking lot, you reach the Takakkaw Falls Campground. It’s a really interesting site because it’s not really frontcountry or backcountry. It’s a large campground and you can’t drive into it. But it’s only a 1km walk along a dirt road, so people still bring a fair amount of gear it. It’s where we had wanted to stay after O’Hara, but it was so cold and there’s no showers, so I don’t regret our decision to stay in a hotel. But it’s a really nice site and I think it would be lovely in warmer weather.

By the end of the hike, it was 5:30pm and we’d clocked 23km, so it was a pretty big day. Even so, I would highly recommend this trail! I know Lake O’Hara would have been a completely different experience for me on a nicer day and that I might have liked it better in different weather, but of the two experiences, I actually enjoyed the Iceline Trail a lot more than O’Hara. It’s a gorgeous trail and if you extend it over 1-2 nights, you could really take your time through the alpine. I would love to go back and do it as a backpacking trip. The campsites are still popular, but I’m guessing they’re easier to get then permits to O’Hara. Plus, it’s a much more doable day hike even if you don’t get permits. So if you’re looking for something a little bit different to do in Yoho, check out this trail instead!

We finished the trip with one more night out in Golden before heading back to Vancouver the next day. We briefly stopped in Glacier National Park to explore the visitor center at Roger’s Pass. Then we stopped again for ice cream at Dutchman Dairy outside Sicamous. It was a little surreal driving through Shuswap because some sections along the highway had completely burned down through the summer. We had lunch in Kelowna and then went straight home. We returned on a Friday, so I had a nice weekend to recover with Seth before heading back to work after a very epic trip!

Lake O’Hara Backpacking Trip Part II

November 15, 2023July 11, 2024 / Maria / 1 Comment

Click here to start with Part 1.

The rain held off all night and it wasn’t looking too bad when we got up on Day 2, so we decided to make a go at visiting Lake McArthur, which is the the second big hike in the area after the Alpine Circuit. We had breakfast and packed up our bags. But just as we were getting ready to start hiking, it started raining. It was pretty light at first, so we started walking up towards the junction to the Lake McArthur trail, but the rain got heavier as we went, so we decided to stop in Le Relais, which is a Parks Canada owned hut just before the lake (right at the junction to the Lake McArthur trail).

Le Relais is pretty cool. It’s a log cabin and they have some information on the history of the park and run a small cafe out of it during the day. It’s well known for its carrot cake, which is legendary inside and outside of the park. They notoriously sell out of the carrot cake every day, so we decided to see if we could score a piece and wait out the rain. We managed to get the very last slice! So we split it between the two of us and bought some hot chocolates.

Le Relais was pretty busy because of the rain, but it has a woodstove inside, so it’s toasty warm and has a really nice atmosphere. We decided to wait for the rain to let up, but we ended up killing 2-3 hours there with no reprieve! We made friends with some of the other people trying to wait out the rain and ate our lunch while trying to decide what to do.

The weather forecast was supposed to be better the next day, so we decided to hold off on Lake McArthur. I didn’t have any rain pants with me and I wanted to avoid getting totally soaked when the temperature was very low (around 3 degrees) and we still had another night at the campground. But we also didn’t want to just sit around all day, so we decided to do the hour long walk around Lake O’Hara instead to see Seven Veils Falls.

The rain never really stopped, but it didn’t lighten up a lot, so we had a fairly nice walk around the lake. Even in the rain, the area is still incredibly beautiful and we could see a fresh layer of snow sitting on the peaks of the Alpine Circuit. The water still looks like kool-aid, even on a rainy day, and we made the best of the rain. We stopped at Seven Veils Fall, which had a pretty steady flow coming down, before continuing around the lake. We returned to Le Relais just before it really started pouring again and killed another few hours warming up and drinking a second round of hot chocolate.

When we got a break in the rain again, we ran back to the campground to hang out for the rest of the evening. I love meeting people at the campground and I’m a busybody. I noticed one guy was wearing a knitted hat with the Labrador flag on it (and I happened to be wearing my NL home hat), so I quickly befriended him. He and his wife are from Ontario and met in Labrador when they were both working at Voisey’s Bay, so I had a great chat with them. They later broke out a crib game (which I also love), and I was joined by another camper named Lynn to play doubles against them. Not to brag, but we totally fleeced them! We won the first game and then Lynn pegged an incredible 3 triples in a row in the second game and we skunked them. So that was great fun!

