Finally got around to going through the rest of the photos of Lake O'Hara.

Saturday, August 4, Alexander and I headed off for a hike. We didn't really have an objective - there are many possibilities. So it was up the trail.

Looking back at a portion of the trail. This is the beginning of the Opabin Plateau area.

Again there were marmots - not afraid.

Then we decided to hike up to the Opabin Glacier. It was a beautiful, warm day, but the breeze off the glacier kept us cool.  Looking back over Opabin Lake and the Plateau. Getting close as you can see snow.

We saw a strange sight - a container of some sort just sitting by a rock

Thinking it to be placed there by aliens, we had a peek inside - empty.  Very odd!

Looking up at the glacier

An ice cave up close - you can see this in the previous photos. Didn't go in as we weren't sure if the roof was stable and we didn't have any ice gear with us anyway. Very hard to walk on ice without crampons.

Another ice cave with the melt water coming off it.  Lousy exposure I know, but hard with all that ice reflecting the sun!

Alexander standing just at the toe of the glacier. We are at about  2350m/7755ft at this point.

AS we were getting ready to go, we saw some climbers coming over the pass that is to the south.  They roped up and came down the glacier. Gives a better perspective on the size of the glacier, although it is really a small one.

Back down on the Opabin Plateau - one of the Moor Lakes on the Plateau, Wiwaxy Peak centre background and Cathedral Mountain left background.

The next day - August 5, Alexander and I again went out, this time fairly early - about 6:30 am, to take more photos. The HDR photos I posted earlier were taken this day.

Alexander surveying Lake O'Hara and Mount Schaffer

Alexander took many photos too. He likes to experiment with the view. The lake was a perfect mirror.

More reflections

Yours truly taking the HDR panorama I posted earlier.

And finally, a few shots of the campground area:

and our home for the time we were there

Should you ever be able to make a trip to this area, I hope my photos will serve to recommend it.

Garth

Lake O'Hara, British Columbia, August, 2012

This past weekend my family and I went to our favourite place, Lake O'Hara, British Columbia. The weather was fantastic! I took many photos and have only processed a few.

This is a 6 vertical shot panorama of Lake O'Hara, taken August 5 at 8:30 am, just as the sun peeked over the mountains. I was trying to get there before the sun, but got caught up in other photos.

This is about a 180° view.  I took 5 shots at each of the 6 positions, processed them with Photomatix, tweaked and sharpen in Photoshop CS5,  then merged using Photoshop Photomerge.

Hope this gives a fair impression of what Lake O'Hara really looks like. 

Lake O'Hara looking west to Mount Odaray.  The white spot is not dust but the moon! 5 shot HDR processed in Photomatix Pro and ACR, a bit more tweaking in Photoshop

This is the first day:

1. The beginning of the hike to an alpine lake called Lake Oesa. This is the bridge over the Lake O'Hara outlet stream.  Mount Lefroy (3426m/11959ft) is in the background. Katherine on the bridge.

2. About half way to Oesa. The waterfall is on the outlet stream of Lake Oesa. Matthew observing the scene.

3. Closer to the waterfall. The peak in the background is Glacier Peak. (3283m/10834ft)

4. The trail to Lake Oesa. It is just above the escarpment in front.

5. A friendly marmot. They were everywhere and not really afraid of us. This fellow was about 8 feet away.

6. Starting the climb up to the Yukness Ledges Alpine trail. This is looking back at Lake Oesa and the outlet stream. Yukness Mountain is the pointy peak. (2847m/9395 ft)

7. Further up the trail and looking back at Lefroy Lake, Lake Oesa, Glacier Peak and Mt. Lefroy

8. Approaching the cliff edge on the Yukness Ledge Trail. It may look steep, and there are several sections where one would not want to slip, but generally it is very safe and all ages from 4 to 80 hike it.

9. A Pika peeking. These animals are heard often and rarely seen - they hide in the rocks.  They are in the same family as rabbits. This guy was as curious about me as I was about him.  This is cropped about 50%.

10. Waterfall seen from the trail.

11. View from the cliff edge. Yukness Lake in foreground, Lake O'Hara in background and Mt. Odaray (3123m/10305 ft). For perspective, Yukness Lake is about 320 meters/1056ft below this point.

12. A good example of the type of terrain - large broken rock. It is not all like this, but narrows to a better defined trail.  My boys are in blue - another hiker behind.

13. Another view of Lake O'Hara and Mt. Odaray from the Yukness Ledges.

14. Back at the campground. This is the evening, about 7:20 pm -  the sun was catching Wiwaxy Peak (2665m/8794ft) 

This is a 3 shot HDR taken on day three. Posting here because I processed it today! The outlet stream of Lake O'Hara and the peak in the distance is Yukness Mt.

And another HDR shot, 5 images this time, of Mt. Odaray on the morning of August 5.

That covers day one ( and a bit of day three)!!  When I get the others done, I will post in a new thread as this is rather long.  Please forgive my verbosity, but I wanted to give you a bit of a feel for this beautiful area.

Garth