Congratulations! You’ve got a spot on the ultra exclusive bus into Lake O’Hara in Yoho National Park (it’s recommended that you reserve up to 3 months in advances – yikes!). You’d think that the hard part was over but unless you’re spending 3-4 days in the area, you still have to decide which of the many, many hikes are worth your precious time if you’ve only got a day or two of exploring. 
Welcome to Wiwaxy Gap – it’s one of the most stunningly beautiful hikes you will ever do in your life.

(This is coming from almost 25 years of experience of hiking in the mountains. )

Normally a hike this incredible would be absolutely crammed with people, but that’s the great part about Lake O’Hara… even on the weekends, you pretty much have the entire trail to yourself. At several points on the journey we were shocked (and obviously very pleased) to find how calm and shockingly quiet the trails were, which made the experience all the more surreal.

 

 Be prepared for the first half an hour to be grueling uphill switchbacks, once you’re past that point, the views you get of Lake O’Hara, and further on Lake Oesa, will keep your mind off your aching legs.
The trail should take you approximately 3-4 hours if you take the trail from Lake Oesa back to the campground, but there’s always the option of doing the entire alpine circuit for the brave 😉

 

 For information on how to book Lake O’Hara (or if you’d like us to do it for you) please visit www.eliteyyc.com or shoot us an email at [email protected] – we’re more than happy to take the hassle of trip planning of your hands. The average person spends about 3 hours on the phone trying to book this spot… yikes!
Happy trails!