We got a few more reprieves from the rain throughout the evening, and even saw a sliver of sun poking through the clouds. So we congregated outside at the campfire for awhile, but eventually the rain returned and sent us to bed early. We decided that we were going to make a try at Lake McArthur the next day (rain or shine) because even if we got soaked, at least we were going home after that.

Unfortunately things still didn’t work out as planned. It wasn’t raining too hard when we packed up our tent and gear in the morning. There’s a storage room at the campground, so we left everything we didn’t need in there and starting hiking back towards Le Relais. It was raining pretty hard and my pants were already soaked by the time we got to the turn-off. We continued on a little further to see the Elizabeth Parker hut, and then hiked as far as Shaffer Lake, which is the halfway point to Lake McArthur. When we hit Shaffer Lake, it started wet snowing on us and we had to re-assess. I was definitely not having a good time without rain pants and I was already soaked all the way to my underwear. I had a dry pair of pants in my bag, but they’re not really much use to you if they’re just going to get wet again. I think Brandon would have been okay to keep going since he had rain pants, but I had to do a bit of risk management.

It was below zero and we still had several more kilometres of uphill to get to the lake, so it just didn’t seem like a good idea to keep hiking. I was already cold and if I had to stop for any reason, I would freeze in wet pants and sub-zero temperatures. Plus I wasn’t having any fun, so we made the smart decision and turned around to go back.

There was still carrot cake at Le Relais and we stopped in for a slice each and some hot chocolate while I stood by the wood stove to dry off. We checked the bus schedule and decided to catch the next bus out. The weather might improve later in the day, but we still didn’t have anywhere to stay that night, so we decided to come back another year for McArthur.

We walked back to the campsite and changed into dry clothes to wait for the bus. It was definitely not the ideal trip to Lake O’Hara, between the smoke and the rain, but we still got to cram in most of the alpine circuit. Now we just have an excuse to come back again another time. It’s so exclusive, I’ll probably just try for permits every year until I get lucky again.

Our plan for the night had originally been to get one of the first-come, first-serve campsites at Takakkaw Falls in Yoho Park, but we really needed a hotel to warm up. We called around to every accommodation in Field town that could offer us two beds, but they were all booked, so instead we drove a half hour back to Golden where there were lots of budget options. We showered and then hit the hot tub, sauna, and pool at the hotel to relax before getting a celebratory dinner of more elk burgers (3rd of the trip) at the local pub.

Lake O’Hara Backpacking Trip Part I

November 8, 2023July 11, 2024 / Maria / 8 Comments

If Panorama Ridge is THE hike of coastal southwestern BC, then I feel like Lake O’Hara is THE hike of the Canadian Rockies. You might argue that Lake Louise and Moraine Lake are more popular, but Lake O’Hara is by far the most exclusive hike in the Rockies.

Lake O’Hara is situated in Yoho National Park and has become one of the most elite hikes in the area because of the incredibly scenic and compact natural wonders that exist around the lake. What makes Lake O’Hara so sought after is accessibility. The lake itself is located at an elevation of 2000m, at the start of the alpine. From the lake, there’s a plethora of hiking trails to explore and they’re all extremely varied and beautiful.

The key feature is that there is a 11km long dirt road that runs all the way up the valley to the base of the lake, at which you can stay either in the Parks Canada campground, the ACC’s Elizabeth Parker Hut, or the exclusive high end Lake O’Hara Lodge. The road is closed to personal vehicles, but a bus runs from the parking lot to the lake several times a day, so you don’t have to expend any effort to access this mecca of hiking trails! So it is a bit misleading to refer to this as a backpacking trip, because I didn’t actually have to do any backpacking to arrive at the campsite.

So what is the catch? As you can probably guess, like most other popular hikes, it’s hard to get a reservation to visit. All of the campsites for the entire season release every year in March and you have to be very lucky to score permits! Parks Canada puts you in a random queue at the release time, and if you aren’t lucky enough to be high up the queue, you probably aren’t getting permits.

