21 JUL 2010

Wednesday starts again with brilliant blue skies that create the perfect capping above the grey stoned mountains with white snow caps. We had a busy day planned to do a mild hike which causes my feet to say OUCH even now.

Today it is a hike up the Wiwaxy Trail which is a climb up from Lake O’Hara of 1700 feet to Wiwaxy gap. This “mild and gentle slope” was completed in just over 2 hours of constant uphill climb, around narrow ledges and through some trees. The views from the gap were again unbelievable. At the top there was no wind which apparently is unusual. We sat as a conquering army of 15 to view and admire our skills and strength demonstrated to obtain such lofty heights. Of course we did share the gap with several other groups arriving to show that our feat was not unattainable.

We left by going over the Huber Ledges to Lake Oesa., This skill testing challenge of following a path along the edge of a cliff rock line (ok it was not that narrow) gave new vistas. From our vantage point we were able to view several lakes and tarns, creeks and waterfalls. Although there was some vegetation flowers were not plentiful on the rock face. However we did see Golden Mantled ground squirrel.

 They are very pretty with soft brown colors and a double while strip down the sides. Also along this trail we did see plenty of spotted sacsifrage giving me a chance to take a better picture than before.

Ok off this mountain down to the Lake Oesa for lunch. As most lakes in the mountains, it had a aqua colour. The mountain pass behind this lake leads to the Abbot hut (ACC) which is visible from the Plane of 6 Glaciers in Lake Louise and from this side of Lake Oesa. Of course we could not go to the hut since we would need more time and ice axes and helmets.

After lunch we proceeded to find the trail to the Yukness Ledges (yes another ledge high above the valley). We only lost the trail once but were able to scramble to relocate. This ledge went around the mountain to descend into Opabin area. This area has a several lakes including Hungabee and Opabin, larches and rocks. Many of the most common photos of Lake O’Hara are taken from this vantage point especially in the fall when the larches turn golden yellow.

Finally we headed for camp by descending a steep trail back to Mary Lake
and down to Lake O’Hara. By the time we got back to camp it was 4:30 – meaning we had hiked a total of 8 hours and climbed at last 2000 feet cumulatively. My body said we had done a lot today and my feet said.. why? The advantage is that we decided an ice cream at the concession was deserved.

After dinner, and a quick crib game, we raced back to Le Relais to listen to a talk about cats given by an employee of the Calgary Zoo. She was really interesting and we learned about the ‘ideal carnivore’.

Bedtime at last for the tired bones and discussions about tomorrow to be finalized in the am.