Hands down my favourite place we've ever had the pleasure of hiking in was the Opabin Plateau. Located in the Lake O'Hara area of Yoho National Park, British Columbia this is a place of dreams. The scenery here is absolutely stunning, it's untouched except for a couple of footpaths as it's impossible to get here any way other than on foot.
At around 2200 Meters above sea level, we are in the heart of the Canadian Wilderness. Summers are short here, there would only be a few months a year where the lakes and ponds aren't frozen over. These photos were taken over the August long weekend. Above is Hungabee and Moor lakes, below is Mary Lake and Lake O'Hara.
The Opabin Plateau is a hanging valley situated above Lake O'Hara. It was formed by glaciers which still inhabit the surrounding peaks. To get here you have to climb a couple hundred meters up from the main area but it's a must see if you are ever lucky enough to get into Lake O'Hara. The Opabin Plateau is even better than the amazing Lake Oesa hike if you're just up for seeing one thing.
There are a lot of lakes and ponds up here. The water slowly melts off the glaciers and eventually makes its way down to the Kicking Horse River, which flows into the Columbia River and then into Pacific Ocean. The Opabin Plateau is on the border of British Columbia and Alberta so this water flows West and water falling on the other side of the mountain flows East.
Above looks away from Lake Opabin towards Hungabee Lake, while below is Lake Opabin. It's not the most impressive of lakes but the number of them and the unspoiled beauty of the area is what makes it so special.
Those are the glaciers of Opabin pass surrounding Opabin lake. They would extend under the rocks making this lake almost freezing even during the warmest of days. Hungabee Mountain is on the left and Mt Biddle is on the right. Coincidentally on the other side is the source of the Kootenay river I just wrote about that we went camping next to, a couple weekends after this trip.
We can call these the cascade ponds, the colours from the minerals in the water give them a sharp contrast from their surroundings. Those are the Wiwaxy peaks in the background along with mount Huber.
While these trees look young, up here they could take decades to grow. Even a small shrub can take years to reach just a few inches due to the short growing season. We are almost above the treeline.
Grouse live up here during the summer months, they blend into the background, you might be able to notice two of them in this photo if you have a good eye. We also saw a whistling hoary marmot, pikas, chipmunks and a weasel. Wolverines are the apex predator up this high, asides from the odd Grizzly bear but luckily we didn't see any of those.
Lake Opabin from another angle, you can see all the scree, or rocks that have fallen down from the mountain. Some of the more difficult hikes would go up places like that. Climbing scree is for experienced hikers only as the rocks just keep sliding down (2 steps forward one step back) and will hit anyone directly behind you.
We prefer the lush green valley of the Opabin Plateau to the rocky peaks. These beautiful mountain lakes and streams will forever be in our memories.
Hope you enjoyed looking at the photos. If you want to enter a draw with Parks Canada to be able to pay to reserve a spot on the bus to go here, the time is from now until March 31st. They only allow a few thousand people up here each year and spots are limited.
All photos taken with an S22 or iPhone 13 pro and are unfiltered