I tried to get permits to visit in 2022, but I wasn’t successful, so I tried again in 2023. I couldn’t find any permits for 2-3 consecutive nights, so I ended up booking a single night, and then was able to find another adjacent single night. So I ended up with 2 back-to-back 1-night permits. This isn’t ideal because you have to pay for the bus twice, but Parks Canada was really good about it and reimbursed me for the second bus fare when I called them (if you end up with multiple permits like this, you must call because if they don’t know, they will cancel your reservation when you don’t show up for the bus on day 2 and give it to someone else).

If you’re lucky enough to get camping permits, it automatically includes a ride on the bus there and back. If you’re not lucky enough to get a permit for the campsite, you could try either the ACC hut or the lodge, but the lodge is extremely expensive and I think it helps to be an ACC member to get into the hut (both of which are still very popular). Be aware that the hut does require a few kilometres of backpacking to get there.

If those options aren’t feasible and you don’t want to camp, you can still try for a day pass on the bus! The most iconic hike (the alpine circuit) can be done in a single day, so if you don’t want to camp, you can try booking a bus pass for a day when they release in March. Getting a day pass is just as competitive as a camping permit though, so plan accordingly.

Your last option is to hike the 11km road there and back. This is an option that a lot of people avail of, but make sure you are in proper physical condition to do it. I don’t think the road is particularly challenging (though it is all uphill), but it is long to hike 22km round trip on top of whatever hike you hope to do once you arrive at the lake. Sometimes if you show up at the parking lot, you might be lucky enough to snag on empty seat on the bus if someone didn’t show up. Likewise, you might hike up and manage to snag a ride down on the bus if there is room for you, but you can’t bank on either of these options because the park is very popular and attracts a lot of day hikers in peak season. So if you decide to hike up, be prepared to also hike down!

Now that we’ve got all that important information out of the way, let’s talk about my trip!

Like I said, I scored a 2-night camping permit for me and Brandon. Carolyn wasn’t able to stay for a second week in the Rockies, so after we said goodbye to her, we packed up all our gear to get ready for the second part of our trip. We were booked on the 10am bus up to the campground and planned to stay for 3 days. I wanted to do the main things the park has to offer, including the Alpine Circuit and Lake McArthur.

Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t looking very good. We’d had great weather for Kootenay, but once September arrives, the rain usually comes with it. We weren’t really sure what to expect, but the nicest day in the forecast was our first day, so we decided to try and cram as much into Day 1 as possible! We took the bus up to the campground and quickly set up our tent and packed our day bags to start hiking. We left around noon and decided to tackle the iconic Alpine Circuit.

The Alpine Circuit is named because it’s basically a big circle through the alpine that encircles the entire lake. The campground is located ~1km from Lake O’Hara, so we hiked up to the lake and then started hiking clockwise around the lake to hit the branch for the Wiwaxy Gap trail up to Huber’s Ledges. After Lake O’Hara, Lake Oesa is probably the second most well known lake in the area and you have a few options to get there. You can either hike around part of the lake and then ascend up the back of O’Hara to Oesa. Or you can immediately jump on the Wiwaxy gap and climb 550m in elevation over 2km up to the pass between Mount Huber and Wiwaxy Peak, before descending back down to Oesa. As you can imagine, it’s incredibly steep, but it was probably one of my favourite parts of the entire park. It has amazing views of the lake on the way up and then you get a view from the Pass looking out the other side of the park.

It was overcast and the rain was holding off for us, but unfortunately it was weirdly smoky when we visited the park. It had rained the day before, but the smoke still hung around and left a haze over us the entire day. It still made for stunning, moody views, but it’s definitely a different experience than what you hope for when you get to visit. In any case, we were lucky it wasn’t raining as it would be very dangerous and slippery on a rainy day, and we weren’t in the clouds, so we still got amazing views, albeit a little hazy.

We stopped at the top for our lunch before continuing on towards Lake Oesa. The Wiwaxy gap is the highest elevation along the alpine circuit, so we bundled up in a few layers at the top and prepared to go down. From the gap, you continue along the Huber Ledges to Lake Oesa. This is the sketchiest part of the circuit and I was a bit nervous for it. The trail is a gradual decline along bare and exposed rock ledges until you hit the lake. It looks really intimidating from afar, but it ended up not being scary at all. If you have a fear of heights I wouldn’t recommend it, but the ledge is wide enough and there’s enough variation in the rock that I never felt unsafe. I loved every second we spent on the ledges descending to Lake Oesa.

Lake Oesa is a highlight in itself. It’s a hanging lake that’s nestled under giant peaks and glaciers. We took another short break at the lake, but pushed forward because we also wanted to do the Yukness Ledges. The alpine circuit is characterized into 3 sections: Wiwaxy Gap/Hubers Ledges, the Yukness Ledges, and the All-Souls Route. Wiwaxy runs from the base to Lake Oesa via the gap, then you pass from Lake Oesa to Opabin Plateau (and the Prospect), and then you continue along the edge of Mount Shaffer before heading back down to the Lake.

We had to do a bit of climbing to get back up to the Yukness Ledges from Oesa, but then it’s relatively flat and slightly downhill around Yukness Mountain to Opabin Plateau. This section of the trail is also very beautiful, but I’d still give the edge to Hubers Ledge. Once we got down to the plateau, I was keen to keep going to Opabin Prospect (which is the most popular viewpoint in the park), but Brandon convinced me to do a short detour to the back of the Plateau to see Opabin Lake. I’m glad he did because it’s not too far out of the way and I ended up loving the lake! It was the end of the long weekend and the weather wasn’t great, so there were very few people on the circuit and both Oesa and Opabin Lakes were completely empty of people when we visited.

We saw a mountain goat on the way to the lake that I decided to name Emily (lol). We took another short break at Opabin Lake and admired the gorgeous glaciers at the back of the plateau. It was getting late in the afternoon at this point, so we were also alone hiking back through the plateau and started towards Opabin Prospect to see the Park’s most iconic viewpoint.

I assume Opabin Prospect is generally crawling with people, but it was around 5pm when we arrived and completely empty! The prospect is a little scary with its abrupt drops, but it does have a beautiful view of Lake O’Hara and Mary Lake. It’s the most popular viewpoint, but again, I’d still give the edge to other parts of the Alpine Circuit. In total, the circuit is only ~12km, so it’s very achievable in one day. We had a little photoshoot at the Prospect before continuing on.

From here we had two choices. We could try and also cram in the final section of the circuit (all-souls route), or we could head back down to the campsite. We knew it was possible that if we skipped it, we wouldn’t get another chance to hike it given the incoming weather, but it was also getting later in the day and we were tired and hungry. I’ve read that while All-Souls is still beautiful, it doesn’t offer a lot more in terms of views than what you’ve already seen on the rest of the trail. We never did end up doing it, so I can’t confirm if this is the case or not.

Instead, we decided to come back for it on the way to Lake McArthur the following day and headed back down to the lake. We stopped again at Lake O’Hara for another snack and we did a little loop around the lodge to check out the expensive cabins. They’re definitely really cool and are right on the lake, but we couldn’t really swallow the expensive price tag to stay there.

We ended up back at the campsite just before 7pm and clocked a total of 13.5km for the day. The campground itself is not very scenic and all of the campsites are spread out in the trees. But what I really liked about it is the common areas. For bear-safe reasons, everyone’s required to do their cooking in the common area and there’s a number of picnic tables, 2 cooking shelters, and a fire pit. The fire ban was done for the season in the Rockies and Parks Canada provides firewood, so there’s always a bonfire on the go, which was lovely!

It was pretty chilly while we were in the park, so we bundled up and made our supper around the campfire. I love meeting people in the common area, so I ended up hanging around for a few hours chatting with a lot of the other campers. Most of them were from BC or Alberta, but there were a few visitors from the States and Ontario as well.

I’m so glad we crammed the alpine circuit into our first day in the park because the weather turned pretty terrible after that. We were never able to return for the All-Souls route, so I guess I’ll have to come back another time, but more on the rest of the trip in Part 2!